Best cities with lots of outdoor/hiking activities and good year round weather

[snackdog]

Florida has some hiking plus swamp tours and the Keys, etc. Can be warm but everyone raves about the winters. Can’t beat the taxes.

How would living next to a swamp meet OP’s requirement for low humidity or good hiking weather?

If I wanted to hike every day, Florida is literally the last place I would pick.

Literally?

[quantAndHold]

Florida has some hiking plus swamp tours and the Keys, etc. Can be warm but everyone raves about the winters. Can’t beat the taxes.

How would living next to a swamp meet OP’s requirement for low humidity or good hiking weather?

If I wanted to hike every day, Florida is literally the last place I would pick.

Literally?

Me writing like i talk doesn’t make my argument any less valid.

[Valuethinker]

Vancouver, BC, Canada

I love BC but I don't think it meets the OP's requirement of "good year round weather"

One of the highest costs of housing in the world (relative to incomes). Average house over $1.5m Canadian?

Real estate has ruined Vancouver. Great city in most ways (although the drug problem is very visible) but ... real estate. Besides the fact that 6 months of the year it is *grey*.

Victoria was nice (in a sleepy way, and with better weather I think) but has had the spillover effect. Pretty well anywhere which is along the south BC coast.

[Valuethinker]

No one would lump Georgia and New Jersey in together

[ quote fixed by admin LadyGeek]

Wait. Isn't that basically the plot of Ozarks? (mobster from New Jersey takes cover in rural Arkansas?)

Someone who works for a Mexican cartel in Chicago moves to Missouri (not Arkansas)…so…not even kinda close

I am confusing it with Lillehammer (New York mobster on witness protection moves to Norwegian Olympic town)-- which I have seen.

[FireProof]

The Bay Area certainly ticks those boxes but of course cost of living is pretty high…

Great weather, close to many recreational options- almost all of which involve spending time in a car in traffic. Just so you know.

The OP wanted to be within 30 minutes of trailheads. That would be at best limited in the Bay Area. You might be able to go up to Yosemite or Lake Tahoe after work on Friday but you might not get there until midnight.

In Santa Cruz, you can be in Big Basin or Henry Cowell within 30 minutes. In Palo Alto, you can be in Portola Redwoods State Park (or just Foothills Park) within 30 minutes (Henry Cowell and Big Basin are <50 minutes), and obviously places like Atherton and Los Gatos are even closer. Then there are a lot of open space preserves and local parks like Purisima that are really nice.

[ScubaHogg]

No one would lump Georgia and New Jersey in together

[ quote fixed by admin LadyGeek]

Wait. Isn't that basically the plot of Ozarks? (mobster from New Jersey takes cover in rural Arkansas?)

Someone who works for a Mexican cartel in Chicago moves to Missouri (not Arkansas)…so…not even kinda close

I am confusing it with Lillehammer (New York mobster on witness protection moves to Norwegian Olympic town)-- which I have seen.

[tashnewbie]

Outside of CA, I also like Roanoke, VA and areas in western NC for hiking and outdoor sports. The weather isn't as nice but they are very outdoorsy places, cheaper, and the humidity is tempered a bit by the modest elevation.

Roanoke is very affordable and I've heard some call the area the "hiking capital of the East Coast" --- Right on Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, Mill Mountain right in town, and Shenandoah NP just a couple hours drive away, Smokies not too far either, etc.

Shhh. I feel like too many people are moving to Roanoke and the housing is becoming more expensive.

Easy access to many great hiking areas.

Summers can be humid but not as bad as other areas in VA or NC without the elevation. Hasn't really gotten too hot or humid yet (this is subjective and depends on what you're used to). Winters are fairly temperate. There was basically no snow this past winter; a very, very mild winter.

[hudson]

Outside of CA, I also like Roanoke, VA and areas in western NC for hiking and outdoor sports. The weather isn't as nice but they are very outdoorsy places, cheaper, and the humidity is tempered a bit by the modest elevation.

Roanoke is very affordable and I've heard some call the area the "hiking capital of the East Coast" --- Right on Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, Mill Mountain right in town, and Shenandoah NP just a couple hours drive away, Smokies not too far either, etc.

Shhh. I feel like too many people are moving to Roanoke and the housing is becoming more expensive.

Easy access to many great hiking areas.

Summers can be humid but not as bad as other areas in VA or NC without the elevation. Hasn't really gotten too hot or humid yet (this is subjective and depends on what you're used to). Winters are fairly temperate. There was basically no snow this past winter; a very, very mild winter.

