Gorgeous, Uplifting Vacations: Follow ‘100 Trails, 5000 Ideas’

Looking for gorgeous, nature-embracing vacation recommendations in the U.S.A. and Canada? Go wild for the travel info in 100 Trails, 5000 Ideas, a new 350-page book published this month by National Geographic Books. Spotlighting the best hiking, walking and biking trails, this latest star in National Geographic’s popular 5000 Ideas series is a bright “where to go, when to go, what to see, what to do” edition. A detailed, inviting portal — chock-full of photographs (some of which are shown here) — 100 Trails can inspire your next getaways.

Author Joe Yogerst has lived and worked as an editor, journalist and photographer in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, where he has written for leading newspapers and travel magazines. Yogerst has also contributed to dozens of National Geographic books. “Hiking for pleasure has been an American passion for centuries,” says Yogerst in the book’s introduction. “Three of the top four outdoor activities — hiking, biking and running — largely revolve around trails of one sort or another. Nearly one out of every five Americans hikes every year. And that figure doesn’t consider those who take a casual stroll through their local park or along a beach. Other than nature itself, that makes trails the nation’s most important outdoor recreation asset. Given the fact that biking and hiking help improve a person’s physical well-being and mental health, trails are also one of the country’s paramount health resources.”

Yogerst jumpstarts this engaging book by revealing the backstory about how he came to love hiking, which aided him to surmount a childhood health challenge. Fast forward to his early 20s: “I was hooked by trails as diverse as the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Torres del Paine in Patagonia. Researching and writing this book afforded me an opportunity to hike many new routes across the nation, sometimes with good old-fashioned topographic maps and almost always with a GPS app on my phone to show where I was and record my routes for posterity.”

Famous Journeys and Off-the-Beaten-Path Surprises

100 Trails, 5000 Ideas is divided into six geographic chapters. There is also a bonus section that showcases top trails in far-flung parts of the globe. Some of the North American routes, such as the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest, “are long-distance legends,” writes Yogerst. Others, such as Fiery Gizzard Trail in Tennessee, the Cape Chignecto Trail in Nova Scotia and the River to River Trail in southern Illinois “are largely unknown to those who live outside their regions,” he continues. “Although wilderness is the main focus, our list also includes urban routes for those who want to stretch their legs in the big city, such as the High Line in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Trail and the Paseo del Bosque in Albuquerque.”

For on-the-go adventurers as well as armchair travelers, it’s easy to feel happily swept up by Yogerst’s descriptions of these trails and scenic expanses.

Peruse lively pages featuring a broad array of experiences and environments. Hawaii’s rugged 11-mile Kalalau Trail on remote Nāpali Coast along the North Shore of Kauai wends through five valleys and verdant greenery before culminating at Kalalau Beach where it meets fluted, sheer cliffs. Washington’s 130-mile Olympic Discovery Trail unfolds from the charming seaside town of Port Townsend to the Pacific Ocean with plentiful serene backwoods and byways. The Chicago Lakefront Trail is a culturally vivacious, urban eye-opener replete with beaches, outdoor public art, water sports, waterside eateries and world-class museums, illustrating that city trails are a welcome, even vital, oasis. Massachusetts’ historic Freedom Trail, where quests for revolutionary liberty arose amid meeting halls, churches and in the streets, now rouses curiosity and wonder, as well as educates. New Hampshire’s iconic Presidential Traverse is New England’s astonishing hike that spans among seven peaks and where the Mount Washington Cog Railway, in the White Mountains, moves passengers via vintage train cars. And Sentier Les Caps, in Canada’s Québec region, fosters a bold crossing “through a landscape more redolent of Norway than typical Canadian countryside,” points out Yogerst.

Throughout the book, interests for every kind of hiker and biker are highlighted. Routes are deemed easy, moderate or strenuous. Sidebars further expand on fun facts and how-to planning, such as entertaining aprés-hike diversions, places to stay the night and favorite foods.

From Henry David Thoreau who penned about his sojourns around Walden Pond and Cape Cod in Massachusetts to John Muir who trekked across southern Ontario and made famous his thousand-mile walk from Indiana to the Gulf Coast, naturalists and notable authors have long relished the grandeur of the wide blue yonder. Today, says Yogerst, outdoor escapes are readily enjoyed by multitudes: “According to the Outdoor Foundation, more than 160 million Americans participated in various forms of outdoor recreation in 2020. That’s more than half the entire population.” Yogerst’s tribute to trails and their glorious revelries will undoubtedly fill his readers’ personal bucket lists.

National Geographic is now owned by Disney.