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I've seen the hiking loop around Mont Blanc in France (Tour de Mont Blanc), and was wondering if there is anything similar in the United States? Preferably in the West. The things I'm looking for:

  1. Lodges at the end of each day of hiking with food (I'd be hiking with children)
  2. Transfer service between lodge for extra gear that you wouldn't bring in a day pack

Thank you

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  • nitpicking: part of the TDM is not in France, by definition. It goes through Italy and Switzerland
    – njzk2
    Commented May 17, 2021 at 21:11
  • A similar approach to point 1 is possible in much of Europe, so the Tour de Mont Blanc is far from unique. Point 2 is less universal but hostel/hotel/mountain hut managers could probably find a willing taxi company.
    – Chris H
    Commented May 18, 2021 at 8:14

2 Answers 2

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I'd be happy to see someone else contradict me, but I think the answer is basically no. The scenic, high-elevation mountain areas of the western US are uninhabited wilderness lands that are protected as national parks. The landscape is nothing like the Alps, where you have shepherds, huts, trams, cows, villages, farms, big towns like Chamonix, and so on.

An area that I'm specifically familiar with is the Sierra. The entire high-elevation portion of this range is national parks, extending a couple of hundred miles from north to south. There is only one road across from east to west, and it's at the north end of the range. There are a few developed areas such as Red's Meadows and Vermillion Valley Resort, but these are few and far between.

The closest thing I can think of to what you're talking about would be hiking the northern half of the John Muir Trail, starting from Yosemite Valley and exiting at someplace like Vermillion Valley Resort. The distance is roughly 100 miles. However, there is no way to do this and have lodging every night. Most people would do it as a backpacking trip and take about a week. You would need to carry your food, sleeping bags, etc. You would have a couple of opportunities to resupply along the way.

It's possible that there is something like this in the Rockies. I'm not familiar with that area.

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I must agree with Ben Crowell--I am not aware of anything of the sort in the US. The closest I can think of is the Wonderland trail--it circles a mountain, there are designated places to spend the night but it's backcountry camping, you're packing in and out everything. There four points on the trail you can cache supplies (but you can only use three as one will be your trailhead), two of which sell some supplies. There's a lot of natural water, but you'll have to filter it.

The total loop is 150km with 6,700m of total climb.

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