15 Stunning Hiking Trails to Add to Your Outdoor Bucket List

Until we all get to travel again check out this fun guest post from Geraldine and whet your appetite for your next adventure.

One of the best ways you can find the most beautiful sights worldwide is hiking. Not every gorgeous spot in the world is accessible by car, which many avid hikers know already. Aside from that, it helps that it makes you more self-reliant and independent when you finish each hike.

It’s always exciting for any hiker to try out new hiking trails, especially ones that come with a stunning view. If you’re a hiker looking for another gorgeous hiking trail to leave your footprints on, here are 15 such trails that you have to include in your outdoor bucket list.

Everest Base Camp, Nepal

When people think of hiking achievements, one of the first things people think of would be to be able to hike atop Mount Everest. This achievement is difficult in itself, and only a few people dare to do it, but more are willing to take on this challenge.

If you want to hike the Nepalese landscape without committing to such a massive undertaking such as going up Mt. Everest, you can hike up to the Everest Base Camp instead.

Although you won’t see Mt. Everest from there, you can still enjoy the hike. Before you go there, make sure to bring some altitude medications with you.

Tour du Mont Blanc, France

One of Europe’s most famous long-distance hikes would be the Tour du Mont Blanc in France. Mont Blanc is about 110 mi or 170 km, and this hiking trail offers different views for each day of the hiking trip. You can expect verdant valleys around you as well as snow-capped mountains and forests along the way.

Inca Trail, Peru

The Inca Trail in Peru is one hike that lets you see one of the best human-made sights in the world: the Machu Picchu. This trail is one of the most popular undertakings in South America. If you want to take your time to enjoy the sights, you should allocate about five days to finish this trail.

The Appalachian Trail, United States

The Appalachian Trail is the longest hiking trail in the world, with a length of 2,200 mi or 3,500 km. You’re going to need to be an expert hiker if you want to take on this trail that will take you months to accomplish. However, once you finish it, you’re going to feel a sense of joy and pride.

It will get you through 14 states in the US, so you’re going to see a variety of sights going through the entire trail.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is a part of the renowned Seven Summits. It is the most accessible hike of the seven. Providing a fantastic view of the Tanzanian landscape from a high point, make sure that you bring your hiking poles with you.

Since hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro is quite famous, people have left a lot of their waste and garbage behind. Please be responsible and don’t leave anything but footsteps behind.

Banff Highline, Canada

The Banff National Park in Canada is home to the Banff Highline trail that spans 64 mi or 104 km. It will take you about five days or so to complete this trail. Make sure that you enjoy the alpine views and to stop by and enjoy the various lakes that you’ll pass by while you’re there.

Laugavegurinn Trail, Iceland

One of the best hikes in the world is the Laugavegurinn Trail in Iceland. If there’s any hiking trail that’s going to make you feel like you’re in another world altogether, it would be this trail.

You’ll find bright and green valleys, gorgeous lakes, ice caves, enchanting gorges, and more. You definitely wouldn’t want to leave behind your camera for this hiking trail.

Kungsleden (The King’s Trail), Sweden

The King’s Trail or Kungsleden of Sweden is another mountainous hiking trail that offers fantastic views. If you time your trip right, you might find the Aurora Borealis weaving its way through the night sky above you while you’re in the Swedish countryside.

This hike is open to both experienced and beginner hikers. Choose your hiking plan based on your competency.

The Milford Track, New Zealand

The Milford Track in New Zealand is around 33 mi or 54 km and takes you through breathtaking sights that people all over the world have fallen in love with before. This track will lead you to one of New Zealand’s, a stunning cove that is the country’s most popular tourist spot, and for a good reason. You’ll have to see it for yourself!

The Great Ocean Walk, Australia

The Great Ocean Walk in Victoria, Australia, is a coastal hiking trail that’s increasingly becoming one of the most popular spots in Victoria. The entire hike will provide you with that beautiful ocean view for about seven days. Aside from the beautiful ocean view, you can also find local fauna around if you like high and low.

