Still looking for a new challenge in the New Year? Why not let National Geographic Adventure help? The website has published a list of 10 long distance hiking trails that can be found all over the world, many of which have only been conceived and designed over the past few years. These new trails take hikers into remote areas, serving up amazing views and a healthy dose of cultural immersion along the way. And they just might be your new favorite destination for 2016.Amongst the new trails that make the list is the Alpe Adria Trail, which opened in 2011 and stretches for 260 km (162 miles) across Austria, Slovenia, and Italy. Broken into 43 individual stages of roughly 19 km (12 miles), the trail has been designed to make logistics a non-factor. Most of the stages take just one day to hike, although they link into one another in such a way that through hikers will have no problem pushing forward. Each stage also ends in a local village where hikers will find places to stay and resupply as well.
Other new hikes on the list include The Bigfoot Trail in California, which stretches for 579 km (360 miles) through six wilderness areas and the Redwood National Park. It's joined by Scotland's John Muir Way, which opened in 2014, and the Sir Samuel and Lady Florence Baker Historical Trail in Africa, which runs for 805 km (500 miles) along a route that crosses through Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda in Africa.
I'll leave the remainder of the trails on the list up to you to discover, but it is safe to say there are some great hikes on the list that I haven't even mentioned yet that will be of interest to many of you. Because most of these trails have only opened in the past few years, they remain relatively unknown, which means they'll also be most empty too. Go before the crowds and enjoy these wilderness areas as they are meant to be – pristine, tranquil, and mostly unexplored.
View the whole list here.
