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Updated: 9 Great Backpacking Trips You Can Take in 2020

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By Michael Lanza

My family just returned from two wonderful backpacking trips—six days in Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness and four days on Nevada’s Ruby Crest Trail (photo above)—and especially in this year of chaos, serious health concerns, and unusual stress, these getaways were precisely what we needed. Are you looking for a wilderness backpacking trip you can take this year? Here are nine great multi-day hikes perfect for getting away from it all while enjoying some beautiful pieces of America’s natural heritage.

Four of them are in five-star national parks, and the other five are multi-day hikes with national park-caliber scenery. They all possess qualities that make them stand out in personal memory among the countless adventures I’ve enjoyed over the past three decades, including many years as Northwest Editor of Backpacker magazine and running this blog.

Based on the progress toward reopening parks and lifting state travel restrictions, the trips described in this story are are all possible this summer. See this National Park Service page for the latest alerts on the status of park closures and reopening and check the websites of individual parks for the most current information. These news websites are maintaining state-by-state listings of the current status of reopening efforts in all 50 states: the New York Times, CNN, and NPR.


Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Please follow my adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.


 

If you long to get back into the wilderness this year and feel comfortable about traveling, read through this list and start the gears turning to make one of these trips happen this year. You may be glad you did.

And I can help you plan any of them. See my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how.

Please share your thoughts on any of these trips in the comments at the bottom of this story. I try to respond to all comments.

A backpacker above Liberty Lake on Nevada's Ruby Crest Trail.
My wife, Penny, above Liberty Lake on Nevada’s Ruby Crest Trail.

Backpack the Ruby Crest Trail

Nevada’s not on your list of much-see backpacking destinations? Time to edit your list. Having eyed the Ruby Crest Trail for several years, I decided the coronavirus-impeded summer of 2020 seemed like the perfect time to visit a wilderness area that sees relatively few backpackers and dayhikers compared to marquis parks and mountain ranges around the West.

In mid-July, my family backpacked a four-day, approximately 36-mile traverse of the Ruby Crest Trail, and it turned out to be a perfect time of year for it, with wildflowers blooming, moderate daytime temperatures and comfortably cool nights, and no bugs at a time of year when you’d see clouds of mosquitoes in many mountain ranges. The Ruby Crest Trail goes from a high-desert landscape speckled with granite monoliths to aspen and conifer forests and barren, alpine terrain spotted with stunning mountain lakes. Much of the traverse remains high above treeline, with sweeping views.

Watch for my upcoming feature story about backpacking the Ruby Crest Trail.

Find your next adventure in your Inbox. Sign up for my FREE email newsletter now.

 

Teenage girls backpacking in Utah's High Uintas Wilderness.
My daughter, Alex, her friend, Adele, and my wife, Penny, backpacking in Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness.

Explore Utah’s High Uintas Wilderness

This first sign that this was going to be the sort of trip we desperately needed appeared as we pulled into the dirt parking lot at the Uinta River Trailhead in northeastern Utah’s Uinta Mountains: There were just two other vehicles parked there. For most of the six-day, roughly 58-mile loop we backpacked in the High Uintas Wilderness, that degree of loneliness prevailed. And even the one day that we shared the trail with a lot of other people—hiking Utah’s highest peak—never felt overly crowded.

Teenage girls hiking Utah's 13,528-foot Kings Peak.
Alex and Adele hiking Utah’s 13,528-foot Kings Peak.

Our loop hike took us to alpine lakes well above 10,000 feet—we camped by one of them—and our highest campsite in sprawling Painter Basin at 11,000 feet, at the foot of Utah’s high point, 13,528-foot Kings Peak. We spent two nights in Painter Basin and dayhiked Kings, a strenuous ascent with a summit ridge that involves sustained scrambling and some route-finding, but a fun adventure that delivers the payoff of scenery worthy of the effort. We also enjoyed brilliant sunsets and night skies streaked with the luminescence of the Milky Way. Our trip concluded with two days of hiking down the Uinta River Trail, descending a surprisingly pretty canyon, often hiking along the tops of cliffs that plunged to the whitewater river’s edge.

