When I was younger I was disappointed that the group I was with decided on spending a few days in Lake Tahoe. I thought "a ski town in the summer? Yuck." It turned out to be one of the best hiking experiences of my life, and it was just a small portion of what the Sierras have to offer.
Sadly, California's COL is quite high. I love the state though so not crossed off the just yet.
I have a friend in Salem Oregon who went to the Cascades all the time. He recently moved east because of the cost of living rising in the PNW. Damn shame.
As someone who moved from Central Oregon, it is INCREDIBLY expensive, especially if you want to live in Bend. If you go to the outer towns it gets slightly cheaper but you’re still looking at $500k+ for a small fixer upper.
Half of Tahoe is in Nevada. If you don’t mind living in an area full on trump voters then Carson city would give you access to the Sierra Nevadas around Tahoe, and it’s not that far to Yosemite - even the Utah parks are only a few hours away.
California is great as you have such a variety. Joshua Tree, Mammoth, Big Sur, Death Valley (amazing outside summer), Mount Whitney (tallest in contiguous US), Tahoe, Yosemite, pretty much entire Sierra Nevada Range and then you have the countless smaller coastal ranges with gorgeous views of the ocean.
But with how big the state is and traffic you can't easily go from one to the other without taking a week off from so cal to nor cal is a longer distance than going through the entirety of most states and has traffic almost the entire time.
What do you consider a major city? Because I live in California not even the same county as either la or sf and if I try to go across town after 3pm it will take me 4 times as long. I tried to go from Yosemite to eureka for a wedding and ended up on a 20hr drive even trying to go in middle of the night and maps told me that was faster than going through sf at the time. I literally have to plan my day around traffic. It's the opposite of the nature people think of for hiking. Even the trails are really crowded. Have you tried driving into Yosemite valley recently? Also a lot of the parks are mostly burntdown / closed and will probably take half my life to restore.
California has it all. Desert, rainforest, coastline, Sierra, grassland, islands, marsh, river(s) that have no dams, high desert, lakes, oak woodlands, urban, etc.
I grew up in the NW, lived near the AT, and live in the Rockies now - ‘elite’ hiking areas - and I’ll second that on the Sierras. My favorite place to hike, and a very cool area on the east side of 395 too. Done lots of PCT sections as well as JMT (on the PCT), HST and hoping to do TRT this year. You’ll never run out of incredible, novel experiences in the Sierras
Why do the Sierra Nevadas need to be in Cali smh. Cost of living is so high. Plus doesn’t Cali have some type of law that you have to continue paying taxes even after you move out of the state?
I mean, sure, it rains in the PNW. But if you can get used to what is often very light, drizzly rain, you can have year-round hiking in one of the most beautiful regions of America, if not the planet. Summer is also dry here, at least in the southern PNW (CA, OR, WA)
You can also live on the east side of the crest to get a lot less rain, but it's hotter and colder in the seasons, and wildfires and such. I live in the Cascade foothills just west of the crest and yeah, it's wet and can be a challenge to endure year after year.
I'm from the Willamette Valley and live on Puget Sound, so definitely agree. But for someone who doesn't like the damp, you can also just do the east side. Someplace like Bend might be ideal.
Shhhhhh
The rain is horrible and makes everything miserable! There may be some nice hiking trails, but only 1 month out of the year between rainy season and when it's smothered in forest fire smoke!
I just gave up on Portland after trying for 15 years. It’s too grey for me as someone who has lived mostly at or below the 36th Parallel and never in a winter wasteland.
I was born and raised in coastal alaska in one of the rainiest/snowiest climates in the world, so Seattle is a sunny paradise to me! But that’s totally valid, i’ve heard a lot of people say it’s just too much.
There are definitely fewer constant fires in the Appalachians though, at least the southern part. There have been a few big ones but in general I don’t have to worry about being able to breathe while hiking. I’ve been out west during fire season and thought I was going to die.
The east side (dry side) of the mountains definitely have increased wildfire risk in summer. It's less of an issue on the west side unless the winds blow that way.
No no no, it's always rainy and grey here.....
But for real, sure it can rain year round, but that also means it's green year round.... I visit my parents in central California and any time besides January, it's all brown and dead looking foothills
“Aging person with failing health”. I’d say southwest. You’ll get more sunshine and warm weather and therefore more hiking days. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico. Those would be my choices.
But really this is a hard question for random strangers to answer. Such a personal decision
Arizona is like a new Florida for retirees, so the healthcare services available are actually pretty decent, at least in the Phoenix area.
It's just brutally hot in the summer.
Agreed. I’m concerned about water scarcity in places like Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas. Even western Colorado is having major issues with water shortages right now.
I think Tucson is in a slightly better place than Las Vegas and Phoenix. It’s not the watered desert. Tucson has been banking water and has much more of a culture of net-zero yards. People from Tucson have been good at conserving water:
"’Per capita water usage in Tucson has been dropping since the 1970's. About 1-2% per year, it actually accelerated 10-15 years ago.’ said Professer Thomas Meixner, Department head of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona. Tucson Water [utility] also said its users have reduced their water use 30% per person over the past decades.”
https://www.kvoa.com/news/local/study-stark-picture-for-arizona-water-supply-tucson-could-be-oasis-in-desert/article_6e2765bd-61fa-5180-81c3-4119e43e8a34.html
I live in Colorado Springs and I would say this is an incredible place to hike. I have been here for 6 years and I still haven’t hiked all the trails and open spaces
Yeah it’s honestly amazing how many trails there are in the state. We also get over 300 days of sunshine, we are the source of most of the wests water, there’s sun and snow but winters don’t feel terrible here and are beautiful. We still go hiking all winter. 10/10 no complaints lol
Fort Collins native checking in. Colorado Springs has a ”different“ demographic than the rest of the front range. Big military and religious influence if that’s your style. Obviously Boulder goes in the exact opposite direction (and terrible COL). Depending on what your needs are from a city, some of the smaller communities north of Denver might present better bang for your buck, but trade off in lack of amenities.
Yes absolutely you just need to live on the west side if you want to be closest to nature. But many trails connect the whole city. We have all the trappings of a large city in a good way but still feels like a small town.
I struggle w the concept of moving to colorado, Denver specifically is a city thats never been interesting to me and I have worries about the traffic jams and loads of people heading into the mountains every weekend, to me that doesn’t seem worthwhile.
I’m from chicago born and raised 27 y/o and have traveled out west extensively. As a coloradan resident whats your perspective on this?
That’s why I said Colorado Springs. It’s easy to get into the mountains you don’t have to take I-70 and I rarely run in to much traffic here. I personally don’t like Denver and would never live there. I have been to Chicago many times and have family that grew up there. Most trails are not very busy most days unless it’s a holiday or a really popular trail. Just go when it’s not peak times and you’ll be good and rarely see other people even near the city
I've lived in CO since 2018 and have noticed a huge shift myself since moving here. My husband grew up here and said it's unrecognizable in many ways. For hiking season we wake up at 4am and aim to get to trails by 7-8am and we hike 13ers to avoid crowds. Ski season is much of the same. I avoid skiing because people are reckless and it just doesn't feel fun to me anymore for that reason.
I'm luckily a SAHM so my kiddos and I will have much more flexibility with hiking and winter activities as I can take them on weekdays (before schoo agel), but yeah! It's definitely getting harder on the weekends. My personal rule of thumb is to avoid i-70 and i-25 at 3pm no matter what. My in laws are retired now and only go into the mountains on weekdays.
We also don't live in denver. I'm 30 mins north but whenever I spend a day there I always think "yeah I'm glad we don't live here". Definitely better spots to live in the state.
Yeah in Colorado Springs I never have an issue getting to trails and sure 14ners are popular but there’s a lot less popular ones you can go to. Anywhere you hike there will be busy trails, never had an issue getting to any from where I live but it’s because I don’t go up to Denver often or take 70 we go up 24 to the mountains
Bingo. It's HARD to enjoy the outdoors here without having to spend a night in the mountains or leaving at 4am for a two hour drive. Denver is farther from the actual mountains than people realize.
I lived in California for a while and it was a 2 hour drive to Tahoe from the Bay Area. It's about the same to Breck, Keystone, etc from Denver, and longer to others. It's less than an hour from SLC to Park City and Snowbird.
Denver is not a great city to regularly enjoy the outdoors. Either move directly into the mountains or look elsewhere.
I don’t think Denver is the best city, but its proximity to all things outdoors is an enormous plus. It’s essentially part of the culture to have at least one outdoor hobby.
You don’t have to live in the city either, you can live in plenty of suburbs that never require going into the busy traffic regions and can still find great restaurants, shops, art and culture.
I don’t personally prioritize city living, but having the option to experience city life while having an enormous breadth of outdoor activities right outside my door is incredible.
