The Natonal Park Service (NPS) administers the Natchez Trace Parkway, a two-lane All-American Road that extends 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. The trace started as a game trail that was utilized as an American Indian footpath. Some of the mound builder sites protected here were inhabited when Hernando de Soto led the first Europeans into this area in 1540. The Natchez Trace was heavily used in the 1800s by “Kaintuck” flatboatmen returning from New Orleans who left the Mississippi River from Natchez, Mississippi and continued on foot north to Kentucky and beyond. Today you can still follow portions of the sunken trail worn down by travelers for centuries. The parkway began as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) project during the Great Depression and the final two segments were completed in 2005.
Highlights
Rocky Springs, Owens Creek Waterfall, Emerald Mound, Mount Locust, Chickasaw Village, Meriwether Lewis Monument and Gravesite, Cypress Swamp Walk, Witch Dance Horse Trail, Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Near Tupelo, the Parkway Visitor Center at Milepost 266 is a must-do stop to learn the history of the trace, and it also serves as the NPS contact station for tiny Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site and Tupelo National Battlefield. There are numerous roadside informational pullouts and trailheads along the route, so use the NPS app or pick up an official “unigrid” map. You can easily spend days exploring, but at a minimum we recommend you check out Emerald Mound, Mount Locust, Cypress Swamp, and Meriwether Lewis Monument and Grave Site.
Best Trail
Our favorite trail is the Cypress Swamp Walk at Milepost 122, where a boardwalk crosses a scenic tupelo-baldcypress swamp. The Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail (click here for our blog post) does not follow the entire 444-mile parkway, but exists in five segments totaling 67 miles in length. There are also 15 miles of equestrian trails at Witch Dance (Milepost 233.2) in Tombigbee National Forest.
Photographic Opportunity
Not far from Natchez National Historical Park, Emerald Mound (a short detour at Milepost 10.3) is the second-largest American Indian ceremonial mound in the U.S. It stands 35 feet tall and 770 by 435 feet at its base.
The entire 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway is paved from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee with commercial traffic prohibited and a maximum speed limit of 50 miles per hour. There is a detour from Milepost 181 to 204 due to ongoing construction. Watch for bicycles and white-tailed deer on the road.
Camping
There are three free NPS campgrounds (at Milepost 54, 193.1, and 385.9) along the route, as well as those in sites like Mississippi’s Tishomingo State Park. The three NPS campgrounds have water and bathrooms (but no RV hookups), plus there are also five bike-only campsites along the route. Jeff Busby Campground closed in June 2025 for repairs.
Los Padres National Forest stretches more than 200 miles from Monterrey south beyond Santa Barbara. It contains most of Big Sur, a name that conjures images of craggy cliffs dropping precipitously into white-capped ocean waves. This sparsely inhabited stretch of coastline is known as much for its historic bohemians as its coast redwood trees. It is home to multiple rare tree species with limited native ranges, especially those that can tolerate serpentine soils. As the only National Forest in California that touches the Pacific Ocean, a road trip down scenic Highway 1 should be on everyone’s bucket list, including stops at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Bixby Creek Bridge, Hearst Castle State Park, and the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas. We have hiked many trails here since Scott taught for three years at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo.
Highlights
Big Sur, Sykes Hot Springs, Salmon Creek Falls, Jade Cove, Cuesta Ridge Botanical Area, Figueroa Mountain, Mt. Pinos, Knapp’s Castle, Seven Falls, Sespe Hot Springs
Must-Do Activity
Los Padres National Forest is 48% designated Wilderness, so the recommended activity is to hike into those natural areas. The Matilija Wilderness is in the Santa Ynez Mountains that loom above the coastal city of Santa Barbara, home to a university, art museum, and historic Presidio built in 1782. If you go to hike to the ruins of Knapp’s Castle in the National Forest, also make a quick stop at Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park, which contains colorful pictographs dating back to the 1600s. Another popular U.S. Forest Service trailhead located closer to town goes either to Inspiration Point or Seven Falls, the latter a better choice on foggy days, which are common on the coast.