Watch for my upcoming feature story about backpacking the High Uintas Wilderness.

Want my help planning your trip on the Ruby Crest Trail or in the High Uintas Wilderness? See my Custom Trip Planning page.

A backpacker in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park.
Todd Arndt backpacking in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park.

Take One of Yosemite’s Best Backpacking Trips

Having backpacked numerous trips all over Yosemite, I can say this about one of America’s most iconic national parks for backpackers: Every hike you take here will be one of the most inspiring you will ever take. Yosemite’s backcountry harbors such an abundance of soaring granite peaks, waterfalls, and shimmering alpine lakes—plus, over 700,000 acres of designated wilderness and 750 miles of trails—that you can spend a lifetime exploring here and never get enough of it. I’m already planning my next trip.

A backpacker in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park.
Mark Fenton in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite has modified its process for issuing wilderness permits for 2020: You can apply from 15 to nine days in advance of a trip’s start date and permits will be awarded using a rolling lottery system. While that makes it difficult to plan travel more than two weeks in advance, it does eliminate the prospect of showing up at the park hoping for a first-come permit and being disappointed.

See my story “The 5 Best Backpacking Trips in Yosemite” and my e-guides describing three great backpacking trips in the park.

I know Yosemite’s unique wilderness permit system very well, and I’ve helped many readers plan a backpacking trip in Yosemite—including helping some obtain a permit after they had failed applying on their own. See my Custom Trip Planning page to learn how I can help you plan a trip in Yosemite this summer.

Want to read any story linked here? Get full access to ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus a FREE e-guide. Join now!

A backpacker in Titcomb Basin in Wyoming's Wind River Range.
Todd Arndt backpacking into Titcomb Basin in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.

See the Best of the Wind River Range

Besides the High Sierra, there may be no mountain range in the country with as many lovely alpine lakes and tarns as Wyoming’s Wind River Range—you will lose count of the lakes you hike past. But unlike much of the High Sierra, in the Winds, you just may see fewer people than lakes, and backcountry permits are not an issue.

BackpackiBackpackers hiking toward Island Lake in Wyoming's Wind River Range.ng toward Island Lake, Wind River Range.
Backpackers hiking toward Island Lake in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.

On a roughly 41-mile loop from Elkhart Park, two friends and I spent a night in Titcomb Basin, an alpine valley at over 10,000 feet below a granite wall of 13,000-foot peaks. Our route crossed three 12,000-foot passes, one via an adventurous, off-trail route over 12,240-foot Knapsack Col that led into a mystical hanging valley. Start exploring the Winds and you may never want to stop.

National forests—including the two that encompass much of the Wind River Range, the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone—generally operate under fewer restrictions than national parks. The U.S. Forest Service has these updates on its response to the coronavirus.

For updates, see the Bridger-Teton home page and alerts page, and the Shoshone home page and alerts page. The central Winds east of the Continental Divide are under the management of the Wind River Reservation.

See my stories “Best of the Wind River Range: Backpacking to Titcomb Basin” and “A Walk in the Winds: A One-Day, 27-Mile Traverse of Wyoming’s Wind River Range,” and all of my stories about the Winds at The Big Outside.

Want my help planning any trip you read about at my blog? Click here for expert advice you won’t get anywhere else.

 

Larch trees glowing with fall color, reflected in Rainbow Lake in the North Cascades National Park Complex.
Larch trees glowing with fall color, reflected in Rainbow Lake in the North Cascades National Park Complex.

Backpack Deep Into the North Cascades

Want to probe into the heart one of the most uncrowded, rugged, and wild national parks in the contiguous United States? On an 80-mile backpacking trip in North Cascades National Park and the adjacent Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, a friend and I crossed four mountain passes while going from one of America’s most primeval and ancient rainforests to sub-alpine views of the most heavily glaciated peaks in the Lower 48.

