Canada's Top 10 Backpacking Trails

After digging into the Canadian trail data, here is my top 10 backpacking trips I’m looking at in Canada for my next potential adventure to the great white north. From the lush forests of the West Coast, to the rugged peaks of the Rockies, and the remote wilderness of Atlantic, these trails seem to check every box I’m looking for my next trip.

#10 – Long Range Traverse
#9 – Grizzly Lake, Divide Lake & Talus Lake Trail
#8 – Cape Chignecto Loop Trail
#7 – Skyline Trail
#6 – West Coast Trail
#5 – Chilkoot Pass Trail
#4 – Garibaldi Lake Trail
#3 – Berg Lake Trail
#2 – Sunshine Village to Mount Shark Trail
#1 – ?

Here’s my formula used for this list:

Hike-ability – To ensure I have the ideal amount of time to get lost in nature and escape reality, I prefer backpacking trips that last between 3 to 5 days, with 4 being the optimal length. While rating the trails, I considered this timeframe, and the trail that received the highest score was one I could complete in 4 days. Although I primarily used mileage and elevation to determine my ratings, some trails required me to adjust my metric, which made this process a bit time-consuming.

Route Type - Loop trails were ranked the highest because they offer constantly changing scenery and are more convenient logistically. Point-to-point routes were the second-highest, as they also provide a variety of views. Lastly, out and back trails received the lowest marks. While this factor did not carry a lot of weight, it still played a minor role in the rating.

Challenge – I favored a challenging hiking experience over a leisurely stroll, so I gave higher ratings to trails with a higher elevation gain per mile.

Beauty & Accessibility – The beauty of a trail should play a significant factor in my scoring. But how does one measure this? Well, I tried a rather unscientific method: counting the number of photos attached to each trail and comparing them to the others. It's not perfect, but it's a start. In a way, it also reflects how accessible a trail is, which is another important consideration. Since I'm aware of the limitations of this approach, I didn't give it a high weight in my ranking.

Rating – I devised a rating system for each trail by starting with the AllTrails rating score as a baseline. To make it more comprehensive, I scoured the internet for lists of top backpacking destinations, and incorporated their recommendations into my final rating. I want to extend a big thank you to everyone out there who provided such helpful lists.

The Mule Score – For a final rating, I took the top 20 list and started my own digging. And why not? It's not like I have anything better to do. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day, and I'm sure I could spend all of them researching hiking trails. Now, from that research, I added my own subjective score. Afterall, I've hiked a few trails in my day, so that makes me an authority, doesn't it? My score didn't really change the list all that much, but I still feel like I made a valuable contribution to the world of backpacking. Of course, if I had more time, I could have dug even deeper and uncovered some real hidden gems. But, let's be real here, I have a life outside of hiking, you know? I can't spend all my time traipsing through the virtual wilderness doing research. There are important things to do, like binge-watching TV shows and scrolling through social media.