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10 Tunes for Your Road Trip to Trailhead Playlist

Tent: ✔   Sleeping bag: ✔   Food: ✔   Extra Water: ✔   Boots: ✔   GPS: ✔   Headphones: ✔

Now, all you need is some road music to keep you grooving on your way out to the trailhead.

As you’re putting together your playlist, the best approach is a mix of happy music (think Pharrell) and restorative music (OK, not quite George Winston but something contemplative for those long, lonesome stretches), something old and new, and, of course, something to sing-along with (and no, no not Ride the Pony) when you’ve got the windows down and need to release all that pent up energy, but not quite give it away.

Here’s 10 road-tripping songs, to add to your play list and get you closer to your destination:

Around the World—Daft Punk
This fun zone-out tune with its addictive punchy syntho beat will get you out of the driveway and onto the freeway at the crack of dawn.

Born to be Wild—Steppenwolf
Getcha moto running…head out on the highway. Often described as the first heavy metal song, or as AllMusic’s Hal Horowitz described as “a roaring anthem of turbo-charged riff rock.” Yep, it’s the unparalleled tribute to road tripping.

Seasons (Waiting on You)—Future Islands
This song’s synthetic pop band beat will carry you far down any road.

Long Days Hot Nights—Sirens of Lesbos
Deep, transitive vocals with a soulful undertone, on top disco-ish piano chords, emotional strings, and a haunting bassline from a band with a sound well steeped in the deep house / electronic music scene. This song will carry you well down on long lonely roads to your trailhead.

Royals—Lourde
Put aside the crazy tripping lyrics and you get an easy grooving drive song with an aspirational hip hop beat.

I and Love and You—The Avett Brothers
This band defies labels but if you require a distillation, their sound is somewhere in the spectrum of country, folk, folk-rock, alternative-country, American roots, roots-rock or indie. The simply perfect roadworthy lyrics will not only have you singing along but feeling along. To whit: “Load the car and write the note; Grab your bags and grab your coat; Tell the ones that need to know; We are headed north.”

Sun Medallion—King Tuff
This kaleidoscopic stoner tune is best described by music critic Eric Goldberg as “a lost 60s garage pop gem based around an acoustic guitar,” extremely catchy and melodic.

Your Love Will Blow Me Away When My Heart Aches—Son Little
This soulful anthem to unrequited love and lost direction will “blow you away.” It’ll make you feel like a runaway on the road to redemption.

Back in the Saddle—Aerosmith
An irresistible open road tune that will inspire you to throw down the proverbial hardtop and put the pedal to the tarmac.

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