Best Trail
There are 323 miles of incredible hiking trails throughout Los Padres National Forest, including a few that access hot springs. Our favorite trails are in the Santa Lucia Mountains that tower above Big Sur. One pinnacle accessible by trail is Cone Peak at 5,155 feet in elevation. The access road is typically closed in the winter, but when it is open the trail is only 2.3 miles to the summit with a vertical gain of 1,400 feet. Do not expect any shade since multiple fires have burned most of the mountain, although there are still a few surviving examples of the rare Santa Lucia fir tree. Although some areas are no longer vegetated, the plentiful sunshine above the fog belt means there are often incredible displays of wildflowers along the trail early in summer, including lupine, sticky monkeyflower, and yucca.
Watchable Wildlife
There is a wide range of wildlife found here from sea level up to 8,847 feet in elevation, and the most famous is the reintroduced California condor that nests in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary. Other birds include barn owls, great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, California quail, and California scrub jays. Coyotes, black bears, bobcats, mountain lions, black-tailed deer, bighorn sheep, and raccoons are common large mammals. Species of concern include the foothill yellow-legged frog and California mountain kingsnake. Look for California newts and banana slugs in the moist understory of coast redwood forests.
Photographic Opportunity
Even if you are not spending the night at Kirk Creek Campground, you can park and walk down the trail to the south that goes past redwood trees to the beach where there is a sea arch and tidepools.
Peak Season
Fall and winter
Fees
$5 per vehicle Adventure Pass (or America the Beautiful pass) required at most trailheads
Road Conditions
There are some steep unpaved roads in Los Padres National Forest, which can be impassable in wet or snowy conditions. Portions of the unpaved Tassajara Road to Chews Ridge are narrow and steep, requiring a four-wheel-drive vehicle to reach Tassajara Hot Springs.
Camping
A night spent listening to the ocean waves breaking far below the U.S. Forest Service’s clifftop Kirk Creek Campground is enchanting, which is why it made it on our list of Top 10 Campgrounds in National Forests. There are 11 campgrounds in total, and a free campfire permit is required if you use a camp stove (which can be obtained online). Sespe Hot Springs is a popular ten-mile one-way backpacking destination.
Scott’s mother and aunt in the redwood forestTiff hiking to Sespe Hot SpringsSespe Hot SpringsSticky monkeyflowerScott backpacking to Sespe Hot SpringsHighway 1Scott with a Santa Lucia firScott with a coast redwood treeBanana slugCalifornia newtMt. PinosKirk Creek Campground in Big Sur
Only 16 of the 138 U.S. National Monuments are found in National Forests, and many of those are jointly administered with the Bureau of Land Management (the BLM ones will be covered in a future Top 10 List). Moreover, ten of them are located in only two states (California and Colorado). However, that does not mean they are not worth checking out. We have visited 15 with the exception of Admiralty Island in Alaska (but did read Alone in the Fortress of the Bears by Bruce L. Nelson), so we have an educated opinion in our ranking. Click here to see all our Top 10 Lists, including our Top 10 National Monuments Managed by the National Park Service.
10. Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains (California)
A gondola ride up into Mt. San Jacinto State Park is the easiest way to access these mountains south of Palm Springs where the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) runs
9. Camp Hale–Continental Divide (Colorado)
During World War II, the 10th Mountain Division trained in this section of the Rocky Mountains
8. Browns Canyon (Colorado)
The only legal way to access these lands is on a whitewater rafting trip
…and finally our #1 National Monument in a National Forest
1. Giant Sequoia (California)
Not as busy as Sequoia National Park, there are some impressive giant sequoia trees found here (including the Boole Tree, one of our favorites)
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Honorable Mentions
Sand to Snow (California)
We are mostly familiar with the BLM part of this National Monument, but it stretches up into the San Gorgonio Wilderness of San Bernardino National Forest
After we published our guidebook 50 States of Great: Road Trip Guide to America in 2023, we decided to start a new type of blog post where we create a travel itinerary for all 50 states, in addition to our usual public land entries. After starting with Kansas, Georgia, Idaho, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Hawai’i, Arizona, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Indiana, we decided to head back west to Montana. There are so many great trails in the state’s National Forests that we had a difficult time narrowing it down. We made an ambitious seven-day plan starting in southeast Montana on Interstate 90, with enough options to easily extend the trip into three weeks or more.
The best time to visit the National Monument is around June 25, the anniversary of Custer’s Last Stand when a reenactment of the battle is held on private land bordering the National Park Service site.
