New Hiking Trails We Hiked in 2023

Each year we discover so many new trails near to us and in parks we’ve never visited before. We repeat a lot of our favorite places, especially close to home, but we always manage to take some brand new hikes to us too! I love roundups and seeing the new places we managed to go each year, so I thought it would be a lot of fun to recap all nineteen new trails we took in 2023.

MAGNOLIA FALLS – Upper Buffalo Wilderness, Arkansas

This waterfall was suggested to us by one of the staff members at Buffalo Outdoor Center this spring on our very first camping trip as first-time camper owners. It has become a fast favorite for a stunning location and beautiful waterfall in a short distance. It’s especially special in the spring when rains make the fall full and the pool beneath is larger. Read more about this hike on our Magnolia Falls Trail Guide here.

HIDEOUT HOLLOW – Buffalo National River, Arkansas

This is a trail that we’ve seen on the map for years now and we finally hiked it (twice, actually) this year. This trail has a scenic mountain overlook before turning back inward to a bluff overhang with that has a wet-water fall that spills over the top. It’s a really beautiful hike through the woods and we can’t wait to see it next spring after a heavy rain to hopefully see even more water flow.

FERN FALLS – Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, Arkansas

This was one of those scroll-around-Google-Maps trails that I stumbled upon. It said waterfall and we were in! The trail is a little overgrown, but stunning! If we didn’t have kids on our backs we would’ve enjoyed it even more, but we had to do a lot of ducking and crawling over logs. The waterfall itself is a true stunner surrounded by so much lush greenery! I cannot wait to do this one again! I can’t wait to try to climb down in next spring on a day that we don’t have the kids with us. Read more about this waterfall on our Fern Falls Hiking Guide here.

RIVER VIEW TRAIL – Buffalo National River, Arkansas

We did this trail one muggy afternoon. While it was really beautiful, I will say that its also very overgrown and we saw several ticks on this trail. The vantage point at the top is really beautiful – it overlooks a beautiful piece of farmland and a gentle curve in the Buffalo River. We were thinking that we probably wouldn’t do that hike again in a “green” season because of all the ticks when we learned that you can take a shortcut past the Collier Homestead (an old cabin and beautiful, historical homestead just down trail). This path is a wide open trail, with less ticks and takes you to the same overlook, which we did the next morning. 

YELLOW ROCK OVERLOOK – Devil’s Den State Park, Arkansas

We wanted a beautiful mountain overlook trail in this state park, and Yellow Rock Overlook definitely did that for us. The final vantage point of this trail looks over the Lee Creek Valley. We weren’t there in the greatest light for photos, but the views were beautiful. It was really lush and green with a nice yellow rock jutting out.

MORO ROCK – Sequoia National Park, California

Moro Rock is a super, super short trail that leads up to the top of a granite dome walking – well, staircase – along a path cut into the side of the cliff. It’s very short, but gets those lungs pumping – especially with a 20+ pound kid on your back. But the 360 mountain views from the top are 100% worth the lung-pumping, heart-racing effort. Read our guide to Moro Rock Trail here.

BIG TREES TRAIL – Sequoia National Park, California

I’d been to Sequoia National Park and already seen the largest of the Sequoias – General Sherman – but on this visit we did the Big Trees Trail to other massive sequoias. We started at the museum and wen into the woods. We walked amongst giants, took a short spur on to Bear Hill Trail (which is pretty fun because you get to walk under a fallen sequoia) and then finished out the loop of the Big Trees Trail. You can read more about this hike in our Giant Forest Guide here.

LITTLE BALDY – Sequoia National Park, California

This is another bald granite dome that leads to a totally different 360-degree vantage point of the Sierra Nevadas. This trail is a little longer and has a couple of sections through forest instead of just going up up up a piece of rock. This was a really special hike because we only saw one person on this hike as we were going back down. You can learn more about this hike on our Little Baldy Trail Guide here.

GRANT GROVE TRAIL – Kings Canyon National Park, California

This is sequoia grove is located just inside of the entrance to Kings Canyon National Park. Here, there are many iconic trees like General Grant Tree (the third largest known tree in the world), along with the Centennial Stump, Fallen Monarch and Gamlin Cabin – which was built in 1872. This trail is short, but packs a lot into that distance.

LOWER YOSEMITE FALLS (+ Part of the Valley Trail) – Yosemite National Park, California 

This was our intro to hiking in Yosemite National Park. We got to the lodge not long before sundown, so it was our easiest option to get a hike in and wowza. Even though it was quite busy (the busiest trail we experienced in the entire park) we still were just in awe of seeing the lower section of the tallest waterfall in the United States! Then we decided to just keep going on the Yosemite Valley Loop Trail for a bit. Along the trail, we passed the site where John Muir’s Cabin was located, gaps in trees with stellar views of Half Dome and more. It was the perfect couple-mile stroll. We actually did this twice because we went again with my parents when they got to the park. 