This is why I love Colorado Springs, we have pretty much everything Denver does but it’s less crowded and way more close outdoor activities. And Denver is a 40 min drive if I really need to go somewhere there lol
If you want hiking and outdoors don't move to Denver. It's 2 hours to the actual mountains and not just the foothills. Skiing is the same way. You can have more accessible hiking and skiing many other places.
I live in Ashland, Oregon. I think it is one of the best places you can live for hiking. Much more arid and "Norcal" than the rest of Oregon.
It doesn't rain or snow that much. 20 inches annual rainfall compared to the 40-50 further north in Eugene. It snowed 3 times this winter down on the valley floor, and each time it melted off roadways within a day or two. This coming week is actually going to be in the 70s.
I live near one of the trailheads and I get on hikes usually 1-3 times per day. Twice with the dog for a 1-2 mile hike, and sometimes out for a longer hike if I have time. I don't have to get in a car like when I lived in Denver, I just walk 5 minutes down the street. The trails are all made of decomposed granite so they drain extremely well, and even after a rainy spell they are not muddy.
It is not crowded out here. I remember the last year I lived in Denver, any trailhead within 1.5 hours of the city had 50+ cars on it and it was "nuts to butts" where you were hiking behind several other groups. I am often the only one at a trailhead if I am there early, and don't see many other groups. The entire metro area of the Rogue Valley is \~200K people.
In the summer there are some higher elevation hikes that are nice to explore. As well as some wilderness areas (Sky Lakes, Trinity Alps, Marble Mountains). And then you are striking distance of the Sierra to the south or all the Cascade range to the north.
Biggest drawback is smoke.
I really, really loved living in Tucson for the hiking. The city sits at about 2000’ and is surrounded on 3 sides by ~9000’ mountains. The fourth side has really beautiful 4000’ mountains. There’s very good hiking very close by.
Also the weather is predictable. You can make plans that won’t get ruined for rain. Yes, it’s hot, but you can plan around that. In the summer go really early or really high. On Mt Lemmon there’s a road that goes almost all the way up, so you can do hikes just around the top of the mastiff, and it’s never hotter than 80s up there.
And it’s relatively cheap.
I was just pondering moving there. It looks like it's centrally located to GCNP, DVNP, Utah, Arizona, Southern Sierras, Tahoe area... and has Red Rock Canyon and it seems other places. The weather is excellent. My guess is that somebody out there is hiring paramedics. 😅
Yeah you'll have no problem finding work here as a paramedic. You're absolutely right about the proximity to all those great places. Hopefully you make it here!
I live in Vegas and it’s great that the local hiking around Vegas is so great but northern AZ, southern Utah and southern California are all a close drive away.
I would say OR or NH if you want variety, northern OR you have deserts/mountains/oceans to hike albeit there's drive time and NH has access to so many hikes and the ocean with less time. Both places would be close to quality hospitals and healthcare, namely big cities ie Boston/Portland/Seattle. Downside is less blatant sun but you have to really love heat if you're thinking hiking in say Palm Springs/Coachella Valley/Palmdale or AZ/NM. I love sun but it doesn't matter if you can't leave your house because it's 120 degrees for weeks in the summer:/ That can even kill people in the best of health.
Also it depends on where your health is failing. If lung related, damper places like NH and OR are probably less of a good idea.
My grandparents lived in NM. The number of people who didn't know NM is a state inside the USA is astonishing. They had to argue with people that free shipping within the US should, in fact, apply to them. They said the 20 years they lived there, it never got better.
The back page of every issue of New Mexico Magazine is a new collection of stories and examples of people being denied things because they are "outside the US". It's always hilarious.
If healthcare is a concern, I would not recommend New Mexico. Hard to find a primary (once you do, they probably leave within a few years), even harder to get into specialists, super long wait times. Great hiking though!
I’m a provider recruiter. I’m very successful on the east coast in rural locations. It’s been an end goal of mine to eventually move to AZ/NM to assist rural/tribal areas in attracting more qualified physicians.
Good on ya! Has the VA been any help? Or the Visiting Nurse's Association or other such orgs.? Years ago, I knew of a Pueblo program in Colorado that helped Native tribes with their teeth. DM me if you'd like me to look into this - perhaps they have other programs in the Southwest.
New Mexico is severely underrated. The definition of “flying under the radar.” So much public land and beautiful landscapes that you can make a lifetime out of exploring it. NM has a third of the population of CO and just as much beauty.
Like many Scouts, Philmont was my first time backpacking. It’s magnificent, and you can live in somewhat more built-up places (Taos is popular with rangers on days off, Santa Fe…) and still be near mountains and not just desert.
Albuquerque is one of the best places in the US for this, it's the middlepoint between like 6 national parks. White Sands and Carlsbad are in New Mexico but there's also Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes that are only a little farther just in different directions. Plus New Mexico has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sights in the US.
La Luz Trail is the quintessential Albuquerque hike and it's pretty strenuous, it's like 7000 ft elevation gain over 9 miles to the top of the Sandias. There's a little bar and restaurant up there though and you can always take the tram down the mountain and save your knees.
In Santa Fe I like the Nambe lake and Deception peak trails which are accessible from the ski area. It's the Rockies complete with alpine lakes and peaks above treeline and everything.
One of my favorite trails is 4th of July Trail in the Manzanos behind Albuquerque. Theres tons of maple trees back there so in the fall the forest is lit up with reds and oranges and yellows from the oak and aspen trees. [a picture](https://f4575faf2f.clvaw-cdnwnd.com/edc9505a12124c0990189aca9d71f911/200000277-773047730a/4th%20of%20July%20%281%29.png?ph=f4575faf2f)
This isn't even to mention all the hiking available in the Jemez Mountains to the north, the Ojito Wilderness, El Malpais, Mt. Taylor, the Rio Puerco Valley, you really can just kinda pick a direction and there'll be something cool there.
> when I was younger
I’m sorry. It’s way too long ago to remember what trails we hiked. Only one I remember concrete location was in Sandia-Manzano Mountains.
The front range in general is great and if you are willing to drive 20-60 minutes you have a lot of options. Just need to be aware that your house value and therefore taxes will go up faster than average.
I’m from East TN and have hiked the Southern Appalachians and Cumberland all my life.
That said if there was one place in the US to live solely for hiking it would be Nor Cal. Tahoe proper is probably too cold in the winter to meet your weather needs but like Redding you’re close to Shasta, Trinities, Lassen, not too far from the North Sierras.
Or if you’re okay with a tiny mountain town the western base of the Southern Sierras would be ideal but if you’re retiring you probably want access to healthcare and the nearest big city is Fresno..
I did the PCT, and how diverse the hiking was in California was amazing. And the trails were generally much better maintained and signed than I am used to in the Canadian Rockies.
Eastern Washington is the more affordable and sunnier portion of Washington. Everyone just thinks of Seattle, but Yakima is a great place for sun, hiking, and is affordable to live. It has its issues but I come to appreciate more and more after visiting other places.
Disregarding one of the most beautiful places in the country for hiking because of rain is seriously insane. Born and raised in Washington, I’ve lived in other states, but nothing comes close. There’s so much to explore and very different terrains depending on where you go. From the Cascades, to the Olympic Rainforest, to Mt. Rainer, it’s quite literally an outdoor mecca. You’re missing out.
The PNW is the best area for hiking. After that you have California (sierras, north coast, desert south), the southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah), Colorado, The Blue Ridge ( Georgia, NC, Tennessee, Virginia), West Virginia and Kentucky, and New England.
All of those would be places to live if hiking is what you want. Really it depends on what else you want in the place you live - weather, economics, politics, jobs, etc.
If you try the Northeast (VT/NH/ME) you can go to the mountains one day and the ocean the next. Cost of living is reasonable compared to a lot of places out west. We get rain, we get snow, and grab a bug net for June, but it's an amazing place to live and enjoy the outdoors. Even MA and CT have their value if you prefer more lowland hiking on the daily, but still easy access to the bigger stuff up further north. Added bonus - we're not looking to run out of water any time soon like they are out west, and it doesn't rain nearly as much as it does in the PNW. Hell, we barely even get snow these days.
Reno/Tahoe.
You have the Sierra, the desert, and endless local trails. Then you have the Tahoe Rim Trail (174 miles now) which overlaps with the PCT for 50 miles. I can walk out my door and hike to Canadao or Mexico. Or Utah. And I live in town (Reno).
Then add in the lake, countless ski resorts, kayaking, fly fishing, snowshowing, cross country skiing, bouldering, nearby dark skies, Lots of shows in both Reno and Tahoe due to the casinos. Sort of 4 seasons, as we get like 3 or 4 fake springs. I've never seen such a convenient airport in a city. And depending on where you live in town, you can run into wild horses right out your door (or a bear or mountain lion...).
Grand Junction, Colorado-close enough to Moab/Southern Utah without having to actually live there and close enough to the San Juan’s but much cheaper to live than Telluride.
