Andrew Skurka’s Top 10 Hikes

andrew skurka
National Geographic Adventure had uber-hiker Andrew Skurka, their Adventurer of the Year, come up with his top ten favorite hikes, and you can check out the results here.

The hikes are broken down into three categories, short hikes (1-2 days in length), Medium, deemed a “long weekend”, and Long, which are a week or more in length. From there, Skurka picked hikes that were ranked as “easy”, “intermediate”, and “hard” in difficulty.

Amongst his favorites are The Superior Hiking Trail in Minnesota, which is his easiest trek. The trail is described as mostly flat, with occasional climbs and descents. It’s more than 245 miles in length, but is perfect for short 1-2 days of hiking. For medium length, intermediate hiking, he recommends spending some time on the Appalachian Trail. Everyone knows that it can be an epic trek, but for shorter, ultralight hikes, it can be very rewarding as well.

As for his long and most challenging hike, he selected the Continental Trail. He recommends doing the entire 2700 mile length (big surprise from him!), but says that the 210 mile San Juan section in Colorado is best for us mere mortals. Beware however, this trail comes with a lot of altitude, and is rugged and remote, with lots of alpine style ridge hiking mixed in.

Great list from a guy who certainly knows his trails.

Kraig Becker

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