Makoshika State Park
It is illegal to remove dinosaur fossils from these badlands, but there are many on display at the visitor center, in addition to nearby museums (plus reservations can be made to dig on private land). The few campsites are in high demand to spend the night in these colorful canyons where caprocks rise high above juniper trees.
Optional stop at Pompeys Pillar National Monument
A sandstone monolith on the Yellowstone River has been a place for humans to record their passing for 11,000 years. The most famous inscription was left by Captain William Clark on July 25, 1806, the sole on-site evidence of the Corps of Discovery’s three-year journey.
This underappreciated gem in the National Park Service system features gorgeous scenery and abundant wildlife, including bighorn sheep and wild horses. The highlight is across the state line in Wyoming where Devil Canyon Overlook sits atop cliffs that drop over 1,000 feet straight down to the level of the narrow reservoir.
Gallatin Petrified Forest is only accessible by trail, either from a short two-mile one-way jaunt or by backpacking the 27-mile Gallatin Divide-Devils Backbone Trail. Earthquake Lake Geologic Area stretches along Highway 287 to commemorate the events that occurred around midnight on August 17, 1959, when a deadly magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit West Yellowstone.
Some of the National Forest’s miles of hiking trails access the Crazy Mountains and Hellroaring Plateau. The two-mile Glacier Lake Trail steadily climbs 1,100 feet then drops into a bowl containing a stunning reservoir that straddles the Wyoming-Montana border.
Optional drive on Beartooth All-American Road
Custer National Forest is famous for its stretch of Highway 212 that climbs from the prairie around the town of Red Lodge up to 10,947 feet at Beartooth Pass across the Wyoming border in Shoshone National Forest. The road follows the southern border of the giant 943,626-acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, which contains the highest point in Montana.
Located mostly in Wyoming and partly in Montana and Idaho, you could easily spend an entire summer in the world’s first National Park and not see all the thermal features, lakes, waterfalls, wildlife, and hiking trails.
Day 3
Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park
Once a U.S. National Monument, the state now runs a campground here and offers guided tours through a limestone show cave where bats live in the summer.
The free Potosi Campground is situated near the trailhead for Upper Potosi Hot Springs where a 0.8-mile trail leads past the uphill side of a clear 100°F pool with room for about six adults.
Optional stop at Chico Hot Springs
If you leave Yellowstone National Park north through Gardiner on Highway 89, consider stopping at this developed hot springs (fee) that offers live music poolside on some nights (especially if the park’s Boiling River was closed). In business since 1897, even Teddy Roosevelt stopped to rest here.
Day 4
Bannack State Park
East of Lemhi Pass on the Idaho border (which is also the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail through there), Bannack State Park preserves more than 50 buildings from a gold rush town that was the territorial capital in 1864.
The site of a surprise attack by the U.S. Army on the morning of August 9, 1877, where Nez Perce warriors forced the troops to retreat, capturing a Howitzer cannon and allowing women and children to escape toward the newly created Yellowstone National Park. Part of the widespread Nez Perce National Historical Park, a small visitor center here overlooks the battlefield and a paved road accesses trails through it.
Blodgett Creek Trail leads 12.6 miles one-way to Blodgett Lake, but you do not have to go that far to appreciate its incredible beauty.
Optional stop at Elkhorn Hot Springs
In the Pioneer Mountains, about ten miles north of Highway 278 is the privately owned Elkhorn Hot Springs (fee), a great place to relax after hiking. There is free dispersed camping to the north in Beaverhead National Forest.
Day 5
Travelers’ Rest State Park
Follow in the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition by driving the Lolo Trail (Highway 12), soaking at Lolo Hot Springs, or walking around Travelers’ Rest State Park (still a great place to camp).
Missoula
Do as the University of Montana students do and float tubes down the Clark Fork River through town. In the summer, look for webcam-famous Iris the Osprey in the parking lot near the football stadium. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula preserves buildings dating back to 1877, including an Alien Detention Center used during World War II.
Outside Missoula, there are many trails in Rattlesnake National Recreation Area and Blue Mountain Recreation Area, plus the Aerial Fire Depot and Smokejumper Center, Ninemile Historic Remount Depot, and Savenac Historic Tree Nursery Area.
