Hiking Resources
Get the information you need to feel confident on your next hike.
Joel Cross
American Hiking Society has partnered with the Hiking Project to help you find trails and featured hikes you’ll love. The Hiking Project is a crowd-sourced platform, which means that all trails are shared by hikers like you. If you don’t see trails near you now, keep checking back. And better yet, why not share your favorite local hikes?
Trail Ratings:
Easy: walking with no obstacles and low grades
Easy/Intermediate
Intermediate: 10% grade, small rocks and roots, easy scrambling
Intermediate/Difficult
Difficult: 15% grade, large obstacles, possible scrambling or climbing
Extremely Difficult: 20% grade, 15+" obstacles, many harder sections
Featured Hikes:
Sometimes it's hard to pick the perfect hike right off the map. Browse through Hiking Project's highest rated hikes to see which trails other hikers are ranting and raving about.
Download the Trail Info:
take the info with you on your next hike. Download the maps and trail info to your mobile device for offline use. Remember to pin the trails before you leave cell service.
Give to American Hiking Society Today
Help build and maintain hiking trails, conserve America’s natural landscapes, build a more inclusive outdoors, and ensure that tomorrow’s hiking experience is even better than today’s. Your gift makes you part of a growing hiking community helping to protect the places you love to hike.
Lionello Delpiccolo
Hiking Resources for Your Next Hike
rawpixel.com
Before You Go
Callistus Ndemo
All About Trails
National Trails Day and Great Outdoor Month 2015
By: Jennifer Pharr Davis, American Hiking Society Ambassador The danger of celebrating a day dedicated to trails and a month marked for outdoor enjoyment is that some might see the commemoration as a way to consolidate wilderness activities into a single activity or a short season of exploration. Instead, we should view it as a…
Read More
Feeding Your Mind and Body on Vacation
By: Laura Randall It’s prime vacation season, and with that comes the joys and challenges of deciding how exactly to spend all that leisure time. Some people want their vacations to be all about infinity pools, umbrella-topped drinks, and large costumed characters. Others prefer to scale a mountain or master a new activity like standup…
Read More
Breaking Ground to Extend Lost Coast Trail
On the windswept Northern California coast is one of the most rugged, remote and wild places in the state. Great expanses of forest meet wildflower-carpeted bluffs before plunging from rocky cliffs to long, deserted beaches. Here, you can find solitude and escape surrounded by dramatic natural beauty like nowhere else on Earth. This is the…
Read More
Exhilarated by my own human power
By: Liz Thomas, American Hiking Society Ambassador When I was a freshmen in high school, I wrote an essay about my first time mowing a lawn. It seems like a silly topic to write an essay about, but ever since I can remember, I had thought of mowing a lawn as a tough guy thing…
Read MoreComing Back to Pay it Forward
By: Mark Ray Fifteen years ago, the movie Pay It Forward popularized the idea that the best way to repay a favor is to do a favor for someone else—to pay the favor forward, in other words. But, as Scouting alumnus Peter Johnson demonstrated last fall, it’s actually possible to pay a favor back and…
Read More
#HikingMakesMe – Liz Thomas
American Hiking Society Ambassador, Liz Thomas, responds to our #HikingMakesMe interview. My name is Liz Thomas, but my friends call me Snorkel because that is my trail name. When I go on a hike, I never leave home without my Altra shoes, Darn Tough socks, and Sawyer Mini filter. My favorite book(s) are the Harry…
Read More
It’s a funny thing about trails…
By : Sam Hodder, President & CEO, Save the Redwoods League It’s a funny thing about trails. They seem to carry a lot more significance than their linear simplicity would imply. For me, trails have always been complicated. Not just because I know firsthand what it takes to build them, but because through every phase…
Read More
How Trails Get Their Names
The names of hiking trails are often straightforward and self-explanatory — they are chosen for a point of interest, or perhaps a trail leader or volunteer who helped blaze the original path. But every so often, a catchy or unusual trail name comes along that defies the norm and makes me want to know the…
Read MoreJamison Sliger
American Hiking Society's Alliance of Hiking Organizations is a network of trail groups, hiking clubs, land trusts and other organizations working to promote and protect hiking trails, trail lands, and the hiking experience. American Hiking Society and its Alliance are the primary force in pressing for increased funding for trails and protecting places special to hikers.
Learn about organizational membership benefits and join the Alliance today.
