Winter hiking asks for about twenty minutes more preparation than summer hiking and gives you back an entire country with nobody on it. The trails that had a queue for the photo in July are yours in January.
Some of this is easy — Florida and Death Valley are simply pleasant in January. Some of it needs traction on your boots and a genuine look at the forecast.
Nine trails below, from a beach boardwalk to a frozen alpine lake, with what each one demands of you and what to book if you would rather have a guide.
Plan Your Winter Hiking Trip at a Glance
Trail | Where | Difficulty in winter | Kit you need |
|---|---|---|---|
Delicate Arch | Arches NP, UT | Moderate — icy slickrock | Microspikes |
The Watchman | Zion NP, UT | Easy | Boots |
Bear Creek Falls | Telluride, CO | Moderate | Microspikes, poles |
Emerald Lake | Rocky Mountain NP, CO | Moderate — packed snow | Microspikes |
Golden Canyon | Death Valley NP, CA | Easy | Boots, water |
Congress Trail | Sequoia NP, CA | Easy on snowshoes | Snowshoes |
Fort Pickens dunes | Gulf Islands NS, FL | Easy | Trainers |
Carriage roads | Acadia NP, ME | Easy to moderate | Snowshoes or skis |
Cascade Mountain | Adirondacks, NY | Hard — full winter peak | Full winter kit |
| ⭐ BuKoo Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 out of 5) |
|---|---|
| 🔥 BuKoo Verdict | A must-do |
| ⏱️ Time needed | A long weekend per region |
| 💵 Budget from | $110 a day for two, off-season |
| 💑 Best for | Hikers who are done with crowds and parking lotteries |
Before You Go: The Winter Hiking Rules That Matter
Three things separate a good winter hike from a bad story. Traction first — most winter trail injuries are slips on packed snow and ice, not falls off anything dramatic, and a $70 pair of microspikes removes almost all of that risk.
Then daylight. Sunset lands between 4:30 and 5:15pm across most of these parks in December and January.
And in mountain terrain, the avalanche forecast. Avalanche.org aggregates every regional US centre in one map; check it the morning of, not the week before.
9 Stunning Trails for Winter Hiking in the USA
1. Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Three miles round trip, most of it up open slickrock, and in winter that slickrock ices in the shade. Timed entry is suspended from November, so you can simply arrive — which in this park is the whole gift. If the ice puts you off going alone, a guided hiking tour in the park handles route choice and traction for you.
Light and traction decide the day. Late afternoon puts the sun behind the arch and thins the crowd to a handful, but the slickrock holds ice in the shade until well after noon, so spikes go on at the trailhead rather than halfway up. Moab is fifteen minutes away and half empty in January, which is the other half of the appeal.
🐧 BuKoo Tip
Microspikes and snowshoes solve different problems and people buy the wrong one. Microspikes are for hard, packed snow and ice — a trail that hundreds of boots have polished, which is most of the popular routes on this list.
Snowshoes are for deep, soft, unbroken snow, where without them you sink to the knee every step. Sequoia and Acadia need snowshoes.
Arches, Zion and Rocky Mountain need spikes. If you are buying one, buy the spikes.
2. The Watchman and the Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah
The shuttle stops running for most of the winter, which means you can drive the scenic road yourself — the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade available in Zion. The Watchman trail is an easy 3.3 miles with the best view in the main canyon at the top.
Then there is the Narrows, which in winter means wading a river at 38°F. A half-day guided hike is the sensible first day, or go straight for the Narrows with a guide if that is what you came for.
The Narrows is the judgement call. Water temperatures sit near freezing and the flow is unpredictable after storms, so it is a drysuit trip in winter or it is nothing — check the flow rate with the visitor centre the morning you go, not the week before.
3. Bear Creek Falls, Telluride, Colorado
A box canyon town at 8,750 feet with a free gondola and a trail that starts from the end of the main street. Bear Creek is five miles round trip and finishes at a waterfall that freezes into a hanging sheet of ice.
Start early enough and you will have the canyon to yourself, because Telluride is a ski town and the ski town is asleep on the mountain until nine. The trail is an old wagon road, so the grade is steady rather than steep, and the free gondola gets you back across town afterwards. Rooms in Telluride are the one expensive part of this entry.
4. Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Nymph to Dream to Emerald — three lakes in 3.6 miles, all of them frozen, with Hallett Peak standing over the last one. The summer permit system is switched off and the Bear Lake lot, which fills by 6am in July, has spaces at ten in the morning.
However, Trail Ridge Road is shut above treeline all winter, so the park is effectively an east-side trip from Estes Park. A guided hike from Estes Park comes with the traction gear and someone who knows which day to skip it.
Wind is the variable, not cold. The lakes sit in a bowl that funnels it, and a still day at Nymph can be a 40mph day at Emerald twenty minutes later, so carry the shell layer even when the car park is calm.
5. Golden Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California
The only park on this list where winter is not a compromise but the entire point. Summer here is lethal; January sits in the mid-60s and every trail that is off-limits half the year opens up.
