Great Hiking Trails of the World

Great Hiking Trails of the World won the 2017 IndieFab Gold “Book of the Year” Award in Nature.

Text by Karen Berger. Photographs by a team of more than 50 photographers. Foreword by Bill McKibben. Published by Rizzoli.

Some of the proceeds from the sale of this book are being donated to the American Hiking Society.

About the Trails

Thirty eight of the world’s most iconic hiking trails are described in this collection of full-length essays, and bonus sections in each topic include descriptions of 42 additional important trails worldwide. Essays are grouped by themes: historic hikes, pilgrimages, alpine hike, wilderness treks, long-distance trails, and diverse environments.

Karen Berger has written about some of these trails online: where links are available, they are provided below.

The Way of the Pilgrim

• Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• Shikoku Pilgrimage, Japan
• Gudbrandsdalen Path, Norway
• Helambu-Langtang Trek, Nepal

Historic Hikes: Stepping into the Past

• Israel National Trail, Israel
• Inca Trail, Peru
• Chilkoot Trail, United States and Canada (Alaska and British Columbia)
• Alta Via 1, Italy
• Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
  • Trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal

Peak Experiences

• Mount Kenya, Kenya
  • Trekking Mt. Kenya: The Chogoria, Naro Moru, and High Peaks Circuit
• The Haute Route, France and Switzerland
• The Long Trail, United States (Vermont)
• Presidential Traverse, United States (New Hampshire)
  • Hiking New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington
• West Highland Way, Scotland
• The GR 20, France
• Colorado Trail, United States (Colorado)
• Wonderland Trail, United States (Washington)

To Walk in Wilderness

• John Muir Trail, United States (California)
• Kungsleden, Sweden
• Torres del Paine Circuit, Chile
• Pyrenees High Route, France and Spain
  • Hiking in the French and Spanish Pyrenees
• Overland Track, Australia

Exploring Diversity

• The Milford Track, New Zealand
  • Tramping New Zealand’s Milford Track: The World’s Finest Walk?
• Tonto Trail, United States (Arizona)
• West Coast Trail, Canada
• Laugavegurinn Trail, Iceland
• Superior Trail, United States (Minnesota)
• Wales Coast Path, Wales
• Coast to Coast Walk, England
  • Walking Coast to Coast in England via Wainwright’s Route

The Longest Walks

• Appalachian Trail (United States)
  • Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail
  • Thru-hiking Lingo for the Appalachian Trail
• Pacific Crest Trail (United States)
  • Going Wild: Thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail
• Continental Divide Trail (United States)
  • Hiking Colorado’s Continental Divide
• The GR5, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, France
  • GR5 across Europe from Rotterdam to Nice
• Te Araroa, New Zealand
• Bibbulmun Track, Australia