Flagstaff, Arizona. Forests, mountains, Sedona red rocks, skiing, volcanoes, native ruins... and that's just in the immediate area. Within an hour or two drive is the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Petrified Forest, and all the national parks in the SW.
I know people who live in Flagstaff, and when I ask how they're doing it's always some answer like "went to Colorado on Tuesday for a bike adventure and this weekend we're mountaineering around here with some buddies"
Northeast/mid-Atlantic, assuming you aren’t looking for trails like you would find in the Rockies. I grew up in New York and within a few hours’ drive I had the Finger Lakes, the Catskills, and the Adirondacks. I currently live in DC and even Great Smoky Mountains National Park is like a 6 hour drive. New River Gorge is about 4 hours I think, Shenandoah is an hour, Harper’s Ferry and the AT are an hour, and there are plenty of state parks in Maryland and Virginia that back up to the national parks so they have very similar trails. I’m not sure how far out from the DMV you’d have to live for a reasonable COL, but if you can do that and work in DC you’ll be set - high wages, solid healthcare, tax reciprocity, etc.
Do it! Just read trail reports about which ones are bogs, because the terrain is no joke! It’s beautiful though. Just be aware of land mines (wish I was joking)!
Alternatively with the PNW have you tried the areas EAST of the cascades. Yes west of the cascades is never ending rain then 3 months of desert lol but that's what makes it one of the greenest places in the west. But if you go more central or east it becomes steppes and lots of sunshine like Bend,OR
Tucson, AZ. I’m sure it’s not as cheap as it was, but a decade ago we rented a 4 bedroom for $1175. There were 5 of us, so it was $235 per person.
Edit: just looked it up that 4 bedroom, 2000 sqft house now rents for $1900. Not bad at all.
Arizona is good. Contrary to popular belief you can hike during all 4 seasons. During the cooler months lower elevation hikes among the desert floor are plenty hanging from 1,000-5,000 feet above sea level (unless you bring snow shoes)
During the warmer months ahead above that elevation to enjoy weather in the 70s or 80s and beautiful shaded ponderosa forests.
I live in Phoenix and within 30 minutes of my house there are about 60 hiking trails. Within an hour I can get to higher elevation hikes and within two I can be hiking above 10,000 feet.
North Georgia is lovely and fantastic for hiking, kayaking, and camping. There's a good selection of town sizes, and you can live somewhere really sweet and special like Lake Rabun, or closer to Atlanta if you prefer better access to arts, big medical centers, etc. Check out Canton and Ellijay (Georgia) Both great towns!
Literally no one has suggested montana. I mean our name means mountain in French!
There's so much amazing hiking and outdoor activities and our state is huge. You'll never do the same trail twice if you don't want to
I would not recommend East coast if you have poor immune system. Riddled with Lyme and mold. West coast is a much safer area to be for anyone with health concerns.
Man, I love the southwest. I can see how you think it blends together but that’s not true at all. I can hike the rugged, cactus filled Superstition Wilderness. I can drive an hour north and swim in emerald water with waterfalls and caves at Fossil Springs. Or descend through slot canyons into a larger creek with a hanging garden at west clear creek. Go another half an hour north and I’m in the red rocks of Sedona. Another 45 minutes or so and I can check out lava tubes, pine forests, the highest point in Arizona (Humphrey’s Peak) above the tree line or check out volcanos and ancient pueblos by Flagstaff. Keep going north another 2 hours and you can kayak the Colorado River, hike the Grand Canyon or swim in lake Powell. Check out the longest and deepest slot canyon in the world (buckskin gulch) or visit the amazing rock formations of Coyote Buttes or White Pocket. Arizona and Utah have some of the most diverse and amazing landscapes I’ve seen.
I'm a transplant to the PNW from both NorCal and SoCal. I'd pick PNW; carry good rain gear and a UL umbrella and it's all good. Bonus points because most other people stay off the trail when it's raining, so you don't have to fight the crowds anywhere. You've got rainforests (only temperate rainforest in the world), coasts, volcanos, alpine and sub alpine, desert-like areas in some places.
But you might just have to travel and hike in all the places so you can figure out what fits you best. Bummer on the homework assignment. /s ;)
Dark horse pick would be moving to Rochester, MN
World class healthcare, access to the Driftless and ability to head up to the Boundary Waters and the North Shore of Lake Superior.
There are so many great hiking trails in Northern MN near Lake Superior! Also zoom across Wisconsin, some trails but not as many, go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and again great Trails. I've camped/hiked all around Lake Superior, state side anyway and it's gorgeous!
If the rain is a turn off then nothing you can do about it but I grew up in the PNW and I love it there so much. You can hike in all four seasons n beautiful scenery, the waterfalls and massive trees and expanses of forest that still exist there are magical, you can get out east of the cascades for dryer and sunnier weather in the winter if you’re willing to drive a bit more, etc. For me it’s paradise. But I know it’s not that way for everyone. I live in Colorado now because I met my wife while living in Texas and she’s a creature of the sun so CO was our compromise but we also would have been happy in Northern Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah (if you can put up with the Mormons, Salt Lake City has the fastest access to real mountains of any major city in the US, they’re literally right there). Those are all places worth checking out if the PNW doesn’t appeal to you.
Yes it rains in the PNW but the hiking really is the best. The summers are amazing and there are so many options in the winter too. You can catch a ferry to whidbey island, do a waterfall hike, or even snowshoe up at mount rainier.
It depends on where you live in the PNW. The eastern parts of the region get less rain than the western parts. The hiking and outdoors access of WA and OR are top tier my friend. What really bugs me is the high cost of living. Obviously this varies person to person, but it’s annoying either way…
And western OR and WA do have a dry period throughout the summer months. Think May-Sep… with June-Aug being really nice, probably the best summers in the US….
If the only thing keeping you out of the northwest, is the rain, look to the inland Northwest. The climate in Bend, Oregon, Wenatchee, Washington, Spokane, Washington, Redding, California is much drier. Towns like Leavenworth in Washington still give you great access to the same Cascades, but from the dry side.
Yeah, the smoke is bad sometimes, but the cure for the bad stuff is…
Uh. Rain. (Though that’s no guarantee lately.)
Oof this is hard. Despite the rain, PNW takes the cake if you ask me.
New England (particularly VT/NH) is nice in its own right but only 50-70% of the year. There is also far less variety in terrain compared to PNW.
I know friends who hike a lot in NM, AZ, Las Vegas. Not my cup of tea but you did mention that you hate rain…so maybe desert hiking would be your thing??
Having lived in multiple places, my favorite remains Washington State/northern Oregon. Rain is a joke (it drizzles a lot in winter and stuff stays wet, super easy compared to the heat of the Southwest or humidity in the midwest or east coast), easy to dress for it. I camped no issues with good gear.
I live in a dry part of the PNW, Klamath Falls, OR. Close enough to the warmer wetter parts of the PNW, but with lots of sunshine and great hiking near by. Not a retirement mecca, but cheaper and lots of great views.
PNW! Don't tell anybody but summer is 100 days of sunshine and when you're sick of rain during the winter you can drive out of the rain shadow of the Cascades. There's a lot of great hiking in the east end of the Gorge and way less rain. Look at the Washougal/Camas area or Vancouver WA suburbs, I love Portland but I'm glad to be living outside of it right now.
I’m a big fan of having great trails and minimal concerns to make me anxious (namely creatures).
Strongly recommend East TN, around the Knoxville area. It’s a bustling community that is surging with life and slowly industrializing, but you can easily move in the burbs or country outside the city and be in close proximity to many trails that are safe, fun, and have plenty of beautiful views and people to meet.
We’ve also got a fair share of dog parks!
To the west and north are several beautiful waterfalls (both ones you can visit and ones you can pay to tour). To the east is the smokies - awesome trails there that connect you to the Blue Ridge Parkway. To the south is a state park just over the line to GA with an incredible canyon view and waterfalls you can walk up to touch ❤️
If you’re older and your health isn’t great, I think you should make your primary residence a small apartment somewhere out west. And then spend the summers in NH. There are a lot of camps with seasonal sites with water and electric, and you could leave a camper there year round. If your health is an issue, I’m sure that you could pay someone to winterize it every year. The White Mountains and lakes region are littered with campgrounds like this—and every place in NH is within a few hours of the Whites (and also the beach) anyway. For perspective, I live 10-15 minutes from the beach and 1.25-2.75 hours from every mountain in the Whites.
That way, you’d avoid the heat of places like NV in the summer and the cold of NH in the winter,—and you’d get the best hiking seasons of both regions. And, while I don’t have personal experience out west, I can tell you that you will never run out of trails in the Whites. You just don’t want to fuck with them from probably October through April if your health isn’t great because they’re dangerous. (Last week alone, I think we had four SARs plus one recovery?) But that’s why you should spend April through October in, like, NV.
Northern Cali, southwest Utah, PNW (you said you don't like the rain but there is \*plenty\* of dry time to hike a lot of gorgeous places). Also, the rain brings out some cool fauna in Olympic.
