500k+ metros with quickest access to mountains in eastern half of US? (best, park)
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Northwest Arkansas is barely above 500k, but you can be in the Ozarks hiking within 20 minutes. There are actually bouldering areas and real mountain biking/hiking in the city limits of Fayetteville.
Look up Mount Kessler Regional Park, Rock City, and Hobbs State Park near Rogers.
Asheville has like 424,000 in the metro--but that's got one of some of best access to mountains in the Eastern US(the Appalachian Trail basically goes through the edge of town)--though I can't say how the skiing is. Knoxville has over 800,000 and it's just on the other side of the mountains as well.
For the Adirondacks I guess, Albany would be the closest 500,000+ metro? And for the White Mountains of Vermont--not really 500,000+ metros right in that area--but Springfield, Mass or places like Concord, NH or Manchester, NH(part of Boston CSA) or Portland, Maine or even Boston itself are the closest though that's a 2 hour+ drive to the good stuff.
Of course, if you want rugged terrain for skiing, you'll have to go out in the boonies, like in Somerset County or something, which will take you a bit over an hour.
Scranton-Wilkes Barre and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton are both very close to the Poconos. Poughkeepsie-Middletown-Newburgh is close to the Catskills, as is the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. Albany is near the Berkshires of MA too.
Like Desert_SW_77 stated, depending on what you consider to be a mountain, you may include other areas like this area 15-20 minutes south of Syracuse: SONG MOUNTAIN RESORT
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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What's your definition of mountains? What elevation? From my own perspective Pennsylvania has more hill covered landscapes than actual impressive mountains. The Southern Appalachians/Smokies are pretty but have poor skiing options.
For easy access to some of the very best year round mountain recreation in the East I'd go with Albany/Capital metro area in Upstate NY. It's a straight shot up I-87 into the Adirondacks. The Adirondacks a hard to beat with tons of natural lakes, lofty peaks for back east, and winter recreation worthy of hosting two winter Olympics. Albany will also give you good access to the Catskills, Green Mountains in Vermont, and the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 09-30-2014 at 06:58 PM..
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