Lycian Way, Turkey

Turkey’s first-ever long-distance hiking trail is the Lycian Way, which is another coastal trail. The entire trail is around 540 km long or 336 mi. If you want to take your time and hike the entirety of the path, you can break it up to reach 29 days of walking.

Mount Fuji, Japan

Gracing many postcards for Japan is the graceful view of Mount Fuji. To hike up to the peak and back down can take you between eight to 12 hours. A lot of people start the hike up during the evening so that they can get a view of the sunrise atop the mountain.

Once you reach the top, you can eat ramen, pray at the shrine, or even send a postcard to your loved ones!

Whale Trail, South Africa

There’s nothing like hiking with a companion, and it’s even better if your companion along the hike are whales! This experience is what you get when you take on the 56-km Whale Trail in South Africa. As you walk along the Western Cape coast, you’ll see the Southern Right whale during specific seasons.

Even without the whales accompanying you, you’ll find that the coastal trail is still a gorgeous five-day hike.

Dragon’s Back, Hong Kong

When you think of Hong Kong, you think of cities and skyscrapers. However, the Dragon’s Back hiking trail will show you a side of Hong Kong you didn’t know before.

The Dragon’s Back is a part of the Hong Kong Trail. If you want a short day trip of a hike, then the Dragon’s Back is the best urban hike in Hong Kong. It won’t take you more than three hours to finish this hike.

Fitz Roy Trek, Argentina

Fitz Roy in Argentina is a mountain known for being one of the hardest peaks to climb in the entire world. At most, you can get near the base of Fitz Roy. The hike to the mountain base is only a kilometer or a little more than half a mile. However, it’s the incline that’s going to challenge you.

Nonetheless, the view of the Fitz Roy behind you is worth the hike as it stands grand and proud above you.

Adventure awaits!

There are plenty more gorgeous hiking trails around the world that you should include in your bucket list. However, the 15 paths on this list are one of the best there is in the world. Therefore, if you’re a hiker looking to check several items off of your hiking goals, these are the trails you should hike.

Remember to be safe and to do your research before each hike so that you enjoy the trail and the views that come with it without compromising your safety!

A Restless Mind

What drives us, we nomadic types? What causes us to leave stable jobs, lovely homes, friends and family, to throw ourselves out into the world? To force discomfort upon ourselves by the mere act of having no home base, no tribe to reach to for comfort? To live a life outside our comfort zone, both mentally and literally?

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The Art of Overlanding

Wikipedia describes overlanding as such: Overlanding is self-reliant travel to remote destinations where the journey is the principal goal. Typically, but not exclusively, it is accomplished with mechanized off-road capable transport, where the principal form of lodging is camping, often lasting for extended lengths of time (months to years), and spanning international borders.

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Countdown to Overland Expo 2014!

Only 40 days to go until we attend our first Overland Expo! To say we are beyond excited is an understatement. Started in 2009 by Jonathan and Roseann Hanson, Expo has become THE event to attend each year in the United States. Jonathan was formerly with Overland Journal but now works full time, with Roseann, to make Expo the premier event that it is. The largest meeting of overlanders in the US, perhaps the world, Expo has become so popular that 2014 marks the first year it will be offered on both the west and east coast.

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“Knee deep in the water somewhere, got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair, only worry in the world is the tide going to reach my chair” – Zac Brown Band with Jimmy Buffet

It’s not news to anyone that we love the beach. Not only do we camp there regularly here in the Pacific Northwest, but we’ve made a point of visiting great beaches wherever we travel around the world. This week, in honor of our upcoming vacation to the beaches of Puerto Vallarta, we bring you some of our favorites from near and far.

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New Zealand is one of our favorite countries, a place we would love to live one day. While there we were fascinated by penguins. At one viewing spot, near Omaru, we were told to be very quiet, turn off cell phones, don’t make any quick movements because they were shy birds. What a laugh we all had when, after 45minutes of fruitless scanning the brush for a sighting, someone pointed out that the penguin was hanging out right next to the viewing platform…NOT hiding in the bush!