You may sort our list of Alliance members below by any column, by clicking on the up/down arrows in the header.
| Organization Name | City | State | Website | Membership Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adirondack Forty-Sixers | Plattsburgh | NY | http://www.adk46er.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| American Endurance Ride Conference | Auburn | CA | http://www.aerc.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Arizona Trail Association | Tucson | AZ | http://www.aztrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Bay Area Ridge Trail Council | San Francisco | CA | http://www.ridgetrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Beaver Creek Wetlands Association | Beavercreek | OH | https://beavercreekwetlands.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Benton County Conservation | Vinton | IA | https://www.bentoncountyia.gov/departments/community-services/county-conservation/default.aspx | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Benton MacKaye Trail Association | Cherry Log | GA | http://www.bmta.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy | Franklin | NC | http://ncbartramtrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship | Hillsboro | VA | https://www.blueridgecenter.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation | Hungry Horse | MT | http://www.bmwf.org/ | Alliance, SILVER |
| Border Route Trail Association, Inc | Edina | MN | http://www.borderroutetrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Buckeye Trail Association | Shawnee | OH | http://www.buckeyetrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Camp Tuscazoar | Zoarville | OH | http://www.tuscazoar.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Carolina Mountain Club | Asheville | NC | http://www.carolinamtnclub.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Cayuga Trails Club | Ithaca | NY | http://www.cayugatrailsclub.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Champlain Area Trails | Westport | NY | http://www.champlainareatrails.com/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Chinook Trail Association | Vancouver | WA | http://www.chinooktrails.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Clean Trails / National CleanUp Day | Denver | CO | https://www.cleantrails.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Columbia Land Conservancy | Chatham | NY | https://clctrust.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Connecticut Forest & Park Association | Rockfall | CT | http://www.ctwoodlands.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Corvallis-to-the-Sea (C2C) Trail Partnership | Corvallis | OR | http://www.c2ctrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Cross Vermont Trail Association | Montpelier | VT | http://www.crossvermont.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council | Peninsula | OH | http://www.cvtrailscouncil.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Epic | Lexington | KY | Alliance, BRONZE | |
| Finger Lakes Trail Conference, Inc. | Mt. Morris | NY | http://www.fingerlakestrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Florida Trail Association | Gainesville | FL | http://www.floridatrail.org/ | Alliance, SILVER |
| Friends of Blackwater, Inc. | Thomas | WV | http://www.saveblackwater.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Friends of Cloudland Canyon State Park | Trenton | GA | http://friendsofcloudlandcanyon.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Friends of Congaree Swamp | Columbia | SC | http://www.friendsofcongaree.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Friends of Don Carter State Park | Gainesville | GA | http://gastateparks.org/doncarter | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Friends of Government Canyon | San Antonio | TX | https://friendsofgovernmentcanyon.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Friends of Panthertown | Cashiers | NC | http://www.panthertown.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Friends of the Columbia Gorge | Portland | OR | http://www.gorgefriends.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Great Shasta Rail Trail Association | McCloud | CA | www.greatshastarailtrail.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Gwynns Falls Trail Council | Baltimore | MD | http://www.gwynnsfallstrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Headwaters Trail System | Three Forks | http://threeforksmontana.us | Alliance, BRONZE | |
| Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy | Southeastern | PA | http://hstrail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Idaho Trails Association | Boise | ID | http://www.idahotrailsassociation.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Klickitat Trail Conservancy | Lyle | WA | http://klickitat-trail.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Lone Star Hiking Trail Club | Houston | TX | http://www.lshtclub.com | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Louisiana Hiking Club | BATON ROUGE | LA | http://hikelouisiana.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Mohonk Preserve | New Paltz | NY | https://www.mohonkpreserve.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Mountain High Hikers | Hayesville | NC | http://www.mountainhighhikers.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Nantahala Hiking Club | Franklin | NC | http://www.nantahalahikingclub.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club | Lynchburg | VA | https://www.nbatc.org/index.html | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Navajo YES | Teec Nos Pos | AZ | http://www.navajoyes.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| NC High Peaks Trail Assoc. | Burnsville | NC | http://www.nchighpeaks.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Newburyport Parks | NEWBURYPORT | MA | http://newburyportparks.org/index.html | Alliance, SILVER |
| Norfolk Land Trust | Norfolk | CT | https://norfolklandtrust.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| North Country Trail Association Incorporated | Lowell | MI | http://www.northcountrytrail.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Northwest Youth Corps | Eugene | OR | http://www.northwestyouthcorps.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Orinda Hiking Club | Orinda | CA | http://www.orindahiking.org/index.html | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Pacific Crest Trail Association | Sacramento | CA | http://www.pcta.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Palmetto Conservation Foundation - Palmetto Trail | Columbia | SC | http://www.palmettoconservation.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation | Camp Hill | PA | http://www.paparksandforests.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Red Lodge Hiking Club | Columbus | MT | Alliance, BRONZE | |
| Rise Up Adventure Guide | Lake Charles | LA | https://www.riseadventureguide.com | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Rocky Mountain Field Institute | Colorado Springs | CO | http://www.rmfi.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| San Diego River Park Foundation | San Diego | CA | http://www.sandiegoriver.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Superior Hiking Trail Association | Two Harbors | MN | http://www.shta.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Tahoe Rim Trail Association | Stateline | NV | http://www.tahoerimtrail.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Teaneck Creek Conservancy | Teaneck | NJ | http://www.teaneckcreek.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Trail Center | Palo Alto | CA | https://www.trailcenter.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Victor Hiking Trails, Inc. | VICTOR | NY | http://www.victorhikingtrails.org/ | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Visit Mississippi | Jackson | MS | http://www.visitmississippi.org | Alliance, BRONZE |
| Wild Basin Creative Research Center | AUSTIN | TX | http://www.wildbasin.org | Alliance, BRONZE |