Which US National Park Has The Most Hiking Trails?

If your idea of a perfect hiking trip is never retracing your steps, there's one U.S. national park you could come back to again and again without any repeats. Based on the sheer number of trail options, it's Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) that claims the title of having the most, with enough trails that you could hike a new trail every day for almost a full year. A 2025 study from Kuru, a heel-cushioning footwear brand, determined that there are 348 trail routes in this mountain range-filled national park (which is also America's most-visited). Making up a section of the Appalachian Mountains, the Smokies have multiple routes that overlap with the Appalachian Trail, plus dozens of off-the-beaten-path options wrapped in the cool mist of old-growth forests or blooming into color with blankets of wildflowers underfoot.

Our ranking draws on the Kuru study results. The study sourced its data from AllTrails and the National Park Service, using the number of trails as one factor for scoring hiking across national parks. While GSMNP may not have the most hiking in terms of mileage, it does have the most end-to-end trail options. The trail count includes side trails and segments of the Appalachian Trail that are contained within the park. Interestingly, GSMNP has more trails than some national parks bigger than it — Yellowstone, for example, spans nearly 3,500 square miles (compared with the Smokies' 800 square miles), yet has less than 300 mapped trails on AllTrails. That suggests that GSMNP is more densely packed with trails, so you can expect more trail options at a given area of the park, too.

The trails of Great Smoky Mountains National Park have a vast range of distances, and not all can be completed in a single day. Some loop for just short of a mile, while others traverse the park's length for 70 miles or more, suitable for long-distance backpackers. One of the shorter trail options, doable in an hour or two, is the 1.7-mile Mount Buckley via Kuwohi Bypass Trail, a hike up an overlooked peak hidden in the North Carolina side of the Smokies. The trail is well-received among AllTrails reviewers, and reviews have noted that it's generally not so busy on the ground. If you're looking for a longer, more backpacking-worthy option, you could do the Alum Cave Trail, a scenic mountain trail winding past wildflowers and bridges with views over Tennessee. The trail's total length is 11.2 miles, though the segment that takes you to the namesake cave bluffs is just 4.6 miles round-trip.

There's technically no entrance fee to visit the park, but you will have to pay for a parking tag, and the price varies depending on how long you want the tag for. One tip if you want to get around the parking fee: Plan your visit on one of the National Park Service's free entrance days, which often fall on U.S. holidays. The park is open year-round, although many roads are closed during winter. Trail scenery changes dramatically by season, from fiery foliage in the autumn to springtime's meadow wildflower blooms.