7 Thrilling Hiking Trails Around the World That Will Elevate Your Adventure!
Are normal day hikes just not doing it for you anymore? Do you want a hike that will really get your blood pumping and give you that hit of adrenaline that makes you feel alive? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Hiking is generally considered a safe thing to do. You’re in the woods, surrounded by nature and silence. This is one way to do hiking.
Another way is to scale your way up the side of a mountain on an 80-degree slope with nothing but a metal cable keeping you from falling 8,000 feet. This is what people like me are looking for in a hike.
Today we are going to cover the most dangerous hikes in the world and what makes them so unbelievably scary.
7. Angels Landing, Utah
This hike has one of the highest death tolls in America. Angels Landing is a famous hiking trail in Zion National Park that’s 2.5 miles long, has 1,500 feet of elevation gain, and takes about 4 hours to complete. That might not seem like a very difficult hike to most. The difficult part is the last half mile of the hike where you are climbing up chains at a 20% grade with a 1,000-foot drop-off on both sides.
There have been 14 reported deaths on this trail and with the number of visitors growing every year, this number will definitely continue to increase. Some things to keep in mind before hiking here are it are the conditions of the trail, what kind of shape you are in, and the shoes you’re wearing.
6. Half Dome, California
Half Dome is personally one of my favorite hikes I’ve ever done, but man, it’s scary! This hike in Yosemite National Park is so beautiful and offers stunning views across Yosemite Valley. The hike is about 16 miles long, with almost 5,000 feet of elevation, and takes 9-12 hours to complete. The hike itself is pretty easy, the difficult part comes at the very end when you actually have to climb up Half Dome.
This 45-degree granite slope has two metal cables that run from the bottom to the top of the mountain and are about 400 feet long. What makes this part so dangerous is if you get there too late in the day, there will be a traffic jam of people coming up and down at the same time. Also, if there is any precipitation, the rock basically becomes a slide and is very slippery, not to mention the metal cables become a literal lightning rod. There have been a total of 31 deaths here in the hike’s long history, but still, that’s a lot for just one hike.
5. Harihar Fort, India
India is mostly known for its densely populated cities and the Taj Mahal, but a lot of people forget is how large and mountainous this country really is. Harihar Fort is on the west coast of India, near Mumbai. The distance of this hike is just 4.5 miles long, has 1,300 feet of elevation gain, and takes about 2-3 hours to complete. This is the steepest hike on our list with an 80% grade! The first part of this hike is on mostly flat trails until you get to the staircase.
If you’ve ever seen the second Lord of the Rings movie, The Two Towers, the Stairs of Cirith Ungol are the closest thing to these stairs. These stairs climb 980 feet up the side of a mountain, but these aren’t normal stairs. On some parts of the staircase, the stairs can be up to 5 feet tall, so getting up them is challenging, to say the least. The actual fort was built in 1636 and the view from it is incredible. It’s said that around 40 people have died on this hike, so whatever you do, do not attempt this hike in the rain or if you are not an experienced hiker/climber.
4. Via Ferrata Ivano Dibona, Italy
If you’ve never heard of a via ferrata, it’s an Italian term meaning “iron path”. The most famous via ferrata in Italy is the Ivano Dibona in the Dolomites. To get to the via ferrata you first will need to hike about 3 miles to the start. After you’ve reached it, the fun really begins. You can hook your carabiner to the metal cables and follow them up the very steep mountain.
Once you’re towards the summit of the mountain, you have to do the scariest part of the hike, a wooden suspension bridge. One cable breaks on this bridge and you will fall hundreds of feet down to the bottom of the mountain. Make sure that when you do this hike, you have good hiking shoes, a harness, a carabiner, and a helmet.
3. Mount Hua Shan, China
This is our shortest hike on this list at only 330 feet long and with no elevation gain. What makes this hike so terrifying is that the only thing between you and a 7,000-foot drop is a couple of planks of wood. I It is known for being the most dangerous hike in the world and for a good reason. It is rumored that up to 100 people die here each year! The plank walk was originally built 700 years ago by a Taoist priest.
You need to wear a harness to do this hike. I mean, technically you don’t have to, but if you value your life you 100% need to. At the end of the plank walk is a little temple with room for one person to kneel and say a prayer before heading back the same way you came. What can be really sketchy is when you are heading back and a person is heading towards you, and you have to figure out how to get around this person and back to safety.
2. Kalalau Trail, Hawaii
This 11-mile trail along the Na Pali Coast of Kauai has claimed more than 100 lives. It runs along the side of a steep cliff and has amazing ocean views. The trail is extremely narrow in some sections and has steep drop-offs, with no ropes or chains to hold on to for much of the hike. It’s also usually muddy since it rains about 200 days per year, which makes the narrow dirt trails more like a slip-n-slide of death. It doesn’t have a lot of elevation, but don’t let that fool you. This hike is very difficult.
The hike isn’t even the most dangerous part. The beaches you can get to from the hike are some of the most deadly in the world. Kalalau Beach is the beach at the very end of the hike and is very secluded and not a lot of people make the long trip to get to it. The water here is known for having big waves and strong currents, so even the best of swimmers can get pulled under or sucked out to sea.
1. Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Now, I’m putting this one at number one because of my personal experience here. I had to be life-flighted out because of how sick I was from the elevation. I couldn’t eat for almost the entire trek up to the base camp, but I made it!
Everest Base Camp is an 80-mile trek that starts in Lukla and ends at the foot of Everest. The flight getting to Lukla is the first alarming part of the journey. The Lukla Airport is known as being the most dangerous airport in the world because of its 1,729-foot runway (a normal airport has a 10,000-foot runway) that leads off the edge of a cliff. Hundreds of people have died just flying to the airport, and that’s before you even start hiking!
The hike starts at 9,383 feet and climbs up for 40 miles until you get to Everest Base Camp at 17,598 feet. The hike itself is not very difficult, it’s the elevation that gets you. On the third day at Namche Bazaar I started projectile vomiting. After that, I didn’t eat for the rest of the 5 days it took us to reach the top. After getting to base camp, my wife and I took a helicopter down to the bottom because I couldn’t even fathom walking another 3-4 days back down. It’s estimated that about 2-3 people per year die on this hike, and I feel like I was lucky not to be one of them.
I hope you enjoyed reading about the most dangerous hikes in the world and that maybe you’ve been inspired to try one for yourself. Just be careful!
