4.1.3. Next Hop

The next-hop address is the IP of the next router to forward packets toward the destination. For directly connected routes, there's no next hop—the router sends directly.

In show ip route, the address after via is the next hop (an interface name may follow it as the exit interface). A route is only usable if that next hop can itself be resolved (the router does a recursive lookup until it reaches a connected route) and the exit interface is up. When a destination is unreachable, check in that order: a matching route exists, its next hop resolves, its interface is up, and only then look for an ACL silently discarding the traffic.