Roanoke to McAfee Knob trailhead: 21 minutes https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Roanoke ... 929102!3e0

As you already know,
hot summer: hike near sunrise or sunset (An Apple watch can continuously display sunrise/sunset times. At sunset, you've got almost 30 minutes of light left...you already knew that too.)
cold winter: hike after lunch

[tashnewbie]

Outside of CA, I also like Roanoke, VA and areas in western NC for hiking and outdoor sports. The weather isn't as nice but they are very outdoorsy places, cheaper, and the humidity is tempered a bit by the modest elevation.

Roanoke is very affordable and I've heard some call the area the "hiking capital of the East Coast" --- Right on Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway, Mill Mountain right in town, and Shenandoah NP just a couple hours drive away, Smokies not too far either, etc.

Shhh. I feel like too many people are moving to Roanoke and the housing is becoming more expensive.

Easy access to many great hiking areas.

Summers can be humid but not as bad as other areas in VA or NC without the elevation. Hasn't really gotten too hot or humid yet (this is subjective and depends on what you're used to). Winters are fairly temperate. There was basically no snow this past winter; a very, very mild winter.

Roanoke to McAfee Knob trailhead: 21 minutes https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Roanoke ... 929102!3e0

As you already know,
hot summer: hike near sunrise or sunset (An Apple watch can continuously display sunrise/sunset)
cold winter: hike after lunch

Yep! In the summer, I like to be out no later than 9 am. I'm usually done before it really starts to warm up and get humid.

[coastalhiker]

The Bay Area certainly ticks those boxes but of course cost of living is pretty high…

Great weather, close to many recreational options- almost all of which involve spending time in a car in traffic. Just so you know.

The OP wanted to be within 30 minutes of trailheads. That would be at best limited in the Bay Area. You might be able to go up to Yosemite or Lake Tahoe after work on Friday but you might not get there until midnight.

In Santa Cruz, you can be in Big Basin or Henry Cowell within 30 minutes. In Palo Alto, you can be in Portola Redwoods State Park (or just Foothills Park) within 30 minutes (Henry Cowell and Big Basin are <50 minutes), and obviously places like Atherton and Los Gatos are even closer. Then there are a lot of open space preserves and local parks like Purisima that are really nice.

Yes. And the East Bay Regional Parks are gems. We can drive < 30 minutes to many very nice regional parks (Tilden, Wildcat Canyon, Briones and others), as well as Mt. Tam and Mt. Diablo State Parks. And an easy 50 minutes to Pt. Reyes National Seashore, more great hiking. It's hiker's paradise, year round.

[TheDogFather]

We love to hike and picked the northern Shenandoah Valley. Not close to a major city (although Winchester has a surprising amount thanks to the university), but only an hour from an international airport (Dulles), and when it gets hot and humid just go up 3000+ feet in Shenandoah National Park.

[SouthernInvestor]

Chattanooga, maybe Knoxville. Don't pay those pesky NC taxes to be in Asheville.

[hudson]

Chattanooga, maybe Knoxville. Don't pay those pesky NC taxes to be in Asheville.

Chattanooga: Signal Mountain is right next door. I'm not familiar with hikes there: https://www.alltrails.com/us/tennessee/chattanooga
Knoxville: I don't know if there are any mountains within 30 minutes; the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is an hour away.

[bagle]

Strictly on the basis of (1) and (2), SF Bay Area, especially city of Tiburon/Belvedere or Mill Valley. (I didn't say it was cheap...)

[GreenLawn]

I've lived in or visited many of the areas mentioned in this thread. It's been fun and educational to read the different perspectives. My personal preferences are often at odds with consensus opinion so I do the research but reserve judgement until I've lived in an area for a while. I recommend the OP do the same. I didn't have much of an opinion regarding alligators prior to moving to Florida, but grew to enjoy their company (at a distance!) during my walks around the lake.

When researching places to live around the country decades ago I ran across the phrase "an invigorating four season climate". I didn't appreciate or even understand what that meant at the time, but after about six months of living in San Diego I got the message. A very moderate climate isn't automatically the "best" climate. Some of us appreciate invigoration.

The southern Appalachians have a good reputation, as the OP noted, and deservedly so. Lots of hiking trails and waterfalls. I'd keep that area near the top of the list and consider the surrounding cities and not just Asheville.

