The Ultimate Travel and Hiking Bucket List to help you plan the best road trips you could do in 2024. From hiking and backpacking through different mountain ranges, to chasing fall foliage to New England, going along the coast, this is the most comprehensive travel guide you'll find out there. This guide will be filled with classic destinations like national and state parks, but there will be a handful of other places and hidden gems included. This is my Top 10 USA Roadtrips to do in 2024.
In this blog post, I am going to keep it short, mostly just focusing on the route of the road trip. I created a in depth video on YouTube including maps, hiking specs, and sub locations for every number on this list. You'll get the most value from this video compared to this blog post, so it is linked above, and I will start the blog list below! Every map below is a rough guide, but in the video you will see I include additional locations, not shown in every map screenshot, so check out that video, you'll love it!
1. Utah's Mighty 5
First up is Utah’s Mighty 5, this is probably one of the most famous road trips there is. This road trip will take you across Southern Utah’s vast desert landscapes and showcase all 5 national parks that are in this state.
2. Northern Arizona
Next up is Northern Arizona. A region quite close to the Mighty 5. Northern Arizona is stunning, there are so many beautiful destinations here that include road side stops, short hikes, backpacking trips, and so on.
3. New England Fall Foliage
For number 3 we are road tripping through New England for some of the most beautiful fall foliage in the world. New England turns into a rainbow of colors during the months of September to November, depending on the year and conditions, it is surreal, almost like you’re inside a bowl of fruity pebbles.
4. Colorado's San Juan Mountains State Loop
Next up we are road tripping Colorado, a big state wide loop starting in Denver, going through the San Juan mountains, and back to Denver. There is sooooo much to do in Colorado so I’ll just be scratching the surface, if you want to see more I have dozens of Colorado travel guides on the channel.
5. Tetons - Yellowstone - Sawtooths - Glacier
This is a classic road trip. Starting in Jackson Hole, we'll be exploring Grand Teton National Park, a unique jagged line of mountains that are very accessible. Followed by a scenic drive up to Yellowstone to see Grand Prismatic and Old Faithful geysers, then over to Idaho for Craters of the Moon and the Sawtooth mountains. Then ending this trip in Glacier National Park.
6. Southern California
Next up we’re cruising through Cali and will be road-tripping the best places in Southern California. The entire state is incredible, but we’ll be focusing on locations mostly between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Like I mentioned, all of the individual locations, hikes, and everything else are in the video linked at the top of this post.
7. Southeast Nevada
At number 7 we will be road tripping southeast nevada, which in my opinion is extremely underrated. Some of the locations on this road trip will be busy due to day tours from Las Vegas, however some of these places are definitely more off the radar so you might be able to escape some of the crowds.
8. South Dakota's Black Hills
For our 8th road trip on the list we’re heading to South Dakota’s Black Hills, an extremely underrated destination, and one that exceeded all of my expectations.
9. West Texas
Next up we are going to be road tripping through West Texas. Bri and I have had the pleasure to work with the Texas Tourism Board on two different campaigns, and we were blown away by some of the locations we visited and the hidden gems here. Not to mention that the crowds are much less than other places on this list because Texas is so big, and not that its remote, but it’s just so far south and out there that it is more of a remote and isolated roadtrip.
10. Oregon and Washington PNW
Last but not least is a Pacific Northwest road trip through Washington and Oregon. I have explored these states multiple times, but I’ve also had a handful of trips here get cancelled due to wildfires. So it’s actually been many years since I’ve been, but it's so incredible, and a roadtrip everyone should do.
11. (Bonus) Appalachian Mountains
Before we sign off on this video, I want to include one last bonus road trip to this video, and that is going to be an Appalachian Mountains roadtrip, with a focus on Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
Anyways, to wrap this up, this blog post I wanted to keep really concise. I put 8 years into making this YouTube video, so I would rather try to direct you there to see everything in extreme detail. Leave a comment on the video to let me know what you think!