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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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In the interior Mountain West, which state has the most beauty and best scenery?
Best Variety
Best National Parks
Best towns and cities to compliment the scenery
Best Recreation/Sports/Outdoor Activities
A particular place or region with exceptional scenery
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Reputation: 14665
Quote:
Originally Posted by cacto
I'm an AZ guy and I vote that way, but all the Four Corner states are awesome.
Yeah they are all exceptional in terms of scenery, hard to choose between Arizona and Colorado but I think in terms of variety Arizona is the best. That drive from hot desert valley around Phoenix up I-17 to the alpine mountain peaks and cool ponderosa pine forest up around Flagstaff always amazes me. I love the saguaro cacti covered hills, red rocks of Sedona, and of course Grand Canyon, Arizona is hard to beat.
I have minimal experience with Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho though I really enjoyed the lakes region up in Northern Idaho, it has some of the nicest lakes I've seen anywhere. I'd like to see the Tetons as well.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 03-18-2014 at 01:06 PM..
I've always been curious about the Northern Rockies states and have wanted to visit. It seems that the Ponderosa Forest mountain areas of the Southern Rockies (NM,UT,CO) gives you some awesome red rock formations as well as trees and snow, with deep Native culture and history, all the while Mexican/Spanish speaking culture is ever present as well. I love the mix, though I wouldn't knock Montana, WY, ID for scenery. I need to spend some time up there someday. I just had a friend come and visit from Bozeman MT. He grew up just outside of Boston but has been in Bozeman for 8 or so years. He wanted to go hiking with me out in the Sonoran to get a feel for the desert. It was cool to hear his observations; "looks like Mars", "Dr. Seuss plants", "you guys have some crazy roads". Sometimes an outsider's perspective reminds you of your own when you're too used to it. Four Corners/Southwest is hard to beat for me.
In the interior Mountain West, which state has the most beauty and best scenery?
Best Variety - Maybe Utah since it has both Rocky Mountain sub-ranges, red rock country and the classic southwestern landscape of Monument Valley, and the more barren Great Basin desert terrain. Also though I think most of the states have pretty good variety in some way--especially Arizona and New Mexico as well.
Best National Parks - Utah, the southernmost area has the best and most interesting range of national parks in the country. Canyonlands is a unique gem to explore and Bryce and Zion and Arches are spectacular and Capitol Reef is a really interesting and lesser visited place(along with all the national monuments and state parks). I spent a week just going from national park to national park once in Southern Utah, going on a hike at a different park every day and there's so much more to explore.
Best towns and cities to compliment the scenery - Colorado and then New Mexico. Colorado can feel overtouristed by there's some really cool old mining towns(even outside the famous ones like Breckenridge). There's old ghost towns really high up in the mountains all over the place that haven't been fully restored and even rich tourist spots like Telluride are gems. New Mexico stands out for the variety of towns, not just Taos and Santa Fe but you have little pueblo villages, dusty Spanish adobe colonial towns, old west mining towns, and Route 66 mid-century strips.
Best Recreation/Sports/Outdoor Activities - Colorado has the most ski areas, Utah has the best ones, but for some reason I like Montana in some ways for other recreation. It's a little less crowded(though not always) and Glacier seems like one of the most interesting places to backpack through and the Beartooths are great.
A particular place or region with exceptional scenery - Too many to name, but the Wind River Range, Beartooths, and San Juans are my favorite mountains. Capitol Reef is a place in Utah that feels really special to me because it has these old fruit orchards and groves in the middle of this massive series of red rock canyons--and there's roads that you drive down that eventually become too narrow where you just stop and hike through this side canyons(Canyonlands as well; both have some crazy places to explore). Another place that I really liked for some reason was the little village of Chimayo in New Mexico, there's not much there, but it felt like a little outpost of old Spanish culture in the mountains. Lots of amazing places to visit, in part that's why it's such a great spot for roadtrips.
I find Colorado and Montana mountains nice to be -in-, but boring to look at from afar.
New Mexico has dramatic juxtaposition of desert and alpine mountains combined with incredible atmosphere as well as striking mountainscapes like the Sandias, Organ, and Brazos.
Wyoming has the Tetons, and Yellowstone.
If I had to say my favorite based on -one- area, it would have to be Wyoming for Yellowstone. While Yellowstone does not contain super dramatic mountains, between Yellowstone Falls, the lake, the geysers and travertine formations, it is one of the most amazing natural spots in the country.
I love 'em all, but for variety I don't think you can beat Utah. The canyon country in the southern part of the state is an amazing one-of-a-kind place with opportunities to get more remote than just about anywhere else in the lower 48. On top of that you have the alpine mountains such as the Wasatch, and the list doesn't stop there. It's got a great selection of National Parks and recreation areas.
Idaho's probably the most geographically diverse out of all of the states listed. There are the temperate inland rain forests in the north and some of the most scenic ranges in the Rocky Mountains throughout the state, the largest roadless forests in the West, and the volcanic plains in the South and extremely remote and hard to get to Owyhee Canyonlands south of Boise which are just as beautiful as the canyonlands in the SW imo.
What makes Idaho so beautiful is that it runs under the radar but is just as beautiful, if not more so then any mountain west state minus the busloads upon busloads of tourists polluting the scenic landscape. Idaho is for the true adventurer and outdoorsman.
edit...all of the states listed are beautiful in their own way. Various scenery and strokes for different people.
Last edited by Syringaloid; 03-19-2014 at 01:25 PM..
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