Top 10 Trails

2,190 miles of forest, mountain, and whatever you're made of. Most people do a section. The through-hikers who finish it are a different category of human. Even a week on it will rearrange how you think about distance.

The chain section. The exposure. The drop on either side that makes you question every decision that brought you here. And then the summit. One of the most dramatic views in the American West, earned.

The cables on the final pitch are steep enough to make your hands shake. The summit is worth every nerve. The valley view from the top justifies every permit application you ever filed.

You can walk the entire South Rim on a paved trail and look into something that still doesn't make complete sense even when you're standing at the edge. Accessible. Overwhelming. Required.

The trail that follows the old railroad tunnel through Lookout Mountain into Chattanooga. History, scenery, and a descent into a city that's done everything right with its waterfront.

Indiana's answer to the Smokies. Fall color that makes people drive three hours for it. The trails through the hills and hollers are what everyone who moved here from somewhere else didn't expect to find.

Eighteen canyons carved by glacial meltwater, two hours from Chicago. The canyon walls are sandstone. The waterfalls freeze solid in winter. It looks like something that shouldn't exist in Illinois.

The longest marked hiking trail in Indiana. Rugged for the Midwest. Quiet. The kind of trail that makes you realize Indiana has more vertical relief than people give it credit for.

Rocky hollows, suspension bridges, ladders bolted into sandstone canyon walls. This is not a nature walk — it's an adventure. The best trails in Indiana are all in Turkey Run, and this is the best of those.

26 miles through the heart of Indianapolis, from Broad Ripple to downtown and beyond. The city's most democratic space. Runners, cyclists, dog walkers, strollers. The trail that proved Indianapolis could have nice things.