There’s a lot of Nature Conservancy land that its members and others never get to walk on. But in the current issue of their magazine Nature they list four trails open for hikers on Nature Conservancy property.
1. The Bird Loop Trail, Waikamoi Preserve, Hawai’i. The 8900-acre rainforest preserve is on the northeast slope of Maui’s highest mountain, the dormant Haleakala Volcano. The 1.25-mile trail contains an 800’ elevation gain. Allow three hours to make the hike.
2. Aravaipa Canyon, Aravaipa Canyon Preserve, Arizona. Explore a 10-mile-long chasm with 1000’ high walls rising from the creek bed in one of the most remote places in Arizona. Allow two hours to three days! The closest town is Tucson.
3. Roanoke Trail, Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve, North Carolina. The preserve protects one of the largest intact maritime forests on the eastern seaboard. Take an hour for the 1.5-mile trail, but there are 8 miles of trails within the woods. Kill Devil Hills is the closest town.
4. Peaked Mountain Trail, Green Hills Preserve, New Hampshire. There is a 1200’ elevation gain in hiking the 4.2 miles of trail out and back on the Peaked Mountain Trail, a high-alpine experience at relatively low elevations. North Conway is the closest town.
To read more about these trails on Nature Conservancy land, go to the June/July 2015 issue of their magazine Nature.