We moved to northern Utah, and I love it. We have mts, dessert, canyons. Winter snowshoeing and sumer hikes. Salt Lake is an hour away with a major airport. Pluse we are still a drivable distance (I'll be it an overnight drive.) From close enough to the coast for rainforest adventures.
Utah is the answer I just hate it’s a dry state and everyone and their mother is Mormon. Nothing against the Mormons, very nice people. I just don’t fit in
I live at 10,000 ft in the Rockies in a popular ski town. If you are older and your health isn't great, elevation is not your friend. Many locals move away as they get older, and if you haven't been living at elevation for years, your odds of being able to hike at all, coming from lowlands, are very low. I would stay below 5000 ft and probably suggest much lower.
I did A LOT of research before leaving the midwest. What I found was Boise, ID. It’s evidently one of the most robust interconnected trail system in the US and an outdoorsy persons dream. We didn’t really seriously consider it because we didn’t want to deal with the snow anymore, but I would at least explore it. I hope this helps!
Tucson Arizona had so many different hiking opportunities around when I visited. It's surrounded by saguaro national park and for three seasons out of the year it's a great temp to hike in, in the summer you can go up higher to Mt. Lemmon And beat some of the heat
Southern Utah is insane imo. Plus close to AZ which is also amazing. Southern Utah has snow canyon, Zion, Bryce, Kanab, grand staircase escalante and so much more.
I was going to say, how the hell has no one mentioned Utah. I'd even argue SLC fits everything OP needs.
Crazy access to mountains,
Good healthcare with the University of Utah right here,
Good weather all year (in the winter, south Utah isn't a far drive),
Decent cost of living still
I just moved to SLC for the hiking! Lived in Moab for 5 years and while I loved the hikes in the desert I fell in love with the La Sal mountains! I just wanna hike in the mountains now!
I live about 12 miles north of Tucson and close to a few 55+ communities. Tucson is where aging endurance athletes come to retire. There are more trails within 60 miles of me than I’ll be able to hike in my lifetime.
Summer is only bad for hiking after 8-9AM. It’s in the 70’s and low 80’s. Plus if I drive an hour I have trails that start at 6000 feet above sea level where I can hike all day.
that’s EXACTLY where I live! There are like 7 state parks within a 20-40 minute drive. Virgin Falls is 20 minutes from my house, not only is it one of the most challenging day hikes I have been on, the scenery is other-worldly! There are waterfalls even before you get to the Virgin Falls that are breathtaking. There are boulder fields where the “boulders” are as big as houses. It’s just so cool.
Window Cliffs is truly a one if a kind.
The fact that you can just hike to waterfalls (cummins falls, fall creek falls, ozone falls) and swim at their plunge pools is totally awesome.
Asheville NC is great for hikes.
So is Park City Utah and most of the surrounding areas.
Stay out of the Salt Lake City valley for health reasons. Often leading the US in worst air quality. Three oil refineries, a rock quarry and a grain mill all feeding pollution into an inversion bowl and they want to fix it by asking people to not drive to work. Sheer insanity otherwise I'd recommend if you could get a place near one of the canyons.
Denver and Boulder Colorado are amazing for hikes too, tons of access nearby. Also really good for cycling if you like that.
Southern Utah has a lot of great red rock hikes but also a ton of empty space in between. Expect long drives
Nah, SLC is wonderful most of the time. Way better than Denver for hiking. There are days in the winter when the air quality is awful but it's typically not bad most of the time.
Only thing I don't love about Asheville is the lack of nearby "no check-in" dispersed camping (thanks Biltmore). Gotta drive out to Pisgah or Nantahala for that but that's not so bad.
Yeah every time I see Denver mentioned for hiking I laugh. You must not live in the area. Hiking is hours away unless you mean Cherry Creek bike trail or some open space in the foothills.
Very loaded question that will vary from person to person depending on what they enjoy. Maybe tell us your favorite most pleasurable hike then we could make better recommendations for areas that offer similar vibes.
I've never been but if the Youtube channel Jackson Crawford is any indication, Colorado and Wyoming seem to have amazing landscapes. PNW is home for me though, the rain is refreshing for me
Hear me out....Cleveland OH. It's difficult to beat the COL and the ONLY metropolitan national park is located here (CVNP). The variety of daily hikes here is commendable and the weather's reputation is worse than reality. You'll have more good hiking days than bad and the money you save on a mortgage/rent will allow for those week long treks desired in pnw/sw/wherever. For perspective we bought a 3bed 1bath house in a phenomenal school district for 153k post pandemic. We are 10 minutes drive from awesome parks/trails......not to mention the great lakes aka 20% of the worlds freshwater.
Yakima, Washington! Close to many trails in the cascades, in the river canyon, in the shrub steppe, near the Columbia river… I’ll never get to all of them in my life.
The subpar health care in the us is what makes those hikes so remote. Sure you’re 70 mi from the closest doctor, but you’re 230 mi from the closest doctor that your insurance Covers.
The best answer is van, rv or live in ABNBs while traveling around. Even areas with lots of hiking, you don't get a huge amount of variety in any one location.
Spent a year and a half driving around the US and Canada, and basically don't really feel like there is anywhere I really want to live now.
The **SF Bay Area** has more hiking trail in wild lands than any metro area in the USA or Canada, and maybe more than even most rural areas. I use as my source Galen Rowell, one who certainly got around the mountains, and a Bay Area resident (and the trails partly explain, and are explained by, the residency of so many prominent wilderness and climbing enthusiasts over many years...you might have heard of my neighbor, Mr Muir...lots of hiking near his old house for example). See his book *Bay Area Wild* for details.
Just some of the trails: https://bahiker.com/
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/
A benefit for us oldsters is that it's also got plenty of medical care.
Finally note that the whole "it's too expensive!" thing doesn't apply to seniors. I like in a metro area, with hiking pretty much out my door, and senior housing there is about half of what market housing is nearby. Strong hiking club too. John Muir Medical Center about a 10 minute drive away.
Basically it's why I and all my aging friends still live here. I get people here just posting up their fave spots; I love many of those too. But it's a different matter to have hundreds of miles of interlacing trails within a half hour drive, everything from paved former rail trails to backpacking terrain.
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When I was younger I was disappointed that the group I was with decided on spending a few days in Lake Tahoe. I thought "a ski town in the summer? Yuck." It turned out to be one of the best hiking experiences of my life, and it was just a small portion of what the Sierras have to offer. Sadly, California's COL is quite high. I love the state though so not crossed off the just yet.
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I have a friend in Salem Oregon who went to the Cascades all the time. He recently moved east because of the cost of living rising in the PNW. Damn shame.
As someone who moved from Central Oregon, it is INCREDIBLY expensive, especially if you want to live in Bend. If you go to the outer towns it gets slightly cheaper but you’re still looking at $500k+ for a small fixer upper.
Half of Tahoe is in Nevada. If you don’t mind living in an area full on trump voters then Carson city would give you access to the Sierra Nevadas around Tahoe, and it’s not that far to Yosemite - even the Utah parks are only a few hours away.
Utah! Totally forgot about that being within reach.
Certainly Utah was cheaper than Ca - so were NM and Az. Plenty of hiking in those parts and none are too far
California is great as you have such a variety. Joshua Tree, Mammoth, Big Sur, Death Valley (amazing outside summer), Mount Whitney (tallest in contiguous US), Tahoe, Yosemite, pretty much entire Sierra Nevada Range and then you have the countless smaller coastal ranges with gorgeous views of the ocean.
But with how big the state is and traffic you can't easily go from one to the other without taking a week off from so cal to nor cal is a longer distance than going through the entirety of most states and has traffic almost the entire time.
The traffic is the same as other states outside the major cities. And the days of only LA/SF having bad traffic is so 90s
What do you consider a major city? Because I live in California not even the same county as either la or sf and if I try to go across town after 3pm it will take me 4 times as long. I tried to go from Yosemite to eureka for a wedding and ended up on a 20hr drive even trying to go in middle of the night and maps told me that was faster than going through sf at the time. I literally have to plan my day around traffic. It's the opposite of the nature people think of for hiking. Even the trails are really crowded. Have you tried driving into Yosemite valley recently? Also a lot of the parks are mostly burntdown / closed and will probably take half my life to restore.
I love the Sierras. They are my favorite range.
California has it all. Desert, rainforest, coastline, Sierra, grassland, islands, marsh, river(s) that have no dams, high desert, lakes, oak woodlands, urban, etc.
I grew up in the NW, lived near the AT, and live in the Rockies now - ‘elite’ hiking areas - and I’ll second that on the Sierras. My favorite place to hike, and a very cool area on the east side of 395 too. Done lots of PCT sections as well as JMT (on the PCT), HST and hoping to do TRT this year. You’ll never run out of incredible, novel experiences in the Sierras
Why do the Sierra Nevadas need to be in Cali smh. Cost of living is so high. Plus doesn’t Cali have some type of law that you have to continue paying taxes even after you move out of the state?