GLACIER POINT – Yosemite National Park, California 

This is the famous spot that John Muir took Teddy Roosevelt to see the view of Yosemite Valley. It’s paved and there’s a shorter handicap accessible trail to get to see it too. This is one of the most – possibly the most – iconic vantage points in the entire park, but it’s most definitely the iconic view of Half Dome and Vernal and Nevada waterfalls. We did this one twice as well.

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TAFT POINT – Yosemite National Park, California

This trail leads to another spectacular view of Yosemite Valley but this time El Cap and Yosemite Falls are in the spotlight, along with the glacier-carved fissures you’ll get to see up here that drop seemingly impossibly, all the way to the valley below. The trail looks like it ends at this little boxed out piece of fence, but if you go back down from it and turn right where it sort-of makes a T it’ll lead you to the rock that juts out from the cliff. From afar, it looks sketchy, but when you’re actually standing on the rock, you realize just how massive that rock is. 

MIRROR LAKE – Yosemite National Park, California

I was really excited about this hike as someone who had quickly become obsessed with Half Dome, I was really intrigued to check out this hike because it shows off the other side of Half Dome and the lake apparently makes the perfect reflection. However, the part of the trail description I somehow missed is that the lake isn’t always there. It’s more of a wet-weather pond that pools up from creek that runs through. When we were there, it was indeed just a pond and not one large enough to reflect Half Dome. The trail was still beautiful, though, walking alongside the creek through a beautiful and completely different section of forest. So, I would still recommend it for the hike itself in any season, but just know that you might not see the lake.

BRIDAL VEIL FALLS – Yosemite National Park, California

This is another paved trail in the Valley. Because the parking area for the waterfall was closed, though, we hopped on the Yosemite Valley Loop Trail again and followed it here. So we, of course, took a well-worn path that looked like the trail, but ended up not actually being a trail and had to backtrack when finally realized the actual trail was a paved path. We finally made it up the boardwalk to the base of the falls. It was beautiful, but I think it was less impressive than Lower Yosemite Falls. If you only have time for one easy waterfall hike, I would recommend Yosemite Falls. If you have time for both, I recommend doing both!

THE BASE OF EL CAPITAN’S NOSE – Yosemite National Park, California 

This spontaneous little trail ended up being one of my favorite hikes of the year for a couple of reasons. 1 – I do not rock climb, but I am a huge nerd about it, and love watching documentaries, listing to podcasts and reading about rock climbing. So, touching the mountain that shaped rock climbing in North America and around the world was just amazing. 2 – it was totally spontaneous, and I love spontaneous adventures. My dad and I were trying to get a better view of climbers and happened to be on the trail to the nose. 3 – we met the cutest couple on the trail and had so much fun with them on our brief interaction with them. 4 – my dad and I “climbed” El Cap and it’s now the best little silly story of an experience we got to share. Don’t worry, I’ll write a longer post on this mini adventure later this year.

SENTINEL DOME – Yosemite National Park, California

This is another top hike of the year. This trail is right by Taft Point and takes you atop a granite dome – you guessed it, Sentinel Dome that is perfectly placed between Half Dome and El Cap for stellar and unique views of each and beyond. Apparently this is the place to see the sunset in Yosemite and my parents sweetly gifted us a date night in the park and this trail is where we spent it. It was hands-down my favorite sunset of the year. The sky lit up around El Cap and created an incredible pink alpenglow on Half Dome. It was truly so magical! It’s a stellar hike no matter the time of day, but I would try to make it here for sunset if you only have one in the park.

CEDAR CREEK FALLS – Beavers Bend State Park, Oklahoma

This trail was a little bit of a disappointment because the highlight of the trail was to a waterfall, which, it turns out, is a wet-weather fall so the month of August wasn’t the time to do this hike. But it was still a nice walk in the woods, which is rarely a bad thing.

CEDAR BLUFF OVERLOOK – Beavers Bend State Park, Oklahoma

This quick loop takes you up to the top of a bluff that looks down on Mountain Fork Trail. This was my favorite overlook of our father/daughter hiking trip last year. It was short and sweet, in all reality, but the overlook was so beautiful. They even had a little bench chained up top so you could truly hang out and enjoy the view. My dad and I sat here for several minutes watching the birds fly and the water flow.

FRIENDS TRAIL – Beavers Bend State Park, Oklahoma

This was my favorite hike of our 2023 father/daughter trip. It was so fun and the trail description mentioned “rapids” but this was a beautiful, albeit short, series of waterfalls that we found truly spectacular. So it was a great surprise! It also goes through a really pretty forested section first and then wraps up along the river. If you only have time for one hike in the state park, this is the one I’d do!

I managed to take on 19 brand new hiking trails this year along with dozens of repeat hikes as well! Without it really being a goal or anything, we managed to see a lot of really special brand new trails with brand new views and brand new experiences. We love getting outside and hope to continue doing it year after year. This I’ve actually made a resolution to hike on 24 new hiking trails to us.

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