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Before I name my picks for the best trail towns in the United States, I think it’s first necessary to define a trail town, the more broadly the better. A trail town must have enough resources to supply a hiker for a multi-day backpacking trip while also offering easy access to trails or an unfettered landscape long, wide, and wild enough to support such a jaunt. A midsized city with a big, paved greenway is not a trail town, but a community with a single stop sign, a well-stocked gas station, and a way into the desert, mountains, or forest can absolutely be a trail town.
What, then, makes for a quality trail town? Definitions vary, of course, and my list is entirely subjective. I have, however, put in the work—more than 10,000 miles of hiking and three years spent traveling by van—to rank these places. I think of it as a bingo card with the 25 squares filled with criteria like this: Good library? Affordable hotel? Cool bar? Strong coffee? Clean hostel? Decent laundromat? Big burger? Bigger pizza? Walkable or bus-able? No overly draconian laws? Nice people? If even half of your bingo card is full, you’ve got a good trail town…