Best places to live in the U.S.A. if you love hiking?

[somers515]

What are the best places to live in the U.S.A. if you love hiking? I saw a thread that was exactly 10 years old asking this question and I'm curious if the answers have changed.

Bonus points if the town has paved bike trails or good low car traffic roads for the times I just want to get out for a bike ride.

[daddytwosticks]

I love Western North Carolina. Asheville area or dozens of other smaller towns in the western parts. Four seasons to boot.

[garlic08]

If you have a spare million bucks lying around, Boulder CO is a great place to live. Maybe the highest median home price in a non-coastal area.

Check out the League of American Bicyclists for their ranking of cities with biking facilities. That's a high-ranked criterion for me, too.

Good comment above about four seasons. Some of the best places I have in mind don't have that luxury. It helps if you enjoy winter travel, or can deal with desert heat in summer.

[moldy]

California. 12 months out of the year. Ton of outstanding trails. Views. Pick your weather by picking your altitude.

[Slo-go'en]

Berlin, NH. Cheap houses and cost of living. One down side - all the ATV's that are now allowed to drive on city streets.

[foodbag]

New York State, home to the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. Mountains to climb, lakes to paddle, trails to hike & bike, wilderness without mechanized anything, miles of streams to fish, etc. etc. etc. I lived in Lake Placid for 6 months once and if I was bored it was my own damn fault.

[H I T C H]

We are in western Maryland near Harper's Ferry.
Tons of hiking trails, camping areas, kayaking, biking, fishing and hunting areas.
We can be in the mountains in minutes or at a beach in a few hours.

In addition to that there is public transportation to take you into DC where there is free admission to the museums, zoo and other attractions.

The downside is the work commute. Most people spend an hour or more each way in transit to get back and forth to work.

[Shutterbug]

I would say Denver. On days when you don't want to drive to a trail you can hike or ride your bike along the Highline Canal that passes right through the city. On days when you don't mind driving for 30 minutes, you can hike in the foothills at places like Roxborough State Park. Then, when you want to do some serious hiking you are near the Colorado Trail and other trails leading into the Rocky Mountains. I can't think of any place that has more variety. All it lacks is sea shore.

If you want to include some sea shore options, think Western Washington. You have Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier and the Olympic Mountains. You probably would want to avoid Seattle because of the traffic. I lived in Gig Harbor for 20 years -- great hiking for 8 months of the year. Not so good November thru Feb.

[Meenkya]

Seward AK, lived there for 2 years, hiked 3-4 days a week. Harding ice field never got old.....Would still be there if a family member didn't get sick.....

[chknfngrs]

District of Columbia

[DownYonder]

Any place near Asheville, NC....Waynesville, Hendersonville, Brevard, Highlands, etc Hundreds of waterfalls most of which are reached by easy to moderate hikes. You can easily access the AT, the GSMNP and the Blue Ridge Parkway. A truly beautiful area where you will never run out of trails to hike.

[Venchka]

California. 12 months out of the year. Ton of outstanding trails. Views. Pick your weather by picking your altitude.

Too bad it’s in California.
I read a similar article in a magazine in a doctor’s office. Salida & Buena Vista were mentioned. By the time small cities make it to those lists it usually means that they are already ruined.
Consequently, I won’t mention my places.
Wayne

[nsherry61]

As I think about this question, I realized that there are way to many really great places to even attempt a reasonable list, especially as I read what some people above list as great places and I think of them as seriously second or third rate good places. And that means, what's great to one person doesn't cut it for the next, so the list gets even more complicated.

Places I've lived or spent significant time that stand out in my mind as great places for hikers. That I can do.
- Homer Alaska, especially if you have a boat.
- Healy Alaska, the entrance to Denali NP
- Fairbanks Alaska
. . . are you starting to see a trend here? Probably any of 100 towns in AK.

- Any one of dozens of places in Hawaii, don't know the area well enough to name towns/cities - what the heck, Honolulu, every time I've been there I've done incredible hiking with very little effort put into finding hikes.

- I love lots of western British Columbia, but then, that's not the USA.

- I also love the Olympic Peninsula in WA (as noted above) with lots of towns around there including Olympia and Tacoma not too far away.