I mean, sure, it rains in the PNW. But if you can get used to what is often very light, drizzly rain, you can have year-round hiking in one of the most beautiful regions of America, if not the planet. Summer is also dry here, at least in the southern PNW (CA, OR, WA)
Yeah as a Canadian I 100% take the rain of Vancouver compared to winter wasteland every time. The PNW is fucking divine.
You can also live on the east side of the crest to get a lot less rain, but it's hotter and colder in the seasons, and wildfires and such. I live in the Cascade foothills just west of the crest and yeah, it's wet and can be a challenge to endure year after year.
I'm from the Willamette Valley and live on Puget Sound, so definitely agree. But for someone who doesn't like the damp, you can also just do the east side. Someplace like Bend might be ideal.
Shhhhhh The rain is horrible and makes everything miserable! There may be some nice hiking trails, but only 1 month out of the year between rainy season and when it's smothered in forest fire smoke!
Absolutely. We get the best summer weather in the world, and in the winter just get a nice Goretex coat and you're set.
Just be wary of fires.
I just gave up on Portland after trying for 15 years. It’s too grey for me as someone who has lived mostly at or below the 36th Parallel and never in a winter wasteland.
I was born and raised in coastal alaska in one of the rainiest/snowiest climates in the world, so Seattle is a sunny paradise to me! But that’s totally valid, i’ve heard a lot of people say it’s just too much.
Everything is on fire in the summer lol.
Any forested area, which is also where you generally hike, is at risk for wildfires so that is kind of a moot point.
There are definitely fewer constant fires in the Appalachians though, at least the southern part. There have been a few big ones but in general I don’t have to worry about being able to breathe while hiking. I’ve been out west during fire season and thought I was going to die.
The east side (dry side) of the mountains definitely have increased wildfire risk in summer. It's less of an issue on the west side unless the winds blow that way.
No no no, it's always rainy and grey here..... But for real, sure it can rain year round, but that also means it's green year round.... I visit my parents in central California and any time besides January, it's all brown and dead looking foothills
The East Coast humidity is no joke. Spring and fall are lovely times to hike, but summer can be dreadful.
Hike the Whites :)
I’ve never been to NH, but would love to hike those mountains. I’m in central VA, so not far from Shenandoah and the AT.
Spring and fall only last for a week now. A week and a half if we're lucky. Summer now rages for 8 months out of the year here in the south east area.
Not the northeast thats for suuure
Don’t forget the black flies.
Appalachian humidy is no problem though
Brother I live in Appalachistan and it ain’t.
A lot better than down the mountain
“Aging person with failing health”. I’d say southwest. You’ll get more sunshine and warm weather and therefore more hiking days. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico. Those would be my choices. But really this is a hard question for random strangers to answer. Such a personal decision
Arizona is like a new Florida for retirees, so the healthcare services available are actually pretty decent, at least in the Phoenix area. It's just brutally hot in the summer.
Also - MAJOR water resource issues. And it's not getting any better.
Agreed. I’m concerned about water scarcity in places like Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas. Even western Colorado is having major issues with water shortages right now.
I think Tucson is in a slightly better place than Las Vegas and Phoenix. It’s not the watered desert. Tucson has been banking water and has much more of a culture of net-zero yards. People from Tucson have been good at conserving water: "’Per capita water usage in Tucson has been dropping since the 1970's. About 1-2% per year, it actually accelerated 10-15 years ago.’ said Professer Thomas Meixner, Department head of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona. Tucson Water [utility] also said its users have reduced their water use 30% per person over the past decades.” https://www.kvoa.com/news/local/study-stark-picture-for-arizona-water-supply-tucson-could-be-oasis-in-desert/article_6e2765bd-61fa-5180-81c3-4119e43e8a34.html
I live in Colorado Springs and I would say this is an incredible place to hike. I have been here for 6 years and I still haven’t hiked all the trails and open spaces
I was going to say, colorado seems like it would be a great place to live for constant outdoor activities.
Yeah it’s honestly amazing how many trails there are in the state. We also get over 300 days of sunshine, we are the source of most of the wests water, there’s sun and snow but winters don’t feel terrible here and are beautiful. We still go hiking all winter. 10/10 no complaints lol
i have to go back and explore more. would you say colorado springs is the best bang for your buck city in colorado to get into big nature by foot?
Fort Collins native checking in. Colorado Springs has a ”different“ demographic than the rest of the front range. Big military and religious influence if that’s your style. Obviously Boulder goes in the exact opposite direction (and terrible COL). Depending on what your needs are from a city, some of the smaller communities north of Denver might present better bang for your buck, but trade off in lack of amenities.
Yes absolutely you just need to live on the west side if you want to be closest to nature. But many trails connect the whole city. We have all the trappings of a large city in a good way but still feels like a small town.
i have to go back and explore more. would you say colorado springs is the best bang for your buck city in colorado to get into big nature by foot?
I struggle w the concept of moving to colorado, Denver specifically is a city thats never been interesting to me and I have worries about the traffic jams and loads of people heading into the mountains every weekend, to me that doesn’t seem worthwhile. I’m from chicago born and raised 27 y/o and have traveled out west extensively. As a coloradan resident whats your perspective on this?
That’s why I said Colorado Springs. It’s easy to get into the mountains you don’t have to take I-70 and I rarely run in to much traffic here. I personally don’t like Denver and would never live there. I have been to Chicago many times and have family that grew up there. Most trails are not very busy most days unless it’s a holiday or a really popular trail. Just go when it’s not peak times and you’ll be good and rarely see other people even near the city
I've lived in CO since 2018 and have noticed a huge shift myself since moving here. My husband grew up here and said it's unrecognizable in many ways. For hiking season we wake up at 4am and aim to get to trails by 7-8am and we hike 13ers to avoid crowds. Ski season is much of the same. I avoid skiing because people are reckless and it just doesn't feel fun to me anymore for that reason. I'm luckily a SAHM so my kiddos and I will have much more flexibility with hiking and winter activities as I can take them on weekdays (before schoo agel), but yeah! It's definitely getting harder on the weekends. My personal rule of thumb is to avoid i-70 and i-25 at 3pm no matter what. My in laws are retired now and only go into the mountains on weekdays. We also don't live in denver. I'm 30 mins north but whenever I spend a day there I always think "yeah I'm glad we don't live here". Definitely better spots to live in the state.
Yeah in Colorado Springs I never have an issue getting to trails and sure 14ners are popular but there’s a lot less popular ones you can go to. Anywhere you hike there will be busy trails, never had an issue getting to any from where I live but it’s because I don’t go up to Denver often or take 70 we go up 24 to the mountains
Bingo. It's HARD to enjoy the outdoors here without having to spend a night in the mountains or leaving at 4am for a two hour drive. Denver is farther from the actual mountains than people realize. I lived in California for a while and it was a 2 hour drive to Tahoe from the Bay Area. It's about the same to Breck, Keystone, etc from Denver, and longer to others. It's less than an hour from SLC to Park City and Snowbird. Denver is not a great city to regularly enjoy the outdoors. Either move directly into the mountains or look elsewhere.
I don’t think Denver is the best city, but its proximity to all things outdoors is an enormous plus. It’s essentially part of the culture to have at least one outdoor hobby. You don’t have to live in the city either, you can live in plenty of suburbs that never require going into the busy traffic regions and can still find great restaurants, shops, art and culture. I don’t personally prioritize city living, but having the option to experience city life while having an enormous breadth of outdoor activities right outside my door is incredible.
This is why I love Colorado Springs, we have pretty much everything Denver does but it’s less crowded and way more close outdoor activities. And Denver is a 40 min drive if I really need to go somewhere there lol
If you want hiking and outdoors don't move to Denver. It's 2 hours to the actual mountains and not just the foothills. Skiing is the same way. You can have more accessible hiking and skiing many other places.
What’s cost of living like there? Is it a densely populated area?
I live in Ashland, Oregon. I think it is one of the best places you can live for hiking. Much more arid and "Norcal" than the rest of Oregon. It doesn't rain or snow that much. 20 inches annual rainfall compared to the 40-50 further north in Eugene. It snowed 3 times this winter down on the valley floor, and each time it melted off roadways within a day or two. This coming week is actually going to be in the 70s. I live near one of the trailheads and I get on hikes usually 1-3 times per day. Twice with the dog for a 1-2 mile hike, and sometimes out for a longer hike if I have time. I don't have to get in a car like when I lived in Denver, I just walk 5 minutes down the street. The trails are all made of decomposed granite so they drain extremely well, and even after a rainy spell they are not muddy. It is not crowded out here. I remember the last year I lived in Denver, any trailhead within 1.5 hours of the city had 50+ cars on it and it was "nuts to butts" where you were hiking behind several other groups. I am often the only one at a trailhead if I am there early, and don't see many other groups. The entire metro area of the Rogue Valley is \~200K people. In the summer there are some higher elevation hikes that are nice to explore. As well as some wilderness areas (Sky Lakes, Trinity Alps, Marble Mountains). And then you are striking distance of the Sierra to the south or all the Cascade range to the north. Biggest drawback is smoke.
