MODERN HIKER: A well-organized blog for the Southern California hiker and backpacker. Contains nice trail maps, descriptions and the like. Free
LOCAL HIKES: Decent lists of hikes arranged geographically, according to many major metropolitan locations throughout the country. Many of the descriptions are borrowed from guidebooks and other sources and vary in regards to quality, but very much worth noting and using. The reviews are very subjective but once in a while, you'll find one that appears to be accurate. Free
PROTRAILS: A hybrid site containing aspects of a social site and trail guides, the number of trails listed is not long, but the production values are top notch. Free
The following states are covered:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- North Carolina
- New Mexico
- South Dakota
- Utah
TRAILS.COM: One of the most extensive list of hikes I've seen, listed georgraphically and searchable using interactive area maps. The descriptions are scanned sections of guidebooks, some of which have great maps and some are whatever the author placed into his or her book. It is a subscription site, but you are allowed to test drive the site with three free downloads. I've used this site a great deal with very few complaints. Annual Subscription, free trial avaialable
THIS HIKING TRAIL: A large number of hike descriptions with the added bonus of listing trails that allow dogs! I've not used this site much, but it is nicely organized and many of the hikes link to localhikes.com. Some of the descriptions are user-submitted which equates to uneven quality, but still worth visiting when searching for places to go. Free
TRAIL DATABASE: Purports to be the world's largest hike and trail database. It admittedly contains hundreds, maybe thousands of hiking and camping-centric links but the organization leaves somethings to be desired. It does list treks outside of the U.S. as well as many other links that are no doubt useful when planning to travel and hike beyond our own borders. Free
100 Peaks: Derek is a San Diego-based hiker and he's in the process of identifying and bagging 100 worthy peaks in San Diego County. His blog is a good one, really worth exploring. He's also writing a book about this project.