Alright look, best backpacking routes in North America are the kind of thing that sound amazing on paper and then halfway through you’re questioning every life choice that led you to voluntarily carry 35 pounds up hill after hill. I’m writing this from my couch in Colorado, still unpacking from last weekend’s overnighter in Rocky Mountain National Park, there’s trail dirt literally on my keyboard right now and my left knee is making noises it definitely shouldn’t. Anyway.
Best backpacking routes in North America have this weird power over me. One minute I’m miserable, swatting mosquitoes, the next I’m standing on some ridgeline going “holy crap I live here, this is real life.” I’ve made so many dumb mistakes out there it’s honestly embarrassing to admit, but whatever, that’s part of it.
The Ones I Keep Coming Back To (Best Backpacking Routes in North America Edition)
These aren’t ranked perfectly because honestly who can rank pain and beauty? But these are the backpacking routes in North America that have stuck in my brain the hardest.
John Muir Trail – Yeah It’s Cliché but Damn
JMT still wins for best backpacking routes in North America in my book. I section-hiked from Tuolumne to Whitney Portal a few years back and it absolutely wrecked me. The granite domes, the waterfalls that sound like jet engines, Evolution Lake looking like it was photoshopped—unreal.
But also: I ran out of water between two passes one afternoon because I was too stubborn to stop and filter earlier. Had to lick condensation off my tent fly at 3 a.m. like some kind of animal. Don’t be me. Get the Sawyer Squeeze and use it.
Pacific Crest Trail Association has good JMT permit info if you’re planning.
PCT High Sierra Sections – Snow and Sass
Not the whole PCT (I’m not that committed), but the Sierra sections are pure best backpacking routes in North America gold. Forester Pass, Kearsarge, all that. I did a chunk near Mammoth and got hailed on so hard I hid behind a boulder and screamed profanity into the wind.
Pro move: bring microspikes even in July sometimes. I didn’t once and slid down a snowfield on my ass for like 50 feet. Fun story for the campfire, less fun in the moment.
Backpacker: Pacific Crest Trail
The Big Outside blog has some really detailed PCT section writeups.
Colorado CDT – Wildflowers and Wild Weather
San Juans section of the Continental Divide Trail is stupidly pretty. July wildflowers look fake, like someone spilled paint. I hiked a piece last summer and saw zero people for three straight days. Bliss.
Then August hit me with an afternoon blizzard. In August. I was wearing shorts. Had to layer up in a panic and basically speed-hiked to treeline while cursing the weather gods. Best backpacking routes in North America for “expect anything” vibes.
CDT Coalition website is clutch for maps and current conditions.
Appalachian Trail – Smokies & Shenandoah Chunks
AT gets slept on by us Westerners but fall in the Smokies? Orange and red everywhere, like the forest caught fire in slow motion. I did a section there and my pack cover ripped open in a downpour. Everything soaked. Slept in wet clothes because I was too lazy to change. Zero stars, do not recommend that part.
Still one of the best backpacking routes in North America for accessibility—tons of trailheads, shuttles, hostels if you bail.
Appalachian Trail Conservancy site has solid planning tools.
Glacier Northern Circuit Stuff – Bears & Beauty
Glacier National Park high routes—Grinnell to Many Glacier loop variations—are next-level. Turquoise lakes, hanging glaciers, wild goats staring you down like you’re in their living room.
Saw a grizzly at maybe 250 yards once. Froze. It looked at me, sniffed, wandered off into the brush. I didn’t poop for like 36 hours after that. Carry bear spray and talk loud. Best backpacking routes in North America for “am I gonna die?” adrenaline.
