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Any city can be an outdoorsman's paradise, but Denver is great, especially with the weather. But, who can beat a run along the National monuments in DC.
I honestly don’t get why LA is winning this poll. I mean I get the draw of nice weather and scenery year round, but SD is pound for pound the better city for this kind of stuff. It’s much easier to access outdoor recreation in the city, metro and region (minus having to drive through LA) since the traffic is so much lighter, comparatively speaking. The air quality is far better in SD. The OC amusement parks are almost as close as they are to LA especially factoring in traffic. The Laguna Mountains are an hour drive and you also have places like Mission Trails right by the city. Balboa Park/Zoo/SeaWorld right in the city. Easy to get to. Just as many beach/water activities in SD as there are in LA. When I lived in LA, it was truly a production to get to many places if I wanted to be outdoors, so I mostly did outdoor stuff in a small bubble.
Very true, especially with the regards to traffic and air quality. You forgot to mention San Diego Bay for sailing, nothing in LA can come close to that.
I will say though LA has taller mountains, by about 4-5K feet, and is closer by an hour or so to skiing. It’s also closer to the Channel Islands, but that works against it with surfing with certain swells though, San Diego County is the best for surfing in the state (Some from Santa Cruz County may say otherwise, but that’s a debate for a different day). It really is closer to the amusements parks in OC, not to mention Six Flags, and Universal Studios is in LA (technically Universal City). There’s also the aspect of pro and college sports. Nowhere else can compete with them, not even NY, when it comes to the number of teams when you factor in USC and UCLA.
While they both have similar weather, LA actually gets more rain as the taller mountains to the east traps the storms in. This can be seen as a positive or negative. Those same mountains though help trap in the air pollution too.
I’ll take San Diego any day over LA as an outdoor enthusiast, not to mention just a better overall quality of life, but you still have to give LA its due.
I will say though LA has taller mountains, by about 4-5K feet, and is closer by an hour or so to skiing. It’s also closer to the Channel Islands, but that works against it with surfing with certain swells though, San Diego County is the best for surfing in the state (Some from Santa Cruz County may say otherwise, but that’s a debate for a different day). It really is closer to the amusements parks in OC, not to mention Six Flags, and Universal Studios is in LA (technically Universal City). There’s also the aspect of pro and college sports. Nowhere else can compete with them, not even NY, when it comes to the number of teams when you factor in USC and UCLA.
It depends with the OC amusement parks. If you’re in the Valley for example, is it really that much further of a drive to Disney or Knott’s than it is from SD? And also, the OP gave a 5 hour radius. There’s not a big difference between what’s within a 5 hour radius of LA and what’s within 5 hours of SD. And SD is no slouch when it comes to its own outdoor entertainment options.
There are big differences of 5 hours. In 5 hours, LA people can get to the Sierra Nevadas like Yosemite and SEKI and up to Santa Cruz, Death Valley and maybe Grand Canyon western most point.
In SD, 2 hours south of LA, you wont reach those places in 5 hours, close but no. So LA has more access to a lot more outdoors. SD has access to things down in Mexico and Southern Arizona. So thats a plus.
There are big differences of 5 hours. In 5 hours, LA people can get to the Sierra Nevadas like Yosemite and SEKI and up to Santa Cruz, Death Valley and maybe Grand Canyon western most point.
In SD, 2 hours south of LA, you wont reach those places in 5 hours, close but no. So LA has more access to a lot more outdoors. SD has access to things down in Mexico and Southern Arizona. So thats a plus.
This was one of the reasons I moved to LA instead, to go to most places from SD you have to go through LA anyways.lol
There are big differences of 5 hours. In 5 hours, LA people can get to the Sierra Nevadas like Yosemite and SEKI and up to Santa Cruz, Death Valley and maybe Grand Canyon western most point.
In SD, 2 hours south of LA, you wont reach those places in 5 hours, close but no. So LA has more access to a lot more outdoors. SD has access to things down in Mexico and Southern Arizona. So thats a plus.
This is true no doubt about about that, but I’d rather spend the extra 1-3 hours from San Diego for trips I’m taking sporadically at best to not have to deal with the traffic that LA has over San Diego for the activites most are doing daily or weekly. Ask anyone that’s very active that has lived in both cities and you’ll get a overwhelming majority for San Diego. Now where someone would rather live for their career, or any other number of reasons you’ll probably get a different answer, but not for the outdoor enthusiast.
