Best states for young adult outdoors enthusiasts (home, university)
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Was wondering what the best places were that combine the greatness of the outdoors with the activities/social life that people in their 20's are interested in. States like Montana or Wyoming, as beautiful as they are, don't offer much in the way of meeting people or going to events.
Was wondering what the best places were that combine the greatness of the outdoors with the activities/social life that people in their 20's are interested in. States like Montana or Wyoming, as beautiful as they are, don't offer much in the way of meeting people or going to events.
Upstate NY towns like Woodstock or New Paltz or Ithaca.
All surrounded by beautiful nature, the last two are college towns so they have young people oriented stuff and the first two are a decent drive to NYC (an hour or 90 mins give or take)
There's also Asheville NC which is basically a hippy city like Berkeley East surrounded by the mountains...it's gorgeous up there. The only two kinda of people in the city are young hippy environmentalists and rich retirees from DC area.
There's always any city in most of northern California but its mad expensive and there is a general sense of smug and "I'm more radical leftist environmentalist than you!" pissing contest stuff in SF, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Arcata to an extent (less so because everyone is too baked to argue about anything other than where they should go get some nachos...seriously). If you find a smaller community like a family oriented suburb you will have access to the young people stuff in the city, the beautiful nature, and you will avoid the smugness that makes the above listed cities unbearable. Contra Costa County, or Marin County (avoid Sebastopol which has the smug I was talking about)
I think Portland and Seattle have what you're looking for as well, but I am not knowledgable about the coastal PNW
OP, this is a big country with a lot of outdoor recreation, so where to begin?
I love CA, so that's where I'd go. Look for a town with a large college or university and there will be young folk. Look for a town with the kind of weather for the kind of outdoor activity you enjoy.
No humidity = west coast. Warm beaches = southern west coast.
Need snow? Mountains or farther north. Or, drive to the snow, which you can do in CA, but then drive home to where there is no snow.
And the entire state is not crazy expensive. The Eureka/Arcata area is quite affordable, has a university, has lots of recreation including coast and giant redwoods. And in my experience, not like what the poster above described.
That's why WY and MT are so great, not crawling with 20-somethings. The loudest most violent age group.
You're not contributing to answering the question, you are only trying to start something, and furthermore your post is self-evident about the unwelcome, hostile, judgmental ignorance that would give the northern Rockies a bad name (minus places like Jackson/Tetons/Yellowstone, Missoula, Glacier NP).
OP, any of the major metro areas in the west are going to have what you are looking for. Despite the fact that California cities are known to be expensive (minus Sacramento which is more affordable) people make it work by either downsizing their housing or by commuting a little further. Any of the major CA cities will have tons of social groups for people in their 20s and 30s who love hiking, camping, kayaking, climbing, surfing, etc. etc. both locally, as well as in other parts of the state and beyond into other western states.
Obviously the other usual suspects in the west are great places. Seattle, Portland, Denver-Boulder, etc. Out of these Denver-Boulder is the one I am personally familiar and seem to prefer.
Other smaller big cities in the west that can also be great for meeting people in their 20s and 30s that I have a little knowledge of would include college towns like Tempe, Tucson, Albuquerque. Possibly Reno, NV might even be an idea (closest city to Lake Tahoe), even SLC, Utah is becoming a bit more progressive.
Places that come to mind in the east however would include largely college towns. The larger cities in the east are hard to meet outdoorsy people.
Idaho, the Boise area and up north in the Coeur d'Alene area which is near Spokane. The Boise and Spokane metro areas are similar in population.
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