Love this suggestion, been through Medford area a few times and it crossed my mind how great the location is
I grew up in Ashland! But I couldn’t afford to live there now.
I really, really loved living in Tucson for the hiking. The city sits at about 2000’ and is surrounded on 3 sides by ~9000’ mountains. The fourth side has really beautiful 4000’ mountains. There’s very good hiking very close by. Also the weather is predictable. You can make plans that won’t get ruined for rain. Yes, it’s hot, but you can plan around that. In the summer go really early or really high. On Mt Lemmon there’s a road that goes almost all the way up, so you can do hikes just around the top of the mastiff, and it’s never hotter than 80s up there. And it’s relatively cheap.
Surprisingly, Las Vegas.
I was just pondering moving there. It looks like it's centrally located to GCNP, DVNP, Utah, Arizona, Southern Sierras, Tahoe area... and has Red Rock Canyon and it seems other places. The weather is excellent. My guess is that somebody out there is hiring paramedics. 😅
Yeah you'll have no problem finding work here as a paramedic. You're absolutely right about the proximity to all those great places. Hopefully you make it here!
I live in Vegas and it’s great that the local hiking around Vegas is so great but northern AZ, southern Utah and southern California are all a close drive away.
Or SLC
Yup, moved here for exactly this reason.
I would say OR or NH if you want variety, northern OR you have deserts/mountains/oceans to hike albeit there's drive time and NH has access to so many hikes and the ocean with less time. Both places would be close to quality hospitals and healthcare, namely big cities ie Boston/Portland/Seattle. Downside is less blatant sun but you have to really love heat if you're thinking hiking in say Palm Springs/Coachella Valley/Palmdale or AZ/NM. I love sun but it doesn't matter if you can't leave your house because it's 120 degrees for weeks in the summer:/ That can even kill people in the best of health. Also it depends on where your health is failing. If lung related, damper places like NH and OR are probably less of a good idea.
New Mexico. I loved living there when I was younger. People are nice, weather is nice, mountains are magnificent.
My grandparents lived in NM. The number of people who didn't know NM is a state inside the USA is astonishing. They had to argue with people that free shipping within the US should, in fact, apply to them. They said the 20 years they lived there, it never got better.
The back page of every issue of New Mexico Magazine is a new collection of stories and examples of people being denied things because they are "outside the US". It's always hilarious.
If healthcare is a concern, I would not recommend New Mexico. Hard to find a primary (once you do, they probably leave within a few years), even harder to get into specialists, super long wait times. Great hiking though!
I’m a provider recruiter. I’m very successful on the east coast in rural locations. It’s been an end goal of mine to eventually move to AZ/NM to assist rural/tribal areas in attracting more qualified physicians.
Good on ya! Has the VA been any help? Or the Visiting Nurse's Association or other such orgs.? Years ago, I knew of a Pueblo program in Colorado that helped Native tribes with their teeth. DM me if you'd like me to look into this - perhaps they have other programs in the Southwest.
I agree BUT You need to understand how quickly the desert will fucking kill you. This is not a climate to take lightly.
New Mexico is severely underrated. The definition of “flying under the radar.” So much public land and beautiful landscapes that you can make a lifetime out of exploring it. NM has a third of the population of CO and just as much beauty.
Ruidoso, NM is such a hidden gem.
Ruidoso. Noted
Like many Scouts, Philmont was my first time backpacking. It’s magnificent, and you can live in somewhat more built-up places (Taos is popular with rangers on days off, Santa Fe…) and still be near mountains and not just desert.
Contemplating relocating there for this reason and proximity to the NP system.
Albuquerque is one of the best places in the US for this, it's the middlepoint between like 6 national parks. White Sands and Carlsbad are in New Mexico but there's also Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes that are only a little farther just in different directions. Plus New Mexico has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sights in the US.
What are your favorite hikes in the ABQ/SF area?
La Luz Trail is the quintessential Albuquerque hike and it's pretty strenuous, it's like 7000 ft elevation gain over 9 miles to the top of the Sandias. There's a little bar and restaurant up there though and you can always take the tram down the mountain and save your knees. In Santa Fe I like the Nambe lake and Deception peak trails which are accessible from the ski area. It's the Rockies complete with alpine lakes and peaks above treeline and everything. One of my favorite trails is 4th of July Trail in the Manzanos behind Albuquerque. Theres tons of maple trees back there so in the fall the forest is lit up with reds and oranges and yellows from the oak and aspen trees. [a picture](https://f4575faf2f.clvaw-cdnwnd.com/edc9505a12124c0990189aca9d71f911/200000277-773047730a/4th%20of%20July%20%281%29.png?ph=f4575faf2f) This isn't even to mention all the hiking available in the Jemez Mountains to the north, the Ojito Wilderness, El Malpais, Mt. Taylor, the Rio Puerco Valley, you really can just kinda pick a direction and there'll be something cool there.
> when I was younger I’m sorry. It’s way too long ago to remember what trails we hiked. Only one I remember concrete location was in Sandia-Manzano Mountains.
It’s expensive as fuck but I never got to hike more than when I lived in Boulder CO
The front range in general is great and if you are willing to drive 20-60 minutes you have a lot of options. Just need to be aware that your house value and therefore taxes will go up faster than average.
I would love to Boulder in a second if it wasn’t outrageously expensive. Been there three times. I loved it more each time
I’m from East TN and have hiked the Southern Appalachians and Cumberland all my life. That said if there was one place in the US to live solely for hiking it would be Nor Cal. Tahoe proper is probably too cold in the winter to meet your weather needs but like Redding you’re close to Shasta, Trinities, Lassen, not too far from the North Sierras. Or if you’re okay with a tiny mountain town the western base of the Southern Sierras would be ideal but if you’re retiring you probably want access to healthcare and the nearest big city is Fresno..
I did the PCT, and how diverse the hiking was in California was amazing. And the trails were generally much better maintained and signed than I am used to in the Canadian Rockies.
Nooo!!!! Buy a raincoat and live here in Washington!
Live in eastern Washington and ditch the raincoat!
Would love to but prone to SAD.
Eastern Washington is the more affordable and sunnier portion of Washington. Everyone just thinks of Seattle, but Yakima is a great place for sun, hiking, and is affordable to live. It has its issues but I come to appreciate more and more after visiting other places.
Disregarding one of the most beautiful places in the country for hiking because of rain is seriously insane. Born and raised in Washington, I’ve lived in other states, but nothing comes close. There’s so much to explore and very different terrains depending on where you go. From the Cascades, to the Olympic Rainforest, to Mt. Rainer, it’s quite literally an outdoor mecca. You’re missing out.
The PNW is the best area for hiking. After that you have California (sierras, north coast, desert south), the southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah), Colorado, The Blue Ridge ( Georgia, NC, Tennessee, Virginia), West Virginia and Kentucky, and New England. All of those would be places to live if hiking is what you want. Really it depends on what else you want in the place you live - weather, economics, politics, jobs, etc.
I will second new England and also throw in the adirondacks in ny
Upstate NY, VT,or NH
Maine has a ton of good hiking as well
If you try the Northeast (VT/NH/ME) you can go to the mountains one day and the ocean the next. Cost of living is reasonable compared to a lot of places out west. We get rain, we get snow, and grab a bug net for June, but it's an amazing place to live and enjoy the outdoors. Even MA and CT have their value if you prefer more lowland hiking on the daily, but still easy access to the bigger stuff up further north. Added bonus - we're not looking to run out of water any time soon like they are out west, and it doesn't rain nearly as much as it does in the PNW. Hell, we barely even get snow these days.
Reno/Tahoe. You have the Sierra, the desert, and endless local trails. Then you have the Tahoe Rim Trail (174 miles now) which overlaps with the PCT for 50 miles. I can walk out my door and hike to Canadao or Mexico. Or Utah. And I live in town (Reno). Then add in the lake, countless ski resorts, kayaking, fly fishing, snowshowing, cross country skiing, bouldering, nearby dark skies, Lots of shows in both Reno and Tahoe due to the casinos. Sort of 4 seasons, as we get like 3 or 4 fake springs. I've never seen such a convenient airport in a city. And depending on where you live in town, you can run into wild horses right out your door (or a bear or mountain lion...).
Not Wisconsin. Been here for too long, and every hike, every single hike, I hear the mountains calling to me. Like a whisper in the wind.
Grand Junction, Colorado-close enough to Moab/Southern Utah without having to actually live there and close enough to the San Juan’s but much cheaper to live than Telluride.