A backpacker at Park Creek Pass, North Cascades National Park.
Todd Arndt at Park Creek Pass in North Cascades National Park.

We saw waterfalls and thunderous whitewater creeks, swam in bracing and beautiful mountain lakes, and marveled at sunshine lighting up the larch trees turned golden with fall color in late September. How wild is this place? Scientists believe a remnant population of grizzly bears still inhabits the North Cascades. Get there as soon as you can: Researchers project that 70 percent of North Cascades glaciers will likely be gone by mid-century.

On June 12, the park reopened its campgrounds and Wilderness Information Center, where backcountry permits are issued, but trails don’t usually become sufficiently snow-free for backpacking until late July or early August—when wildflowers bloom and waterfalls roar—and the prime season often extends well into September. Check the status of North Cascades National Park Complex at nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/condtions.htm.

See my feature story about that trip, “Primal Wild: Backpacking 80 Miles Through the North Cascades.” I can help you plan this trip or various shorter versions of it; see my Custom Trip Planning page.

Plan your next great backpacking trip in Yosemite, Grand Teton, and other parks using my expert e-guides.

 

Alice Lake in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains.
Alice Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.

Discover Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains

Since moving to Idaho more than 20 years ago, I’ve gotten to know the Sawtooths pretty well, and every time I explore a new corner of that range, I think it may be the most beautiful spot I’ve seen there yet. That’s the impact the Sawtooths have on you.

A backpacker above Toxaway Lake in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains.
My wife, Penny, backpacking above Toxaway Lake in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.

The Sawtooths remind me in many ways of the High Sierra and the Wind River Range, for their jagged peaks and abundance of stunning alpine lakes. But the Sawtooths aren’t as busy as the Sierra, nor as high as either of those other two mountain ranges—which translates to less altitude-related issues and often calmer weather patterns. Having hiked much of the trail system and many off-trail routes and climbed several peaks, I’ve helped many readers plan unforgettable trips there.

The prime backpacking season in the Sawtooths begins around mid-July and extends well into September. See the Sawtooth National Forest National alerts page for information on any restrictions, which so far have just been on groups larger than 10 people.

See all of my stories about Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, including this photo gallery of some of the many gorgeous mountain lakes in the Sawtooths, my feature stories about a 57-mile hike in the southern Sawtooths and backpacking to three of the range’s most accessible and prettiest lakes, and the best dayhikes and backpacking trips there.

I’ve helped many readers plan an unforgettable backpacking trip in the Sawtooths.
Want my help with yours? Find out more here.

 

A young girl hiking in Spring Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.
My daughter, Alex, on a family backpacking trip in Spring Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

Explore Capitol Reef

Even during “normal” times, you can just show up in Capitol Reef, get a free backcountry permit sans reservation, and hit the trail in a park whose scenery compares with any park in Utah’s canyon country—but where you’ll see few other backpackers. On this two- to three-day, relatively easy hike into Chimney Rock Canyon and Spring Canyon, you will explore broad canyons with burnt red and orange walls that rise several hundred feet tall, and hike past slender spires and a narrow gorge with curved walls sculpted by flood waters.

A young girl backpacking Spring Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park.
My daughter, Alex, backpacking Spring Canyon in Capitol Reef National Park.

It’s at least nine miles from the Chimney Rock Trailhead on UT 24 to the bottom end of Spring Canyon, where you have to ford the Fremont River. While it can be hiked in a day, spend a night camped near the natural springs below Spring Canyon’s soaring walls, looking up at a sky riddled with stars. To avoid the river ford, which can be dangerously fast and deep in spring and early summer but often not difficult in fall, hike out-and-back from Chimney Rock Trailhead, exploring farther down canyon from your camp in Spring Canyon.

Capitol Reef has already opened trails to backpacking and dayhiking. Plan this trip for spring—pleasant temperatures can persist into June—or late summer into fall (July and August are hot). Check Capitol Reef’s status at nps.gov/care/planyourvisit/conditions.htm.