This is true no doubt about about that, but I’d rather spend the extra 1-3 hours from San Diego for trips I’m taking sporadically at best to not have to deal with the traffic that LA has over San Diego for the activites most are doing daily or weekly. Ask anyone that’s very active that has lived in both cities and you’ll get a overwhelming majority for San Diego. Now where someone would rather live for their career, or any other number of reasons you’ll probably get a different answer, but not for the outdoor enthusiast.
Sporadically is the operative word. That’s why Denver is better. I do these trips nearly every weekend because the big mountains worth visiting are within 2 hours.
I had coffee this morning with one of my good friends who was transferred from Denver to LA a year ago. This is a guy I used to go backpacking and camping with quite a bit. He hasn’t been to the mountains more than a handful of times since being in LA. ‘The skiing is a joke compared to Colorado’. His words, not mine. He doesn’t go to the beach very often either because it’s an hour across town and then another half an hour to find parking.
The difficulty getting anywhere in SoCal definitely inhibits the ability to enjoy its potential and must be factored in to this equation.
Did you really just try to compare Outdoor Activites between Dallas and Birmingham? lol. I mean, it's subjective, so you have your own opinions on the topic. But I don't see the comparison, and I love Dallas
Yes I've lived in both for long periods of time and do a lot outdoors and Dallas easy has more options and more to do than Birmingham. I'm talking about places to go for a walk that's not a neighborhood sidewalk like walking trails, mountain biking trails (Birmingham has one trail, the rest are not good), watersports = Dallas easy again with all the lakes, etc. I could go on with more specifics if you'd like.
When I/we go back to Birmingham we find ourselves wanting to go walk around something somewhere and always end up walking around the same neighborhood unpaved lake just to do something active.
Sporadically is the operative word. That’s why Denver is better. I do these trips nearly every weekend because the big mountains worth visiting are within 2 hours.
I had coffee this morning with one of my good friends who was transferred from Denver to LA a year ago. This is a guy I used to go backpacking and camping with quite a bit. He hasn’t been to the mountains more than a handful of times since being in LA. ‘The skiing is a joke compared to Colorado’. His words, not mine. He doesn’t go to the beach very often either because it’s an hour across town and then another half an hour to find parking.
The difficulty getting anywhere in SoCal definitely inhibits the ability to enjoy its potential and must be factored in to this equation.
As long as Denver is landlocked in the middle of the country with less than great weather it’ll never be better. As for your friend not wanting to do anything in LA becaue of traffic only add to my point about San Diego being better than LA. Unless you leave M-F 7am-9am, 90% of the population is never more than a 1/2 hour from the beach, with plenty of free parking. We’ve beaten to death that the skiing is better in the Rockies, Denver wins there, but there is still the option here, along with hiking, biking, camping, etc with far better weather year round. Denver doesn’t exactly have the coolest summers either. Also if he was transferred here two years ago when we had a great season he wouldn’t say the skiing is a joke, last year it was pretty bad.
My wife went to Boulder for the weekend and said it snowed Saturday morning. I know it melted but it was “butt a** cold all weekend” her words, and it’s only the first week of October. Of course her friend said you should of been early this week. Saturday I surfed in the morning and played golf at Torrey Pines, of PGA and US open fame in the afternoon. Not much beats walking that course along the coast on a cliff, except maybe the resident rate of $52. I’ll add that after dropping her off at the airport Thursday I went to my cabin in the mountains to enjoy the cool fall weather. After walking my dog around Lake Arrowhead in the morning I came back in time to go surfing in the afternoon Friday. She’s leaving later today, but says it’s freezing out now with snow and rain on the way, if it hasn’t started already. I got sunshine and 70’s today.
Denver is great (personally I like Salt Lake City better for quicker access to the mountains and skiing, but I’m flying in not living there) but you have to stop saying it’s the best because you have better mountains closer to you.
Btw, I love Denver, lived in Denver for two summers. Nothing I love more than trailing hiking the Rockies in short sleeves with snow still on the ground but it, like most of the other cities mentioned, requires a drive and a half to get to the fun part. Most people who live in Denver don't go all the time. Granted it's easier than flying in but it's not like the Rockies are something you can do every day. There are plenty of good parks and other outdoor things to do like I mentioned above though that are not related to the Rockies.
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