This working ranch commemorates the nineteenth-century lifestyle of cattle barons and cowboys. Free guided tours are offered inside the large ranch house, and a self-guided walking tour enters 15 buildings with displays on the history of barbwire, branding irons, and much more.
Day 6
National Bison Range
Established in 1908 under President Theodore Roosevelt and now run by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Start at the visitor center, then take the 19-mile Red Sleep Mountain Drive to see mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorns, bighorn sheep, and the namesake bison.
Jewel Basin Hiking Area is famous among backpackers, and further south so is Holland Lake, which has several campgrounds. The steep Holland-Gordon Trail passes Holland Falls as it climbs 2,100 feet in 5.8 miles to Upper Holland Lake and continues into “the Bob” (Bob Marshall Wilderness). Flathead National Forest contains more than 2,800 miles of hiking trails, including 38 miles of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail and a stretch of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
Optional stop at Mission Mountains Wilderness
Located within Flathead National Forest, a popular trail accesses multiple mountain lakes; it is only 1.5 miles one-way to Glacier Lake, but we recommend continuing to Turquoise Lake. It borders the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness (permits required).
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park’s renowned Going-to-the-Sun Road was built to cross the park from east to west in the 1920s (reservations are required to drive it between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the summer). At its highest point at 6,646-foot Logan Pass, the road crosses the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
In the state’s northwest corner, incredible views await at Blue Mountain Trail, Skyline National Recreation Trail, Scenery Mountain Lookout Trail, Ross Creek Scenic Area of old-growth western redcedar trees, and Kootenai Falls (located in a county park on the side of Highway 2).
Meriwether Lewis named the Gates of the Mountains on July 19, 1805, and today a two-hour jet boat tour on the Missouri River provides history on the Corps of Discovery, American Indian pictographs, the Mann Gulch Fire, and the collapse of Hauser Dam. A trail through Refrigerator Canyon is less than ten feet wide at its narrowest point, where towering 200-foot limestone cliffs keep it cool and breezy throughout the summer.
Great Falls
North of Helena on Interstate 15 is the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (fee), which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service on the banks of the Missouri River.
This 375,000-acre National Monument preserves a stretch of the Missouri River that still looks much the way it did when Lewis and Clark explored it. Start your journey by paying for permits at the Bureau of Land Management interpretive center in historic Fort Benton, where you can launch your canoe or kayak to access 149 miles of the river. There are developed boat camps with vault toilets along the route, or you can pick your own spot near one of the Corps of Discovery campsite markers.
It includes portions of the Boulder Mountains, Flint Creek Range, and Elkhorn Mountains, as well as part of the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Our favorite hike is Haystack Mountain National Recreation Trail off Interstate 15, where a climb of 2,000 feet ends at a mountaintop boulder field with panoramic views and the remnants of a fire lookout tower.
Backpacking is a major draw with trails in the Snowy Mountain Range and parts of the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall Wilderness areas, which provide crucial habitat for grizzly bears. It encompasses one of the most famous formations along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the 15-mile long Chinese Wall (a 1,000-foot-tall cliff composed of five-million-year-old limestone).
We have hiked in all 155 National Forests, and we used those experiences to write our guidebook Out in the Woods. Most National Forests have hundreds of miles of trails, which are a great way to explore the landscape. Sometimes it can be overwhelming because there are so many options. Compared to our Top 10 Day Hiking Trails in National Forests, this list is focused on places where there are many good trails to choose from (and we did our best not to overlap). We hope you are inspired to throw on your daypack and hit the trail. Click here to see all our Top 10 lists, including our Top 10 National Forests for Backpacking and Top 10 Summit Trails in National Forests.
10. Tonto (Arizona)
Due to its proximity to Phoenix, many areas like Peralta and First Water Trailheads are often packed with hikers (as is Siphon Draw Trail, another favorite hike that gains 2,781 feet of elevation to the Flatiron, usually starting from Lost Dutchman State Park).
Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest features a 0.8-mile trail that runs through the old-growth forest. Hemlock Cliffs Trail is a 1.2-mile loop through a sandstone canyon that passes behind two unique waterfalls. Longer hiking options include the 36.3-mile Terrill Ridge Trail that enters the Charles C. Deam Wilderness (Indiana’s one and only) and the 24.1 miles of trails around German Ridge Lake.
