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Many options here as others have said:
Denver
Albuquerque
Asheville
Richmond, VA
Pittsburgh
San Francisco
Seattle
Los Angeles
Honolulu
Chattanooga
Atlanta
Many others could be put here too, but most of the Piedmont area of the southeast plus most of the West Coast can be put in this category.
I would never pick Phoenix as my favorite outdoors city, but I have to laugh at the people taking potshots at Phoenix. We are way ahead of many other U.S. cities in natural beauty, especially with the "1-2 hours" criteria. That gets you Flagstaff, Verde Valley, Prescott, Sedona, Tuscon, Payson, Rim Country, and on and on. Just pick a western where you couldn't take your eyes off the screen for the scenery. The city itself? No defense for how it's been developed. But that wasn't the question.
Cincinnati does pretty well. Red river gorge & hocking hills less than 2 hours. Not far from the Appalachian Mountains. And within the county one of the largest park systems in the USA.
It depends on your idea of "most beautiful outdoors". Some like the beach/coast, some like hiking in wooded areas, some like boating on lakes, some like dry and rocky mountains, etc.
Without clarification, we'll each give our own unique idea of what we want, rather than what the OP wants.
Even above, someone went on about humidity, and it being awful. I've found super dry regions to be the true awful areas, with humidity a plus and benefit. There's a big difference between dry mountainous regions and watered mountainous regions, for example.
All can be found in SoCal plus sorta kind of warm beaches.
Closest Finger Lakes are about 20-25 minutes away(Otisco and Skaneateles), with all of them being within the 2 hour timeframe.
Adirondacks are about an hour and a half, with the Catskills and Poconos within 2 hours.
The 1000 Islands are about an hour and a half away.
Plenty of lakes, creeks and rivers to fish in within that timeframe(Nine Mile Creek, Salmon River, Oneida Lake(the state’s largest inland lake), Seneca River, Oswego River, Black River, etc.)
The county park system has 2 beaches(Oneida Shores and Jamesville), with a state park beach(Green Lakes) also within the county. All are within 20-25 minutes from the city. There are other lakeside beaches nearby as well.
Ithaca with its gorges, Letchworth State Park(aka the Grand Canyon of the East) and Salmon River Falls in Oswego County, among others, are also within that timeframe.
There are several ski areas south of the city that are within 30-40 minutes away.There are plenty of snowmobile trails minutes from the city.
There is rafting on the Black and Moose Rivers north of the city.
Boston and Providence
Cape Cod, Narragansett Bay, Main Coast, RI coast, North Shore, Cape Anne, Boston Harbor Islands, Narragansett Bay islands
Marthas Vinyard, Nantucket, Block Island
White Mts, Green Mts, Berkshires, Hudson River Valley, Blackstone River Valley, Blue Hills
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