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discoverindywitherin
Jan 10, 20184 min read

5 Hikes That Made Us Love 'All Trails'


Loop Trail

Under 5 miles

Dog-Friendly

Difficulty - Easy to Moderate

This is usually how we search for the perfect quick hiking trail using All Trails.

All Trails is a free app that helps you find the perfect trail that fits your needs for hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, equestrian, trail running, and other trail activities.

We found some of our most-loved hikes using All Trails and we can't wait to share a few later in this post.

But first...

Here's why we love All Trails (No, we're not getting paid for this.)

The first two weeks into our adventure we discovered something.

Something big...

We are not really that great at hiking. At least not up mountains. MJ's long-running joke is that Turn 3 at the Indy 500 is the highest point of elevation in Indiana and we just plain suck at elevation.

So after the first couple of weeks we were kind of bummed. Why weren't the mountains getting any easier to climb? Why are old people passing us and not even out of breath?

Then we discovered All Trails! We realized we are just doing the WRONG hikes. Not the wrong hikes for everyone, the wrong hikes for our "hiking personality". Yes, we just used the term "hiking personality". (face palm)

All Trails is sort of like Yelp or Trip Advisor for hiking. The community shares their input, tips and suggestions for the hikes.

It gives you a list of nearby trails with the name, rating and location. You can switch to map view to see them pinned to a map around your location. It's easy to find trails elsewhere because you can search in any location.

Once you find a trail, lots of information is included to give you a good look at what it is you can do there and what you'll encounter. There's a summary of the trail and reviews from other users. You can also see user photos of the trail, how long the trail is, the elevation and whether or not it loops back to the beginning.

We find it extremely useful! If you have another favorite hiking app please let us know!

Okay, without further ado...

Here are are a few of our favorite hikes!

Phelps Lake

Phelps lake is located in the Grand Tetons National Park. There are several amazing hikes in the park and we did a lot of really enjoyable ones, but the hike around Phelps Lake is so beautiful, so peaceful, and surprising not very populated. The lake is crisp and clear from the glacier waters making you want to spend the entire day there. Arrive early or late to find parking and don't forget your swimsuit to jump off a 40' cliff into the beautiful waters!

Boulder River Trail - Arlington, Washington

If you thought double rainbows were cool you should check out double waterfalls in Washington!

Boy Scout Trail - Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, Crescent City, California

This trail had one negative rating from what we saw (see below) but we didn't let that stop us from checking it out. 1,000+ year old trees are pretty hard to pass up. We arrived before sunrise and hit the trail as soon as we had some light. This was MJ's first time seeing these REALLY big trees. He did most of the hike with his jaw on the forest floor.

Twelvemile Hot Springs - Wells, Nevada

This was our first hot spring adventure! This was a really fun out and back hike in BFE Nevada. We actually were on the hunt for a ghost town (which we found) but also wanted to stretch our legs a bit because we had a long drive day. There were quite a few options around, but this one led us to a secluded hot spring and we couldn't pass up jumping in for a bit.

(This is the ghost town - Metropolis!)

Sweet Creek Trail - Mapleton, Oregon

Don't go chasin' waterfalls? Why not?! We did and it was fantastic! The entire trail was nestled along a creek that provided waterfall after waterfall.

Disclaimer

Just like any review site, you must, we repeat, YOU MUST, take every comment with a grain of salt. Some user comments made our eyes roll over and over and over.

Here are some of our favorites...

"There were a lot of tree roots on the trail making it hard to walk" - Uh, that's weird? I wouldn't expect any roots on a trail through a 1,000 year old woods. SMH.

"I could hear cars on part of the trail." - Oh, I heard a car in the distance, my life and my hike are ruined. By the way, we didn't hear any cars. We're not entirely sure it is even possible on this particular trail. Maybe they heard one of those fancy aero planes everyone keeps talking about?

We haven't looked up any information about the trails at the Grand Canyon but we have no doubts that there are some complaints about the trails having a huge canyon in the middle.

Anyway, you get our point. :)

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