9 of the Best US Hikes for People Who Hate Hiking

Hit the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail, an easy 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) paved loop in the heart of Yosemite Valley, and you’ll be marveling at the spectacular namesake falls before you can stop for a water break (that is, about 30 minutes in). Not only is the total elevation gain a minimal 50 feet (15 meters), but the eastern portion of the trail is wheelchair-accessible (when not covered in ice or snow).

If ever this relaxed route whets your appetite for more hiking, reaching the Upper Fall requires a strenuous 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) hike with 2,700 feet (820 meters) of elevation gain—ideal for a guided hiking tour.

Most visitors choose to experience the grandeur of Monument Valley, a red-sand desert tribal park within the Navajo Nation, on a motor vehicle tour with an accompanying Navajo guide. You can explore by foot, however, on the roughly 3-mile (5-kilometer) Wildcat Trail, which loops around one of the most scenic areas of the American Southwest). The trail is flattish and requires a palatable 2–3 hours to complete, but the (relative) ease of this hike is less of a draw than the landscape—walks around the majestic Mitten Buttes and Merrick Butte can inspire even the least enthusiastic hikers.

You might revel at the shortage of hiking options anywhere near New York City—or celebrate your luck by walking the Highline, an urban greenway built on a repurposed New York Central Railroad line. This roughly 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometer) elevated “trail” through the West Side of Manhattan is flat, lined with shaded seating, and has enough exits to ensure you can freely hop off.

From north to south, the route leads from Hudson Yards through Chelsea to the Meatpacking District—where you’ll have easy access to the Whitney Museum of American Art, if you decide to lose yourself in contemporary art and forget about hiking altogether.

Among leisurely US walks for non-hikers, the San Antonio River Walk might take the cake. This is “urban hiking” that’s hard to find anywhere else in the US: a glorious network of riverside walking paths below street level lined with restaurants, bridges, and bars. The best part? You can board a boat and rest your feet almost any time you wish.

While the entire network runs 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Alamo to four Spanish missions south of town, hike-haters can keep close to the center and take a low-effort stroll through one of Texas’ most beautiful areas.

From backcountry trails through Yosemite National Park to coastal jaunts around Big Sur, Northern California is trekking paradise—but is also home to easy US hikes for beginners. The gentle rambles through the old-growth coastal redwood trees in Muir Woods National Monument are among the best and the easiest.

Here, you can choose from 30-minute, 1-hour, or (gasp) 1.5-hour loop main trails along bubbling creeks (where salmon spawn in winter), lush fern groves, and the towering giants, which can reach 260 feet (80 meters) in height. The main trails are either asphalted or boardwalked; the shortest is wheelchair-accessible.

The view from this overlook is iconic: a circular bend of the Colorado River (technically a horseshoe-shaped incised meander, aka a curve in a river) wrapped around a pillar of red sandstone. Thankfully, the trail to the overlook is easy to reach (even from Vegas) and easy to hike: park at the lot in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, just off US Route 89, and hit the hardened dirt path to the overlook—it’s an easy 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) loop that offers shade and is wheelchair-accessible.

Hoodoos, tent rocks, fairy chimneys, and earth pyramids—these are the different names for the spiry rock formations found in Bryce Canyon National Park. If checking out the bewitching forms throughout the scenic canyon isn’t enough to get your hiking boots on, the route between the Sunrise and Sunset lookouts, with views of the hoodoos below the Bryce Amphitheater, is among the gentlest hikes in the US—a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) paved section of the Rim Trail with a paltry 34 feet (10 meters) of elevation gain.

This stroller-accessible trail takes 20–60 minutes to complete—making it easy to take on with kids.

Hit the trail with Fido and you just might like your hike. In Maine’s northern reaches, Acadia National Park officially has 100 miles (160 kilometers) of hiking trails and 45 miles (72 kilometers) of carriage roads where dogs are permitted—as long as they’re leashed. Paved and unusually wide, the car-less carriage roads—gifts of the philanthropist Rockefeller clan—weave around the park on easy routes with scenic panoramas and close-ups of the park’s rocky coastlines and evergreen forests.

When it comes to hiking, the rewards are half the fun. In Telluride, a small town in Colorado’sSan Juan Mountains known for adventure sports and a namesake film festival, you can finish (or start) your hike with a gondola ride—not only a scenic treat, but also a way to cut your hiking time in half.

Board the gondola in either Mountain Village or Telluride and take the (free) ride to Station San Sophia, where there’s access to skiing, biking, and, yes, hiking trails. Stroll the short and sweet Ridge Trail, a barely 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) stunner to the Mountain Village station below.