Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's a great area, I was there last summer and visited most of the Sylvania Wilderness Area, and Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Area. If you're interested in lakes Vilas County, Wisconsin has the largest quantity of freshwater lakes anywhere in the US. They have a nice MapApp that has all of the hiking trails and boat launches listed and mapped out, a very large quantity and quality to choose from.
Last year my girlfriend and I went to the Hudson valley to escape the oppressive southwest Florida heat. This year we are going on a cruise to northern Europe. In 2020 we plan to go to Petoskey Michigan. Both of us are from northern states but we live in Florida year around. We both dislike the Florida summers but hate driving in snow and ice. It's great to get out of Florida in summer.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,749 posts, read 23,822,981 times
Reputation: 14665
In my travels, I've noticed if people actually want to beat the heat in the summer to the point where they would get on a plane to do it, many will head for the coast of the Pacific Northwest or Alaska. You'll get legit outdoor AC with cooler temps compared to summer on most of the continent up in those parts.
Though not the South, but I escaped New Mexico one summer and flew up to Newfoundland in July. Getting out of the relentless desert heat to that cool and foggy coastal climate up there was fantastic. The Southeast offers beach and mountain getaways so perhaps their not just as inclined to escape their summers.
Where do northerners go in the summer to escape their summer heat?
The Catskills, the Berkshires, the Adirondacks, Cape Cod, the New Hampshire lakes, Maine, and the Maritimes are all popular places for Northerners to go in the summer. Similarly, many Southerners go to their own mountains and beaches -- the Smokies or the Outer Banks, for instance. What's different, though -- and what I'll never understand -- is that while plenty of Northerners go to those same places (the Smokies, the Outer Banks, etc.), the reverse is not true. I go to Cape Cod and the Berkshires every summer, and frequently go to the other northern beach/mountain destinations as well, and I never hear a Southern accent or see a car with Southern plates (except FL, which doesn't count). I live in North Carolina, and I never hear anyone talking about their summer escape to the Northeast, even though the NC beaches and mountains really aren't much relief in the summer. It's pretty weird.
You go to the ocean for the breeze mostly. Some (fewer) go to the mountains for the air. Otherwise neighborhood pools, lakes, or air condition. In general though, escaping the heat through travel is not really something we do in the way northerners do with winter. Summer is simply not something we want to escape. We like the heat. Certainly aren't going to drive or fly to the NE to escape it. New England is for the fall road trips, because of the leaves, not the temperatures.
Without leaving the southeast, the only real option is to go as high in elevation as you can. At 4K feet ac isn’t even needed in the summer, there just aren’t many places that high in the southeast.
You go to the ocean for the breeze mostly. Some (fewer) go to the mountains for the air. Otherwise neighborhood pools, lakes, or air condition. In general though, escaping the heat through travel is not really something we do in the way northerners do with winter. Summer is simply not something we want to escape. We like the heat. Certainly aren't going to drive or fly to the NE to escape it. New England is for the fall road trips, because of the leaves, not the temperatures.
The heat is something that many people prefer not to deal with, but I find anything above 80F to be too hot. My preferred location to escape the heat is the northern Great Lakes region with average July high temperatures of around 75F and low humidity.
Well, part of the problem with summers in the Northeast has been the increasing dew points and therefore delayed and less cooling over night. A significant change in the last few decades.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