St. Peter’s Dome and Morgan Falls Recreation Area (fee) is one of the best developed sites, as are Aldo Leopold Commemorative Trail and Moquah Barrens Research Natural Area. The North Country National Scenic Trail traverses a 61-mile stretch of Chequamegon National Forest and the southernmost disjunct section includes 49 miles of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail.
The Gennett Poplar (a tulip-poplar tree more than five feet in diameter) is accessed by hiking 1.8 miles out-and-back with two stream crossings on the Bear Creek Tail. Old-growth trees are also found in 175-acre Sosebee Cove Scenic Area. Trails also access Anna Ruby Falls and the highest point in Georgia (4,784-foot Brasstown Bald). Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area encompasses Springer Mountain, home of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail’s southern terminus and the Benton MacKaye Trail.
6. Mt. Hood (Oregon)
Some of the best waterfalls in the country are in Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and that does not include the trail that allows you to walk behind the roaring Tamanawas Falls. Two great spots to photograph snowy Mt. Hood are from Trillium Lake and Lost Lake (where a three-mile hiking trail encircles it).
5. Ozark (Arkansas)
Hawksbill Crag (Whitaker Point) is an iconic Arkansas landmark in the Upper Buffalo Wilderness. Alum Cove Natural Bridge National Recreation Trail is a 1.1-mile loop that crosses over a 130-foot-long sandstone bridge that is 20 feet wide with installed guardrails. Another natural bridge (60 feet long) on Hurricane Creek can be found along the 165-mile Ozark Highlands National Recreation Trail.
Right outside Missoula are numerous hiking trails in Blue Mountain Recreation Area and Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. Morrell Falls National Recreation Trail leads to a 90-foot-tall waterfall on the western slope of the Swan Range, and the nearby Pyramid Pass Trailhead provides access to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in adjacent Flathead National Forest.
3. White River (Colorado)
Hanging Lake and the Maroon Bells are two of the most picturesque places in Colorado, so parking can be an issue at both. Most visitors do not make it beyond the photo-ops along Maroon Lake, but a hike up the valley at least to Crater Lake (1.8 miles one-way) is worth the effort.
2. Sierra (California)
A paved wheelchair-accessible walking path of less than a half-mile leads through the McKinley Grove of giant sequoia trees, plus there are two National Recreation Trails at Rancheria Falls and Lewis Creek (not to mention parts of the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail).
…and finally our #1 National Forest for day hiking:
Mt. Humphreys made it on our Top 10 Summit Trails in National Forests and there are many other great hikes in the Kachina Wilderness on the San Francisco Peaks, plus countless trails around Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, and Sycamore Canyon.
Crabtree Falls Observation Trail (day use fee) is easy to access from paved State Route 56 east of the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are actually five waterfalls here with a total drop of 1,200 feet spread over a half-mile. Other hikes include Bird Knob Loop Trail, Lion’s Tale National Recreation Trail, Waterfall Mountain Loop Trail, McDowell Battlefield Trail, Big Schloss Trail, and Massanutten Trail.
Pike (Colorado)
Devil’s Head National Recreation Trail leads to an amazing fire lookout tower surrounded by giant boulders (similar to The Crags, a 2.5-mile one-way trail near Cripple Creek), which is why it made it on our list of the Top 10 Day Hiking Trails in National Forests.
The most developed parts of San Bernardino National Forest for hiking are around Big Bear Lake, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, and the San Gorgonio Wilderness. An Adventure Pass is required to park at popular trailheads, including Castle Rock, Grays Peak, Hanna Flat, and Cougar Crest to Bertha Peak. Southwest of Big Bear Lake is the Champion Lodgepole Pine Trail, which is less than a mile hike through the lush Bluff Meadows to a stout seven-foot diameter tree.
Ottawa (Michigan)
Ottawa National Forest has 2,000 miles of streams and countless waterfalls. Black River Harbor Recreation Area is traced by the North Country National Scenic Trail and has several beautiful falls along its passage to Lake Superior. The Forest Service visitor center in Watersmeet has a half-mile interpretive loop and access to Agonikak National Recreation Trail.
Raven About The Parks 