The loop through to Zabriskie Point via the Red Cathedral spur turns a short walk into a proper half day, and the canyon walls glow in the low winter light in a way they simply do not in June. Flash flooding is the only real hazard, so skip it on a rain day. Beds in the valley are limited and book out over holiday weeks.
6. The Congress Trail, Sequoia National Park, California
A two-mile loop through the Giant Forest that in summer is a paved stroll and in winter becomes a snowshoe route between the largest trees on earth. Snow load on giant sequoias is a sight that does not translate to photographs.
The park rents snowshoes at Wuksachi Lodge, and the Generals Highway requires tyre chains to be carried from November — the rangers check, and they will turn you back. Instead of navigating a snowed-over loop yourself, a naturalist-led hike in the Giant Forest is the version where you learn something.
There is also a shorter General Sherman and Congress Trail walk if the day is short.
Chains or snow tyres are often required on the road up from the foothills, and rangers turn cars around without them. Rent snowshoes in Three Rivers on the way rather than assuming they will be available at the top.
7. Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida
The outlier, and a deliberate one. Gulf Islands runs 160 miles along the Florida and Mississippi coast, and in January it is 62°F, empty, and free of the mosquitoes that make the summer version a trial. A dolphin-watching cruise out of Pensacola Beach is the obvious afternoon once your legs have had enough.
The fort itself is the destination — brick casemates, gun batteries and a beach you can walk for miles without seeing anyone. It is flat, easy and the one entry here that needs no traction at all. Pensacola Beach is the obvious base, and winter rates are a fraction of the summer ones.
8. The Carriage Roads, Acadia National Park, Maine
Forty-five miles of crushed-stone carriage road, built for horses, closed to cars, and in winter groomed by volunteers for skiing and snowshoeing. The Park Loop Road closes to vehicles from December, so the whole island slows down.
Jordan Pond and the Eagle Lake loop are the two that get tracked first after a storm, and both are reachable from roads that stay plowed. Skiing is free, there is no permit, and the island empties out entirely midweek. Bar Harbor keeps a handful of places open through the winter.
9. Cascade Mountain, the Adirondacks, New York
The gentlest of the Adirondack High Peaks and still a serious winter day: 4.8 miles, 2,000 feet of climbing, and an exposed summit where the wind chill regularly runs to −30°F. It is also the one that most rewards doing properly. The Adirondacks hold a million acres of forest preserve, and from the top you can see most of it, white to the horizon, with Lake Placid below.
Treat it as a real winter day rather than a long walk: microspikes for the lower trail, snowshoes for the deep sections, and a hard layer for the last two hundred metres where the trees give out. Turn around at the treeline if the summit is in cloud — the view is the entire point. Lake Placid is twenty minutes away and the natural base.
What a Winter Hiking Trip Costs
Item | Winter | Summer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Park entry (7-day vehicle) | $30–35 | $30–35 | Unchanged; the $80 annual pass wins at three parks |
Motel near a trailhead | $70–110 | $180–260 | Where the savings actually are |
Guided day hike | $95–190 | $110–210 | Smaller groups, same guides |
Snowshoe rental | $20–30/day | n/a | Cheaper than buying for one trip |
Microspikes (buy once) | $45–75 | — | The single best money on this list |
⭐ Quick Picks
🥾 Best trail on the list: Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain — three frozen lakes, no permit, and it takes half a day.
☀️ Best if you hate being cold: Fort Pickens in Florida, at 62°F, or Golden Canyon in Death Valley.
🌲 Most extraordinary: the Congress Trail on snowshoes, with snow sitting in the crowns of 2,000-year-old trees.
💵 Best value base: Moab in January — Arches and Canyonlands from one cheap motel, no timed entry.
🛒 One thing to buy: a pair of Retrospec snowshoes if Sequoia or Acadia are on the plan; otherwise put the money into spikes.
Good to Bring
- Snowshoes — for deep snow in Sequoia, Acadia and the Adirondacks
- Packable waterproof shell pants — go over your trousers when the snow comes sideways
- Fleece neck gaiter — the cheapest way to make a windy summit survivable
- 17oz insulated food jar — hot soup at a frozen lake beats a cold sandwich
- Compact first aid kit — small problems get serious fast in the cold
- Emergency bivvy — four ounces, and the thing you will be glad of
Winter Hiking FAQs
Do I really need microspikes?
On any popular trail with packed snow, yes. Boot traffic polishes snow into ice, and hiking poles do not fix that.
How cold is too cold?
Wind chill matters far more than temperature. Below about 0°F of wind chill, exposed skin is at risk within half an hour, which is the point at which an exposed summit like Cascade becomes a different proposition from a sheltered forest trail.
Are the trails even open?
The trails are; the roads to them often are not. Trail Ridge, the Grand Canyon North Rim and most of the Acadia Park Loop close for the season.
Which of these is best for a first winter hike?
Fort Pickens in Florida if you want no cold at all, or the Watchman in Zion if you want a real winter trail without technical ground. Both are easy, well-marked and hard to get wrong.
More cold-weather planning: the national parks in winter, Japan in winter if you want onsen at the end of a trail, Europe in winter, and our winter packing guide. And from the Vagrants archive: the original nine winter hikes, the best hiking destinations in the US, the best hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park and an Arches itinerary.