Trail use is measured through several different lenses: participation surveys, park visits, trail counters, permits, visitor surveys, and economic models. The following statistics keep those definitions, periods, and geographies explicit so hiking participation is not confused with visits to a particular trail.
Key Trail Use Statistics
The most broadly useful trail use figures include:
- 63.4 million Americans ages 6 and older participated in hiking in 2024 in the United States, according to a survey-based participation estimate.
- Hiking represented 20.5% of the U.S. population ages 6 and older in 2024, measured as participation rather than trail-counter use.
- More than 13 million new hikers were added in the United States between 2019 and 2024, a cumulative participation change.
- 16.7 million Americans ages 6 and older were core hikers in 2024, meaning they hiked at least 13 times during the year.
- More than 90% of U.S. hikers also participated in another outdoor pursuit in 2024, including camping, biking, fishing, or climbing.
- 175.8 million Americans ages 6 and older participated in outdoor recreation in 2023, a measure broader than hiking or trail use.
- National Park System units reported 323 million recreation visits in 2025 across the United States.
- National Scenic Trails represented 2% of National Park System recreation visits in 2025, within the NPS designation reporting framework.
- NPS recreation visitor hours totaled 1.39 billion in 2025, including non-trail activities.
- Polychrome Overlook in Denali averaged about 1,900 people per day in 2017, making it the highest-use measured trail location in the cited Denali data.
- Denali recorded 642,118 park visits in 2017, a parkwide total that includes activities beyond hiking.
- 78% of surveyed Denali visitors spent time on informal trails in 2017, while 63% spent time on formal trails.
- The average Denali backpacking hike was 4.6 miles per day in 2017, among surveyed backpackers.
- New River Gorge recorded 85,734 trail users in 2002, compared with 74,939 in 1998 and 67,897 in 2007.
- Only 4% of 389 observed visitors at Denali’s Savage River rest area read wildlife-safety signs in 2017, a site-specific observation.
- Outdoor recreation generated $1.3 trillion in U.S. economic output in 2024, a broad sector measure rather than trail-specific spending.
- Outdoor recreation supported 5.2 million U.S. jobs in 2024, including activities beyond hiking and trails.
- Forest Service recreation visits generated an estimated $10.1 billion in local spending in 2019, covering recreation on Forest Service lands rather than trail use alone.
Contents
- Key Trail Use Statistics
- Trail Use Participation Statistics and Hiking Trends
- National Park and Scenic Trail Use Data
- Trail Use by Location, Type, and Visitor Activity
- Trail Use Frequency and Time on Trails
- Trail Crowding, Access, and Stewardship Outcomes
- Trail Use Economics and Local Recreation Impacts
Trail Use Participation Statistics and Hiking Trends
The Outdoor Industry Association’s 2026 Hiking Report measures people who participated in hiking, not the number of visits recorded at trailheads. Its 2024 estimate counted 63.4 million U.S. residents ages 6 and older, equal to 20.5% of that population.
The same report says more than 13 million new hikers were added between 2019 and 2024. It identifies 16.7 million core hikers in 2024, using a threshold of at least 13 hiking outings during the year.
The participation figures describe people who hiked at least once during the measurement period. They should not be added to park visits, trail counts, or permits, because those measures count different units.
- More than 90% of hikers also participated in camping, biking, fishing, climbing, or another outdoor pursuit in 2024.
- The frequent core-hiker share grew at a 7.6% five-year average annual rate, compared with 5.2% for hiking overall; the report summary does not specify the exact endpoints for those rates.
Source: 2026 Hiking Report: Executive Summary. The participation estimates are survey-based, and cross-activity participation does not mean activities occurred on the same trip or trail.
A broader Outdoor Industry Association measure counted 175.8 million U.S. outdoor recreation participants ages 6 and older in 2023, or 57.3% of that population. The participant base grew 4.1% from 2022 to 2023 and was 22.2 million larger than in 2019, but this category includes activities beyond trails.
Source: Outdoor Participation Hits Record Levels for Ninth Consecutive Year.
National Park and Scenic Trail Use Data
National Park Service data provide a large systemwide context, but NPS recreation visits are not unique visitors or trail users. In 2025, 323 million recreation visits were reported across National Park System units, and National Scenic Trails accounted for 2% of those visits in the NPS reporting framework.
| NPS measure | 2025 value | Definition and scope |
|---|---|---|
| Recreation visits | 323 million | National Park System visits; not unique people |
| Visitor hours | 1.39 billion | Systemwide hours, including non-trail activities |
| Reporting units | 406 of 433 | Units reporting visitor use |
| National Scenic Trail share | 2% | Share of NPS recreation visits in the designation reporting |
The 2025 NPS total was 8.85 million visits, or 2.7%, below 2024. Visitor hours decreased 0.7% from 2024 to 2025, while overnight stays decreased 2.4%; these are systemwide changes, not trail-only trends.
Twenty-six parks, equal to 6% of reporting parks, set annual recreation-visit records in 2025. The NPS visitor-use dashboard contains 11 official visitor-use statistics, and all park units began reporting monthly data for those measures in 1979; before then, annual recreation visits are the consistently available series.
Source: Visitor Use Data. The page notes that current-year estimates can be preliminary and that historical counting procedures can change over time.