See my story “Playing the Memory Game in Southern Utah’s Escalante, Capitol Reef, and Bryce Canyon,” and my story about another, expert-level, mostly off-trail backpacking traverse in the park, “The Most Beautiful Hike You’ve Never Heard Of: Crossing Utah’s Capitol Reef.”

Bonus Trip: With Bryce Canyon also reopening, see “The Best Hike in Bryce Canyon National Park.”

Trips go better with the right gear. See my picks for “The 10 Best Backpacking Packs” and “The 7 Best Backpacking Tents.”

 

A backpacker on the Timberline Trail around Oregon's Mount Hood.
Jeff Wilhelm backpacking the Timberline Trail around Oregon’s Mount Hood.

Circumambulate Mount Hood

While backpackers clamor for a popular permit to backpack the 93-mile Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier, the 41-mile Timberline Trail around 11,239-foot Mount Hood offers comparable scenery just about every step of the way—without requiring a permit reservation. As on the Wonderland, you will hike through vast meadows of wildflowers in riot in mid-summer, and past waterfalls in abundance and blow-you-away views of Hood around every bend. But the Timberline also presents some bigger challenges, including a few serious creek crossings.

Ramona Falls on the Timberline Trail, Mount Hood, Oregon.
Ramona Falls on the Timberline Trail, Mount Hood, Oregon.

Hiked in three to five days, the Timberline typically sheds most of its snow cover by late July or early August and its season can last well into September and sometimes into October.

The Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service is working on a plan to reopen national forests, including Mount Hood; trails are open but developed areas like trailheads remain closed. With no permit reservation required and the seeming likelihood of full access for backpackers by the time the prime season for it arrives, the Timberline Trail looks like a safe destination plan for later this summer.

See my story “Full of Surprises: Backpacking Mount Hood’s Timberline Trail.”

After the Timberline Trail, take all of “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips.”

A view from the Appalachian Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
A view from the Appalachian Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Backpack in the Great Smokies

On a multi-day hike in the Great Smokies, you can drink heartily from the mug of the Southern Appalachian Mountains experience, going from bracing swims in low-elevation streams that tumble through one cascade after another, to classic views of an ocean of blue ridges. The Great Smokies have 1,600 species of flowering plants, including 100 native tree species, with over 300 species of native vascular plants considered rare.

Noland Creek, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Noland Creek in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Backpacking a solo, 34-mile loop on the North Carolina side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I went from lower elevations near Fontana Lake up to a stretch of the Appalachian Trail over 6,643-foot Clingmans Dome and the park’s highest bald, 5,920-foot Andrews Bald.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has reopened trails and backcountry shelters with reduced capacities. See nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/conditions.htm for updates. Good news for procrastinators: GSMNP only accepts permit reservations up to 30 days in advance of the first night of your trip. Put one on your calendar for early summer, when streams and waterfalls are full, or in mid-autumn, when fall foliage reaches peak color.

See my feature story “In the Garden of Eden: Backpacking the Great Smoky Mountains” at The Big Outside.

Tell me what you think.

I spent a lot of time writing this story, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons at right, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. I’d really appreciate it.

 

Find ideas and inspiration at my All Trips List, and see all of my stories about national park trips and family adventures at The Big Outside.

Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned backpacker, you’ll learn new tricks for making all of your trips go better in my “12 Expert Tips for Planning a Wilderness Backpacking Trip” and “A Practical Guide to Lightweight and Ultralight Backpacking.” With a paid subscription to The Big Outside, you can read all of both stories for free; if you don’t have a subscription, you can download the e-guide versions of “12 Expert Tips for Planning a Wilderness Backpacking Trip” and the lightweight backpacking guide without having a paid membership.

 

Feeling inspired by this story? Join now for full access to ALL stories and get a free e-guide!

The post Updated: 9 Great Backpacking Trips You Can Take in 2020 first appeared on The Big Outside.


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