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Idaho is definitely one of the top states. You can be deep in the wilderness and see unknown mountain ranges that would have top billing in other states. There are the deserts, canyons, mountains, miles of rivers and streams to walk along and the largest roadless forested wilderness areas in the lower 48 to explore. The Sawtooth's have some of the best hiking I have experienced anywhere in the western US.
There is also the 900 mile Idaho Centennial Trail which begins at the southern state line with Nevada and continues north to British Columbia.
During the winter snowshoeing and cross country skiing take the place of hiking.
There's so many great places to choose from, so it's hard to narrow it down. But here are my favorite areas:
Utah - The primary reason I moved here is the tremendous outdoor recreation so close by, with so much variety
Idaho - Tons and tons of mountains. Beautiful and jagged.
Wyoming - Love the Wind River range. Quite isolated.
Oregon - Love the Oregon cascades, and especially the Columbia Gorge region around Mt Hood. It's a magical area.
California - The Sierra Nevada.. need I say more?
Places I'd like to try but haven't yet include Montana, especially the Glacier Park area, Washington Cascades and the Olympic Range, and Alaska.
If you want some great hiking head to the great Northwest. Washington has many beautiful trails to explore. My list is never-ending. We've seen so much, yet haven't even scratched the surface. Many mountain and national forests.
About 15 years ago I hiked in various places from Harriman St. Park in NY down to northern SC...The Harriman place was pretty breathtaking to me with all these rocks around...a huge boulder on top of the park's mountain. I don't have any pictures of it. Also Goose Creek State Park in NC. While the Goose Creek's surrounding terrain is mostly flat, I found it fun to take a long walk on a trail where it is flat and full of tall trees. Also good view of the swamp there. I also hiked on one trail on the Massanutten Mountains just west of the Shenandoah Nat'l Park in VA and one valley I was in was completely absent from any traffic noise.
Whatever the top states for hiking, I don't know that well as all my hiking was limited to the east side of the Mississippi River.
Not as strenuous, but the rail trails of PA. Most go along the rivers and lakes and are 100x more beautiful than basic mountain hikes.
For standard hiking - NC, GA, and SC mountains. The perk to SC & NC are the many waterfalls. I would pick East Coast over West Coast hiking any day. Come on, we have the AT.
I would say all of the states with significant parts of the western cordillera (WA, OR, CA, ID, UT, NV, AZ, CO, NM, WY, MT) have great hiking, as well as the states with the most significant sections of the appalachians (GA, NC, TN, VA, KY, WV, NY, NH, VT, ME), and Alaska and Hawaii go without saying.
That's 23 states with great hiking, nearly half of them.
Texas has mountains on par with good sections of the apps, but they're very far removed from the major population centers in the state. Its hill country hikes are just okay. So I'll put it with the next batch of states: states with auxiliary mountains: SD, TX out west, AR, OK central, SC, AL, CT, MA, MD, PA, NJ.
That's 11 more states with okay hiking.
Then there are states with little or no mountains/canyons but interesting valleys and coastlines: MN, WI, MI, IN, OH, IL along the lakes, DE, RI, FL, MS, LA out east.
That's 11 more states with some hiking, at all.
And then we get to the last of the pile: KS, NE, ND, IA, MO. These states have interesting little oddities scattered throughout them still, but they're definitely not a hiker's paradise.
5 states with little to no hiking
Not as strenuous, but the rail trails of PA. Most go along the rivers and lakes and are 100x more beautiful than basic mountain hikes.
For standard hiking - NC, GA, and SC mountains. The perk to SC & NC are the many waterfalls. I would pick East Coast over West Coast hiking any day. Come on, we have the AT.
Yes you have the AT. And the west has the PCT. The inter mountain west has the CDT. All are amazing hikes that people include in bucket lists or spend years preparing for.
Other than subjective reasoning, the AT does not give an edge to the east coast, just as the PCT does not give the edge to the west.
Yes you have the AT. And the west has the PCT. The inter mountain west has the CDT. All are amazing hikes that people include in bucket lists or spend years preparing for.
Other than subjective reasoning, the AT does not give an edge to the east coast, just as the PCT does not give the edge to the west.
I agree. Comparing the east coast to the west coast, in this regard, is absolutely silly and ridiculous.
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