Ranking every hike I’ve ever done from best to worst

lLooking at all the long trails I’ve ridden, I can safely say I’ve enjoyed some more than others. I love backpacking and have quite enjoyed most of my hikes, but there were some «meh» ones that I’m glad I did but wouldn’t want to revisit, and even a dumpster fire hike that I hated with the intensity of a thousand supernovas. With all that said, here are all the long trails I’ve ridden in order of how much I liked them, ranked from best to worst.

1. High Pyrenean Route (HRP)

Best of the best: The pinnacle of hiking joy in my life so far. This hike spans approximately 500 miles along the mountainous Franco-Spanish border and took me six weeks to complete.

It had everything, absolutely everything, you could ever dream of on a hike: challenging terrain, adventurous route finding, swimmable mountain lakes, luxurious hot dinners in mountain huts, cultural exchange, and a small but welcoming community of fellow hikers. The hike passes through diverse landscapes with absolutely epic landscapes.

I experienced the freedom of hiking in its purest form on this adventure, and it prompted me to make some positive changes in my life that continue to benefit me to this day, which only increases my love for HRP. I never wanted this trail to end, and I would be eager to hike all or part of it again someday.

2. Appalachian Trail

My first walk and my first love. Yes, it rains a lot and the trail is excessively packed with roots and rocks, and the views are only occasional, and as you traverse the eastern US from Georgia to Maine, you are rarely far enough from civilization to experience true solitude. But despite all that, the AT has a special magic that makes the endorphins flow every time I set foot on the white path.

The Appalachian Mountains have their own gentle beauty; They may not be as epic as the Rocky Mountains or the High Sierra, but there’s something to be said for hiking in a landscape that’s more like the Shire than Mordor.

This was the hike that started it all for me, so it’s hard to remember it with anything other than nostalgic fondness, even though it rained for 10 consecutive days in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I enjoy revisiting the AT to hike magical sections and trails to this day and could even see myself doing another hike someday. very far into the future.

READ NEXT – 10 reasons why I loved the AT more than the PCT and CDT

3. Wind River High Route

Walk the WRHR for a good while, not for a long time. The version I did (Adventure Alan) only took a week to complete, but each day was action-packed and very memorable. I loved Wyoming’s Wind River Range for the complete opposite reason I loved the AT. While the latter felt like a comforting hug, the former was a pure, epic adventure from start to finish. The opinions, of course, were irreproachable.

As a high route, this definitely felt different from most other hikes I’ve done and pushed me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible. I developed new hiking skills and learned a lot about myself on this hike. There was something capricious, in an incredibly stressful way, about not having any trail and just choosing my own path through the mountains.

I wouldn’t want all hikes to be like this, but I’m incredibly glad I did the Wind River High Route and cherish the memory of those mountains.

4. Colorado Trail

In retrospect, my experience on the Colorado Trail was somewhat “normal.” I liked it but I didn’t love it.

This 485-mile hike is a standout hike in many ways, and many hikers rightly count it among their favorites. It offers epic mountain hikes on good trails, simple logistics, a pretty solid trail culture, and frequent interludes in cute mountain towns. And there are definitely some special days and moments that stand out in my memory, don’t get me wrong.

But overall, this trail didn’t resonate with me as much as others. I found the vast expanses of beetle-destroyed forest that dominated much of the trail depressing, and the stops in my town were a bit boring. (Note that I did a full hike through this in 2021, so the pandemic may have been influencing my experience as well.)

Overall, this isn’t a trail I think about very often, and when I think back on it, I don’t feel anything in particular about it. It was good, that’s all. But check out Zach’s giant compendium of majestic Colorado Trail photos for an alternative view of the situation.

5. Balkan Peaks

On another hut-to-hut hike in Europe, I wanted the Balkan Peaks to recapture some of the magic I had experienced in the Pyrenees the previous summer. I actually quite enjoyed this circular walk through Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo, but it was nothing like the HRP and felt more like a walking holiday than a hike, so in the context of this list it falls a bit flat.

Balkan peak culture is nothing like hiking culture in the typical sense. I met very few real backpackers on this trip, as almost everyone (including me) simply walked from cabin to cabin with only a light backpack. While this was a luxury, I missed the experience of carrying my own gear, sleeping outdoors, and feeling more independent and self-sufficient. It is possible to camp in the PoB, but you will feel a little strange because it is definitely not what people usually do.

Most of the other hikers I met were traveling with large guided tour groups, a phenomenon I had never encountered before on a long trail. This changed the atmosphere on the trail and in the cabins quite a bit.

The cabins and the homemade Balkan food served at each meal were affordable, comfortable and interesting, and the mountains themselves are quite beautiful. Overall, the Balkan Peaks were an enjoyable and, at least for me, totally unique hiking experience, but if you’re looking for a solid hiking culture, you won’t find it here.

READ NEXT – How to Climb the Balkan Peaks: 114 Unforgettable Miles in the Albanian Alps

6. Wonderland Trail

Another exceptionally short trail, this 90-mile loop around Washington’s Mount Rainer could be comfortably completed by a fit hiker in four or five days. I made the most of it and covered it in ten incredibly slow days, which left me plenty of time for side quests and naps, but admittedly it was a bit also a lot of time and left me a little bored on my shorter days.

The Wonderland Trail is incredibly beautiful and has a level of popularity to match. You’re unlikely to experience much loneliness on this hike unless you do it in the very out of season, and you will also have to contend with a challenging and competitive permit system. When I was hiking, there was a lot of drama among hikers regarding poaching at campgrounds, and one night I almost saw two groups fighting at a campground, which is not the atmosphere I generally look for on a backpacking trip.

That said, the views were incredible and I met some great people along the way. If I had the chance, I’d probably walk again (faster next time), but I’m not dying to revisit this one.

7. Great Dividing Trail

What a shitty view.

The Great Divide Trail is incredibly beautiful, wild, and adventurous, and I hated every step. The fact that it was cold, dreary and rainy for most of the hike definitely didn’t help, and I was irritated by the GDT’s rigid logistics and rigorous permit system.

I have nothing but good things to say about the majesty of the Canadian Rockies, which is why this trail was on my bucket list to begin with. But the mountains themselves weren’t enough to make up for the garbage weather, my garbage mentality, the frustrating permit system, and everything else from last summer.

I feel a little guilty for ranking the GDT so poorly on this list, knowing that my feelings about it have much more to do with the conditions and my own mood than the trail itself, but there you have it.

If you’re thinking about taking a hike, do it. I’ll just warn you that (a) you’ll have to be the kind of person who loves a good suffer-fest, and (b) you should know that the permission system significantly affects the experience. You’ll be tied to your itinerary and generally won’t have the freedom to speed up or slow down, take a spontaneous zero day, or change your planned mileage to camp with new friends you’ve met along the way.

I still have two sections of the GDT left to complete and I originally thought that might be my assignment for summer 2026, but I just can’t bring myself to go back and will probably explore a new path this year. Maybe one in a nice dry desert.

Not all long trails are the same. Each has a unique character, including its own set of pros and cons, and of course, each visiting hiker approaches the trail with his or her own unique frame of reference based on his or her mindset, temperament, and the conditions at the time of the hike.

It is very likely that if I were to hike each of these trails again, the experience would be totally different and it would change the ranking completely. That’s part of the magic of hiking, huh? There are no two alike.

Cover image: Graphic design by Mackenzie Fisher.