Trail Use by Location, Type, and Visitor Activity
Denali National Park offers a detailed local example of how trail use varies by location and trail definition. Polychrome Overlook was the highest-use measured trail location in 2017, at about 1,900 people per day, although most visitors spent less than 10 minutes in the area.
The Horseshoe Lake trail was the most popular Denali hiking trail longer than one-quarter mile, but the cited source does not provide its trail-counter total.
Denali recorded 642,118 park visits in 2017, an increase of 8.4% from 2016 and 12.6% from 2015. Those parkwide changes include activities beyond hiking, so they are not direct measures of trail growth.
| Denali activity measure | 2017 result | Population or definition |
|---|---|---|
| Informal-trail use | 78% | Surveyed visitors |
| Formal-trail use | 63% | Surveyed visitors |
| Backcountry permits | 4,163 | Issued permits; not completed trips |
| Backcountry-permit change | 5.3% | Increase from 2015 to 2017 |
| Average backpacking distance | 4.6 miles per day | Surveyed backpackers |
The formal- and informal-trail percentages are not mutually exclusive: a visitor could have used both types. Backcountry permits are an access measure, not a count of completed trail outings.
Source: Social Science and the Visitor Experience – Denali National Park & Preserve.
Trail Use Frequency and Time on Trails
In Denali’s 2017 visitor research, the majority of backpackers hiked less than eight hours, and the average backpacking hike was 4.6 miles per day. Motivation also differed by visitor group: 58% of surveyed backpackers came because they wanted to hike in trail-less wilderness, compared with 22% of surveyed day hikers.
At Polychrome Overlook, the vast majority of visitors spent less than 10 minutes in the area. The source does not quantify that majority precisely, so the observation should not be converted into an exact duration percentage.
A separate New River Gorge National River planning series illustrates why local trail-user counts need their own context. The series recorded 74,939 trail users in 1998, 85,734 in 2002, and 67,897 in 2007; the 2007 total was reported as 9.4% below 1998.
| New River Gorge year | Trail users | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 74,939 | Site-specific trail-user count |
| 2002 | 85,734 | Site-specific trail-user count |
| 2007 | 67,897 | Site-specific trail-user count |
Source: New River Gorge National River General Management Plan. This is a local park-planning time series from 1998–2007 and should not be generalized to national trail trends.
Trail Crowding, Access, and Stewardship Outcomes
Trail-use outcomes can be measured through visitor encounters, preparedness, and observed attention to safety information. In a 2013 survey of the South Kaibab Trail at Grand Canyon National Park, respondents reported several encounter ranges rather than automated counts.
| Reported visitors seen | Share of respondents | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| 16–30 | 27% | Respondent-reported encounters |
| 31–45 | 7% | Respondent-reported encounters |
| 46–60 | 12% | Respondent-reported encounters |
| 61–100 | 12% | Respondent-reported encounters |
| Could not remember | 12% | Recall category |
Source: Understanding extended day use of corridor trails. These categories are survey bins and should not be presented as a trail-counter distribution.
Denali’s 2017 survey found 59% of surveyed visitors highly prepared for bear encounters, while 25% were ill-prepared; an intermediate category is not shown, so the two percentages do not sum to 100%. At the Savage River rest area, only 4% of 389 observed visitors read wildlife-safety signs, and 5% read other signs but not the wildlife-safety signs.
Source: Social Science and the Visitor Experience – Denali National Park & Preserve. Preparedness is a survey outcome, and sign reading is not the same as comprehension or safe behavior.
Trail Use Economics and Local Recreation Impacts
Economic figures show the scale of outdoor recreation and public-land visitation, but they do not isolate trail spending unless the source explicitly does so. The Bureau of Economic Analysis-based 2024 summary reports $1.3 trillion in U.S. outdoor recreation economic output, equal to 2.4% of GDP, with 5.2 million jobs and 3.2% of U.S. employees.
Source: Outdoor Recreation Economic Data. These are broad outdoor recreation measures, not hiking-only or trail-only totals.
Forest Service estimates provide an older, more specific public-land context. Around 2004, the National Visitor Use Monitoring methodology estimated 239,009,917 national site visits, with a 90% confidence interval of 231,554,913 to 246,464,921 and a 1.90% coefficient of variation.
It separately estimated 204,358,864 national-forest visits, with a 90% confidence interval of 197,468,684 to 211,249,044 and a 2.05% coefficient of variation.
| Forest Service estimate | Value | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| National site visits, 2004 | 239,009,917 | Model-based site visits |
| 90% confidence interval | 231,554,913–246,464,921 | Around site-visit estimate |
| National-forest visits, circa 2004 | 204,358,864 | Distinct model-based measure |
| 90% confidence interval | 197,468,684–211,249,044 | Around forest-visit estimate |
Source: The National Visitor Use Monitoring methodology and final results for round 1. Confidence intervals and coefficients of variation describe estimate precision, not additional visitor groups; site visits and national-forest visits are distinct measures.
For local impacts, Forest Service recreation visits generated an estimated $10.1 billion in local spending in 2019 and supported 153,800 jobs. Including related community and business-to-business spending, those 2019 national-forest recreation visits generated $12.5 billion in GDP.
Source: Outdoor Participation Hits Record Levels for Ninth Consecutive Year. The estimates cover all recreation visits on Forest Service lands, not trail use alone.