[BanquetBeer]

Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia
Weather averages
Overview
Graphs
MonthHigh / Low(°F), Rain
January 68° / 43°, 3 days
February 68° / 45°, 6 days
March 68° / 47, °9 days
April 68° / 48°, 11 days
May 67° / 48°, 12 days
June 66° / 48°, 9 days
July 66° / 47°, 7 days
August 66° / 46°, 7 days
September 67° / 45°, 8 days
October 67° / 46°, 11 days
November 67° / 47°, 10 days
December 68° / 44°, 6 days

[lakpr]

Bogotá, Bogota, Colombia

Kidnapping risk
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel ... isory.html

[PaddyMac]

We used to live in Southern California and that ticks your boxes especially if you live on the western side (Ventura Co. rather than the valley) as it will take you too long to get to the mountains otherwise. The weather along the coast is much nicer than more inland.

We moved over a decade ago to New Mexico, and Albuquerque/Santa Fe area would also check those boxes. Very little humidity (except in an afternoon summer monsoon when you wouldn't be hiking). Santa Fe gets a bit of snow, but ABQ gets very little so you could hike in the winter there too. The summers are hotter in ABQ so you either hike there early AM, or you drive around to the east side of the Sandia Mountains (called the East Mountains) where it's higher elevation (6500) and cooler. There are tons of trails here along Sandia Crest road for instance.

Note that the SF weather is 10 degrees cooler than ABQ year round because SF is at @ 6500 feet and ABQ is 5500 ft. SF houses are also more expensive. You're also a longer drive from SF to the main airport south of ABQ.

We live on the east side and we live in the middle of a pinyon-juniper pine forest, but we get the SF weather so some snow in the winter. Some communities here have hiking trails (meaning they are not open to the public (don't show up on maps etc). In the winter, we do the opposite - if we want to hike, we go around the west/ABQ side of the Sandias where there is no snow.

Compared to CA, the cost of living is very low, taxes are lower, and NM people are friendly.

[Valuethinker]

We used to live in Southern California and that ticks your boxes especially if you live on the western side (Ventura Co. rather than the valley) as it will take you too long to get to the mountains otherwise. The weather along the coast is much nicer than more inland.

We moved over a decade ago to New Mexico, and Albuquerque/Santa Fe area would also check those boxes. Very little humidity (except in an afternoon summer monsoon when you wouldn't be hiking). Santa Fe gets a bit of snow, but ABQ gets very little so you could hike in the winter there too. The summers are hotter in ABQ so you either hike there early AM, or you drive around to the east side of the Sandia Mountains (called the East Mountains) where it's higher elevation (6500) and cooler. There are tons of trails here along Sandia Crest road for instance.

Note that the SF weather is 10 degrees cooler than ABQ year round because SF is at @ 6500 feet and ABQ is 5500 ft. SF houses are also more expensive. You're also a longer drive from SF to the main airport south of ABQ.

We live on the east side and we live in the middle of a pinyon-juniper pine forest, but we get the SF weather so some snow in the winter. Some communities here have hiking trails (meaning they are not open to the public (don't show up on maps etc). In the winter, we do the opposite - if we want to hike, we go around the west/ABQ side of the Sandias where there is no snow.

Compared to CA, the cost of living is very low, taxes are lower, and NM people are friendly.

2 questions, and I mean them to be genuine, not rhetorical (I do not live in the USA):

1. NM has a very high crime rate? One of the highest among US states? Is this of a concern?

2. Wildfires have become a serious issue in recent years? Does this impact air quality and/or general feeling of safety? (Wildfires would be a reason I think northern California is less attractive as a place to live than it once was. Also I believe serious problems with drug abuse).

Generally with more elevated mountain areas I think people should be mindful of altitude issues. Some people just cannot adjust, long term. I don't think that is predictable in advance. I have found 2000m (6000') not too bad, the time we went to 4000m (12k feet) in the Andes I really was struggling (but we were only there for an afternoon).

[MJS]

2 questions, and I mean them to be genuine, not rhetorical (I do not live in the USA):

1. NM has a very high crime rate? One of the highest among US states? Is this of a concern?

From what I have heard, to a certain degree NM has a "reporting problem." Crimes are reported and recorded as crimes -- not ignored or recorded as lesser issues. Some universities had similar problems -- they reported assault & rape charges vigorously. But as a result, they appeared far more dangerous than the (larger) colleges where not one single case of assault was ever found.

Single statistics can be quite misleading.

[Back Dr]

NJ has a moderate climate and is lush and green away from the urban area near NYC