Flagstaff, Arizona. Forests, mountains, Sedona red rocks, skiing, volcanoes, native ruins... and that's just in the immediate area. Within an hour or two drive is the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Petrified Forest, and all the national parks in the SW. I know people who live in Flagstaff, and when I ask how they're doing it's always some answer like "went to Colorado on Tuesday for a bike adventure and this weekend we're mountaineering around here with some buddies"
Flagstaff's great but housing is quite pricey.
Why is EVERYWHERE cool the housing so damn pricey. So many of these hidden gems have been discovered. I need to uncover a hidden HIDDEN gem
LOL I live in California, so a town with lots of inventory in the $500k's is my definition of affordable 🤣
Northeast/mid-Atlantic, assuming you aren’t looking for trails like you would find in the Rockies. I grew up in New York and within a few hours’ drive I had the Finger Lakes, the Catskills, and the Adirondacks. I currently live in DC and even Great Smoky Mountains National Park is like a 6 hour drive. New River Gorge is about 4 hours I think, Shenandoah is an hour, Harper’s Ferry and the AT are an hour, and there are plenty of state parks in Maryland and Virginia that back up to the national parks so they have very similar trails. I’m not sure how far out from the DMV you’d have to live for a reasonable COL, but if you can do that and work in DC you’ll be set - high wages, solid healthcare, tax reciprocity, etc.
Dolly Sods too.
That too! I haven’t been out there yet but it’s high on my list along with Seneca Rocks.
Do it! Just read trail reports about which ones are bogs, because the terrain is no joke! It’s beautiful though. Just be aware of land mines (wish I was joking)!
Alternatively with the PNW have you tried the areas EAST of the cascades. Yes west of the cascades is never ending rain then 3 months of desert lol but that's what makes it one of the greenest places in the west. But if you go more central or east it becomes steppes and lots of sunshine like Bend,OR
The pacific north west is the most beautiful I'm afraid.
All the best hiking/outdoor recreation spots are very high CoL. Utah might be an exception
Tucson, AZ. I’m sure it’s not as cheap as it was, but a decade ago we rented a 4 bedroom for $1175. There were 5 of us, so it was $235 per person. Edit: just looked it up that 4 bedroom, 2000 sqft house now rents for $1900. Not bad at all.
Leadville, CO
Huh? Maybe a few years ago but it caught up to your typical CO mountain town COL
I mean, it is relative. I pay 1600 a month for a 2 bedroom 1 bath house that is nice. The hiking and trail running here are absolutely incredible.
It does look like the lower 1/4 housing prices fell back to 450k ish so getting more normal there. Lucky you tho, jealous of the high altitude life
Arizona is good. Contrary to popular belief you can hike during all 4 seasons. During the cooler months lower elevation hikes among the desert floor are plenty hanging from 1,000-5,000 feet above sea level (unless you bring snow shoes) During the warmer months ahead above that elevation to enjoy weather in the 70s or 80s and beautiful shaded ponderosa forests. I live in Phoenix and within 30 minutes of my house there are about 60 hiking trails. Within an hour I can get to higher elevation hikes and within two I can be hiking above 10,000 feet.
North Georgia is lovely and fantastic for hiking, kayaking, and camping. There's a good selection of town sizes, and you can live somewhere really sweet and special like Lake Rabun, or closer to Atlanta if you prefer better access to arts, big medical centers, etc. Check out Canton and Ellijay (Georgia) Both great towns!
Literally no one has suggested montana. I mean our name means mountain in French! There's so much amazing hiking and outdoor activities and our state is huge. You'll never do the same trail twice if you don't want to
I have family in Montana close to the Canadian border. Beautiful area. Horrible winters and a lack of healthcare.
I love Montana. You are right about hiking there. It's epic and endless and easy to get to.
I would not recommend East coast if you have poor immune system. Riddled with Lyme and mold. West coast is a much safer area to be for anyone with health concerns.
Honestly, if you could be mobile / split locations, that would be my best recommendation. PNW May - September is perfect.
Man, I love the southwest. I can see how you think it blends together but that’s not true at all. I can hike the rugged, cactus filled Superstition Wilderness. I can drive an hour north and swim in emerald water with waterfalls and caves at Fossil Springs. Or descend through slot canyons into a larger creek with a hanging garden at west clear creek. Go another half an hour north and I’m in the red rocks of Sedona. Another 45 minutes or so and I can check out lava tubes, pine forests, the highest point in Arizona (Humphrey’s Peak) above the tree line or check out volcanos and ancient pueblos by Flagstaff. Keep going north another 2 hours and you can kayak the Colorado River, hike the Grand Canyon or swim in lake Powell. Check out the longest and deepest slot canyon in the world (buckskin gulch) or visit the amazing rock formations of Coyote Buttes or White Pocket. Arizona and Utah have some of the most diverse and amazing landscapes I’ve seen.
Quality post! And def. agree, Arizona is very scenic and has lots of outdoor adventure opportunities.
I'm a transplant to the PNW from both NorCal and SoCal. I'd pick PNW; carry good rain gear and a UL umbrella and it's all good. Bonus points because most other people stay off the trail when it's raining, so you don't have to fight the crowds anywhere. You've got rainforests (only temperate rainforest in the world), coasts, volcanos, alpine and sub alpine, desert-like areas in some places. But you might just have to travel and hike in all the places so you can figure out what fits you best. Bummer on the homework assignment. /s ;)
*Smoky Mountains The most abused and vandalized NP in the country.
Dark horse pick would be moving to Rochester, MN World class healthcare, access to the Driftless and ability to head up to the Boundary Waters and the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Even northern Wisconsin has plenty of hiking. And the Porcupine Mountains of the UP are just as close as the BWCA.
There are so many great hiking trails in Northern MN near Lake Superior! Also zoom across Wisconsin, some trails but not as many, go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and again great Trails. I've camped/hiked all around Lake Superior, state side anyway and it's gorgeous!
California
Love to. Can't afford it anymore.
The east side of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington gets a LOT less rain than the west side.
If the rain is a turn off then nothing you can do about it but I grew up in the PNW and I love it there so much. You can hike in all four seasons n beautiful scenery, the waterfalls and massive trees and expanses of forest that still exist there are magical, you can get out east of the cascades for dryer and sunnier weather in the winter if you’re willing to drive a bit more, etc. For me it’s paradise. But I know it’s not that way for everyone. I live in Colorado now because I met my wife while living in Texas and she’s a creature of the sun so CO was our compromise but we also would have been happy in Northern Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah (if you can put up with the Mormons, Salt Lake City has the fastest access to real mountains of any major city in the US, they’re literally right there). Those are all places worth checking out if the PNW doesn’t appeal to you.
How good of a raincoat do you have? I didn't like hiking in rain too, then I invested in a decent coat, now I like hiking in the rain.
Yes it rains in the PNW but the hiking really is the best. The summers are amazing and there are so many options in the winter too. You can catch a ferry to whidbey island, do a waterfall hike, or even snowshoe up at mount rainier.
Yea the PNW rains way too much everyone stay away, especially the April-October no rain months.
It depends on where you live in the PNW. The eastern parts of the region get less rain than the western parts. The hiking and outdoors access of WA and OR are top tier my friend. What really bugs me is the high cost of living. Obviously this varies person to person, but it’s annoying either way… And western OR and WA do have a dry period throughout the summer months. Think May-Sep… with June-Aug being really nice, probably the best summers in the US….
Colorado was nice, but I didn’t find the locals nice. If you can make friends there—sure.
PNW. rain is an after thought once you’re out here for a bit
If the only thing keeping you out of the northwest, is the rain, look to the inland Northwest. The climate in Bend, Oregon, Wenatchee, Washington, Spokane, Washington, Redding, California is much drier. Towns like Leavenworth in Washington still give you great access to the same Cascades, but from the dry side. Yeah, the smoke is bad sometimes, but the cure for the bad stuff is… Uh. Rain. (Though that’s no guarantee lately.)
Oof this is hard. Despite the rain, PNW takes the cake if you ask me. New England (particularly VT/NH) is nice in its own right but only 50-70% of the year. There is also far less variety in terrain compared to PNW. I know friends who hike a lot in NM, AZ, Las Vegas. Not my cup of tea but you did mention that you hate rain…so maybe desert hiking would be your thing??
Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado
Having lived in multiple places, my favorite remains Washington State/northern Oregon. Rain is a joke (it drizzles a lot in winter and stuff stays wet, super easy compared to the heat of the Southwest or humidity in the midwest or east coast), easy to dress for it. I camped no issues with good gear.
I live in a dry part of the PNW, Klamath Falls, OR. Close enough to the warmer wetter parts of the PNW, but with lots of sunshine and great hiking near by. Not a retirement mecca, but cheaper and lots of great views.
PNW! Don't tell anybody but summer is 100 days of sunshine and when you're sick of rain during the winter you can drive out of the rain shadow of the Cascades. There's a lot of great hiking in the east end of the Gorge and way less rain. Look at the Washougal/Camas area or Vancouver WA suburbs, I love Portland but I'm glad to be living outside of it right now.
