<story><title>The Best Hike in Every State (2019)</title><url>https://www.outsideonline.com/2393036/50-best-hikes-us</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ahelwer</author><text>This is a strange list. Hikes are not uniformly distributed among states. It almost feels sacriligeous to boil states like Washington or Utah or Colorado down into a single &amp;quot;best&amp;quot; hike (Yellow Aster Butte? When the Enchantments exist? Really???) so unless you&amp;#x27;re a pathological box-checker I don&amp;#x27;t understand the point of this article.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>athenot</author><text>The only thing this article really shows is that every state has a nice place to go hiking. Aside from that, there are many factors that make a hike enjoyable, and criteria are not the same for different people.&lt;p&gt;Personally, I just try to make the most of any place I&amp;#x27;m in, and appreciate it for what it is. Even if it&amp;#x27;s the local trail that I&amp;#x27;ve hiked a hundred times, it is never exactly the same experience. And that&amp;#x27;s what makes it fun (to me).&lt;p&gt;And finding beauty in what would ordinarily pass as a &amp;quot;mundane&amp;quot; trail is precisely what makes the exceptional places so awe-inspiring.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Best Hike in Every State (2019)</title><url>https://www.outsideonline.com/2393036/50-best-hikes-us</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ahelwer</author><text>This is a strange list. Hikes are not uniformly distributed among states. It almost feels sacriligeous to boil states like Washington or Utah or Colorado down into a single &amp;quot;best&amp;quot; hike (Yellow Aster Butte? When the Enchantments exist? Really???) so unless you&amp;#x27;re a pathological box-checker I don&amp;#x27;t understand the point of this article.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pisteoff</author><text>Yellow Aster Butte is a reasonably accessible day hike that can be completed by just about anyone who&amp;#x27;s fit enough to hike. Yes, the last pitch to the butte is a bitch, but just about anyone can do it. The Enchantments, on the other hand, is a permit only area (for overnight trips), that is not easily completed in a day long thru-hike - which from the Stuart trailhead is 18 miles with 4500ft of elevation gain. Even experienced hikers struggle with the Aasgard Pass scramble. This list strikes me as not just best in terms of views and landscape, but also accessibility.&lt;p&gt;I totally agree the Enchantments are more spectacular, but they require some serious commitment and are not likely to be enjoyed by the vast majority casual hikers.</text></comment>