- Eugene Oregon was great for 10 years with lots of hiking access and lots of bike trails, but it wasn't an AK or HI or MO for that matter.
- Bend Oregon surely deserves to be on this list. It has everything the OP asked for in the way of hiking and biking infrastructure and other outdoor activities for that matter.
- Ashland Oregon is pretty great.
- There's not much hiking in Davis CA, but it has the cycling down and the Sierra's and Lake Tahoe aren't too far away.
- Boise Idaho might be one of the biggest cities with the most best trails near by, but then lots of smaller places in ID and WY are awesome.
- Mazula Montana anyone? Bozman MO?
- Flagstaff AZ!
- This list would definitely be remiss without Salt Lake City, UT. Although, there are lots of nicer (in my opinion) smaller towns in the mountains around Salt Lake, but, we get into an infinite list of small towns if we go there.

What I'm starting to realize is that there needs to be a small town size limit or the list becomes endless with many of the most amazing places being the small towns in the hearts of the great wild areas around our country. . . Prescott UT, Stanley ID, Sisters OR . . .

Also, I can't think of any place east of the Rockies that I've been or spent significant time that I would place anywhere above an average or good rating. Sorry all of upstate NY, NH and the entirety of the midwest, it's just too hard to compete with the more rugged and less populated western states. I'll give the White Mountains a solid good for amazing numbers of trails going everywhere through some somewhat scenic terrain, but once you've spent time in the mountains and deserts of the west . . . maybe I need to learn to appreciated hiking the prairie lands of the midwest or the "rolling hills" of the White Mountains or the endless beaver ponds of the Adirondacks, actually I do. I really enjoy hiking in those areas, over used as they mostly are, but, if we're looking for a list of "the best" you gotta go west.

[Nanatuk]

Delafield, West Bend or Whitewater, Wisconsin 100 miles west and northwest of Milwaukee and East of Madison. Stevens Point or Wausau Wisconsin, both north of Madison. Eau Claire or LaCrosse Wisconsin in the West of the state.

The state has great bike paths, hiking, backpacking, kayaking and canoeing, Lots of federal and state forests and has more lakes and rivers than any state but Alaska. Proximity to lakes Michigan and Superior if your interested in sea kayaking or sailing. I'd also include proximity to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which has its own special charms for enjoying the outdoors.

Oh, almost forgot, cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

[pettas]

I've lived in central NYS for almost 47 years now and have been truly happy with the choice. I live just south of Cooperstown, NY and once you leave the main routes in/out of the village, there are some very nice bike riding options on paved secondary roads. As for hiking, your main interest, we can be in the Catskills within 1.5 hours and the southern Adirondacks are 2.5 hours; add another hour or so for the northern portion of that range.

Along with the well known hiking areas, our part of the state has many small state parks that are pretty undeveloped, all with nice hiking trails. We also have a tremendous number of state forests in our region; again, all with hiking trails.

If you're looking for some "distance" hiking, the two best options are probably the Northville-Lake Placid trail in the Adirondacks or the Finger Lakes Trail that travels across the Southern Tier from western NY to the Catskills.

Hope that helps. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

[Dogwood]

Depends on if youre a 4 season hiker, what kind of hiking you enjoy, etc. I like moving around - diversity of scenery, rivers, oceans, mountains, deserts, deep virgin forests, islands, tropical, temperate, places that are still untrampled by man, 4 season, rain, snow, etc so not going to hamstring myself into picking one supposedly "best" great place based on my goals. I recognize many positives for outdoor activities in having multiple home locations across the U.S. and abroad. Combinations of locations in the U.S. of the southwest or west coast or northwest(including AK) and northeast(NH, VT, ME, upstate NY, NC) and Central America or Brazil or Chile or Costa Rica or Hawaii or New Zealand and OZ intrigue me the most.

[evyck da fleet]

I’ve been most envious of the retirees I met in Arizona who hiked/lived there half the year and had their summer home in Colorado.

[Crushed Grapes]

District of Columbia

+1
Close to Shenandoah, the AT, Harpers Ferry, GWNF, and we are bike friendly (but not cheap)

[somers515]

I’ve been most envious of the retirees I met in Arizona who hiked/lived there half the year and had their summer home in Colorado.

Looks like I might have to spend the winter near Flagstaff, AZ and then head up to one of the many suggested Colorado towns during the summer!

Or perhaps an East Coast version: winter near Asheville, NC and head up to upstate NY/Vermont/NH white mountains during the summer.

I see a few suggestions for Maryland/DC area that I hadn't really thought of before - I'll have to check it out - thank you.

Alaska? Id be surprised if there are a lot of good paved biking trails/roads but I'm sure the hiking is amazing.

I should have really said "typical 3 season backpacking at dispersed sites" as opposed to just "hiking" (good point Dogwood). So many great parts of this country that I want to explore - thank you all for the suggestions so far and I'm happy to keep seeing more.

[RockDoc]

Missoula was the hikingest place I ever lived (in college). We always went hiking when we should have been studying...