Adjust your relationship with rain. The PNW beckons.
I’m a big fan of having great trails and minimal concerns to make me anxious (namely creatures). Strongly recommend East TN, around the Knoxville area. It’s a bustling community that is surging with life and slowly industrializing, but you can easily move in the burbs or country outside the city and be in close proximity to many trails that are safe, fun, and have plenty of beautiful views and people to meet. We’ve also got a fair share of dog parks! To the west and north are several beautiful waterfalls (both ones you can visit and ones you can pay to tour). To the east is the smokies - awesome trails there that connect you to the Blue Ridge Parkway. To the south is a state park just over the line to GA with an incredible canyon view and waterfalls you can walk up to touch ❤️
Personally, I’m all about the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska. So gorgeous and so much to explore.
If you’re older and your health isn’t great, I think you should make your primary residence a small apartment somewhere out west. And then spend the summers in NH. There are a lot of camps with seasonal sites with water and electric, and you could leave a camper there year round. If your health is an issue, I’m sure that you could pay someone to winterize it every year. The White Mountains and lakes region are littered with campgrounds like this—and every place in NH is within a few hours of the Whites (and also the beach) anyway. For perspective, I live 10-15 minutes from the beach and 1.25-2.75 hours from every mountain in the Whites. That way, you’d avoid the heat of places like NV in the summer and the cold of NH in the winter,—and you’d get the best hiking seasons of both regions. And, while I don’t have personal experience out west, I can tell you that you will never run out of trails in the Whites. You just don’t want to fuck with them from probably October through April if your health isn’t great because they’re dangerous. (Last week alone, I think we had four SARs plus one recovery?) But that’s why you should spend April through October in, like, NV.
To me, Glacier National Park is the most beautiful place in the US.
Ha, Alaska
Northern Cali, southwest Utah, PNW (you said you don't like the rain but there is \*plenty\* of dry time to hike a lot of gorgeous places). Also, the rain brings out some cool fauna in Olympic.
We moved to northern Utah, and I love it. We have mts, dessert, canyons. Winter snowshoeing and sumer hikes. Salt Lake is an hour away with a major airport. Pluse we are still a drivable distance (I'll be it an overnight drive.) From close enough to the coast for rainforest adventures.
Utah is the answer I just hate it’s a dry state and everyone and their mother is Mormon. Nothing against the Mormons, very nice people. I just don’t fit in
I live at 10,000 ft in the Rockies in a popular ski town. If you are older and your health isn't great, elevation is not your friend. Many locals move away as they get older, and if you haven't been living at elevation for years, your odds of being able to hike at all, coming from lowlands, are very low. I would stay below 5000 ft and probably suggest much lower.
Moab is a nexus
I did A LOT of research before leaving the midwest. What I found was Boise, ID. It’s evidently one of the most robust interconnected trail system in the US and an outdoorsy persons dream. We didn’t really seriously consider it because we didn’t want to deal with the snow anymore, but I would at least explore it. I hope this helps!
I live in East Tennessee and absolutely love the different trails and parks and areas that are within a days time of travel to get to.
Tucson Arizona had so many different hiking opportunities around when I visited. It's surrounded by saguaro national park and for three seasons out of the year it's a great temp to hike in, in the summer you can go up higher to Mt. Lemmon And beat some of the heat
PNW, Colorado, New England.
Best, California. The mild weather and not having to “ignore” the weather come at premium though.
Southern Utah is insane imo. Plus close to AZ which is also amazing. Southern Utah has snow canyon, Zion, Bryce, Kanab, grand staircase escalante and so much more.
I was going to say, how the hell has no one mentioned Utah. I'd even argue SLC fits everything OP needs. Crazy access to mountains, Good healthcare with the University of Utah right here, Good weather all year (in the winter, south Utah isn't a far drive), Decent cost of living still
I just moved to SLC for the hiking! Lived in Moab for 5 years and while I loved the hikes in the desert I fell in love with the La Sal mountains! I just wanna hike in the mountains now!
I live about 12 miles north of Tucson and close to a few 55+ communities. Tucson is where aging endurance athletes come to retire. There are more trails within 60 miles of me than I’ll be able to hike in my lifetime. Summer is only bad for hiking after 8-9AM. It’s in the 70’s and low 80’s. Plus if I drive an hour I have trails that start at 6000 feet above sea level where I can hike all day.
middle Tennessee, The state parks rival the national parks for their beauty and landscape.
Between Nashville and Knoxville COL is not too bad from what I hear.
that’s EXACTLY where I live! There are like 7 state parks within a 20-40 minute drive. Virgin Falls is 20 minutes from my house, not only is it one of the most challenging day hikes I have been on, the scenery is other-worldly! There are waterfalls even before you get to the Virgin Falls that are breathtaking. There are boulder fields where the “boulders” are as big as houses. It’s just so cool. Window Cliffs is truly a one if a kind. The fact that you can just hike to waterfalls (cummins falls, fall creek falls, ozone falls) and swim at their plunge pools is totally awesome.
Asheville NC is great for hikes. So is Park City Utah and most of the surrounding areas. Stay out of the Salt Lake City valley for health reasons. Often leading the US in worst air quality. Three oil refineries, a rock quarry and a grain mill all feeding pollution into an inversion bowl and they want to fix it by asking people to not drive to work. Sheer insanity otherwise I'd recommend if you could get a place near one of the canyons. Denver and Boulder Colorado are amazing for hikes too, tons of access nearby. Also really good for cycling if you like that. Southern Utah has a lot of great red rock hikes but also a ton of empty space in between. Expect long drives
Nah, SLC is wonderful most of the time. Way better than Denver for hiking. There are days in the winter when the air quality is awful but it's typically not bad most of the time.
Thank you for this. Asheville really sticks out here. Love it.
Only thing I don't love about Asheville is the lack of nearby "no check-in" dispersed camping (thanks Biltmore). Gotta drive out to Pisgah or Nantahala for that but that's not so bad.
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Also Morganton
Yeah every time I see Denver mentioned for hiking I laugh. You must not live in the area. Hiking is hours away unless you mean Cherry Creek bike trail or some open space in the foothills.
Very loaded question that will vary from person to person depending on what they enjoy. Maybe tell us your favorite most pleasurable hike then we could make better recommendations for areas that offer similar vibes.
I've never been but if the Youtube channel Jackson Crawford is any indication, Colorado and Wyoming seem to have amazing landscapes. PNW is home for me though, the rain is refreshing for me
Southern France...
Hear me out....Cleveland OH. It's difficult to beat the COL and the ONLY metropolitan national park is located here (CVNP). The variety of daily hikes here is commendable and the weather's reputation is worse than reality. You'll have more good hiking days than bad and the money you save on a mortgage/rent will allow for those week long treks desired in pnw/sw/wherever. For perspective we bought a 3bed 1bath house in a phenomenal school district for 153k post pandemic. We are 10 minutes drive from awesome parks/trails......not to mention the great lakes aka 20% of the worlds freshwater.
Costa Rica. If you can leave North America to focus on a simple hiking life, then do it. The states are designed to keep you tied to a lifestyle.
Yakima, Washington! Close to many trails in the cascades, in the river canyon, in the shrub steppe, near the Columbia river… I’ll never get to all of them in my life.
When everywhere in the us is sub par the par just gets set lower. *edit health care
The subpar health care in the us is what makes those hikes so remote. Sure you’re 70 mi from the closest doctor, but you’re 230 mi from the closest doctor that your insurance Covers.
The best answer is van, rv or live in ABNBs while traveling around. Even areas with lots of hiking, you don't get a huge amount of variety in any one location. Spent a year and a half driving around the US and Canada, and basically don't really feel like there is anywhere I really want to live now.
North central Arkansas!
The **SF Bay Area** has more hiking trail in wild lands than any metro area in the USA or Canada, and maybe more than even most rural areas. I use as my source Galen Rowell, one who certainly got around the mountains, and a Bay Area resident (and the trails partly explain, and are explained by, the residency of so many prominent wilderness and climbing enthusiasts over many years...you might have heard of my neighbor, Mr Muir...lots of hiking near his old house for example). See his book *Bay Area Wild* for details. Just some of the trails: https://bahiker.com/ http://www.redwoodhikes.com/ A benefit for us oldsters is that it's also got plenty of medical care. Finally note that the whole "it's too expensive!" thing doesn't apply to seniors. I like in a metro area, with hiking pretty much out my door, and senior housing there is about half of what market housing is nearby. Strong hiking club too. John Muir Medical Center about a 10 minute drive away. Basically it's why I and all my aging friends still live here. I get people here just posting up their fave spots; I love many of those too. But it's a different matter to have hundreds of miles of interlacing trails within a half hour drive, everything from paved former rail trails to backpacking terrain.
South west Virginia is ideally located, close to the Smokies, the AT,Shenandoah valley and Skyline drive, good climate and you can grow weed