Ten Best States for Hiking

I’ve been to all those states except North Carolina and am surprised to see Texas on that list too. It has less than 2% public lands. Big Bend is the only thing that comes to mind. Here in Arizona my town is surrounded by five mountain ranges and the county where I live with one million other people is bigger than New Jersey which has approximately nine million people so plenty of room here and tons of public lands. New Mexico didn’t make the list which surprised me. The western half is awesome for outdoor activities but the eastern half is more like Texas.

What's the best state for taking selfies with buffalo? Eating Raisin Bran with chipmunks? Swimming with otters?

And I need a professional photographer (that rules out iPhone users) to take epic pics of me 50 feet up El Capitan. Is this bag of white powder the coke that will get me to 100 feet?

And how do you pronounce Tuolumnem? You know, those meadows?

Texas also has Guadalupe National Park along with Caprock Canyons State Park and "trailway"?

How do the ratings change from year to year? Seems like a pretty static data set.

What I get out of this:  Kuru footwear is not good for difficult or muddy trails.

Another thing that is perhaps so obvious it need not be said: we are focused on backpacking here, but that's simply not what most people mean by "hiking."

My state (Kansas) has some pretty nice hiking trails, actually, but overnight camping is prohibited and/or not really possible on almost all of them. Few are long enough for backpacking, and those that are (like the Flint Hills Scenic Trail) are typically on small easements along otherwise private land.

Also, was climate part of the equation? There are many states (including mine) where serious hiking is absolutely off the table in summer, for me. The idea of carrying a full pack on a burning hot day, and then sleeping in a tent on a sweltering night is just repulsive.

I’ve flown over Texas multiple times many years ago in a small turbo charged prop plane and it is predominantly flat and super expansive. Even the fuel stops were so far apart. Yes it contains Guadalupe Park and Guadalupe peak is the highest point in Texas as I recall. It is a landmark in a land with few. I’ve driven across Texas several times and while I found the people very friendly and helpful, there aren’t that many places to stop and do much of anything as everything is fenced and as I understand from resident Texans guarded. They also have a grid system I’ve not encountered anywhere else.

As for the overall backpacking equation one as a young lad I was mapping a pipeline from the gulf, up through Midland and eventually to Route 66 and ended up in Santa Barrbra, CA. So as I looked down from the plane I actually wondered how they went backpacking, perhaps follow a compass heading to exhaustion, set camp and follow a reverse course the following morning? lol I was young and didn’t quite understand that you just couldn’t backpack everywhere.

In the West many states have from 30% to 70% public lands and many of the western states have mountains. Nevada wasn’t on the list and it has more mountain ranges than any other state. I remember mapping portions of the Primitive Wilderness in Idaho, a place fairly remote but oh so intriguing. So I agree with Rueben’s point on how do you identify this. For me it’s lots of mountains, canyons and public lands with fewer people so access is not overly difficult but still providing an adventurous experience. So it not just Wyoming missing but Nevada and Idaho for starts. Of coarse this greatly depends on the terrain that sets off your imagination. My parents moved every couple years and I never forgot the Sonoran desert and the entire southwest and made it back after the twists and turns of life but there are other equally beautiful and varied terrains and landscapes that should be celebrated too.