If you had an option ...

Just out of curiosity .. if you had an option to choose one place to go for hiking, walking or just for the sake of being close to nature while sipping on a cup of coffee (beer?), where would it be?

My personal choice would be Galapagos Island. Anyone else share the same choice, maybe I can come up with an idea to hook us up ;-)

Isle Royale NP.

Baboquivari Peak

My back yard. I am fortunate enough to live on 8 acres of pristine Sonoran desert complete with Saguaro and barrel cactus and ocotillo. I walk every morning, usually with my dogs and a cup of coffee. The ocotillo is in bloom right now.

I can't tell you because then others will know and ruin it.

I agree with Pika, except it would be *my* backyard

Redbud, Dogwood, Persimmon, and lots of wildflowers are all blooming in the Ozark forests right now. It is amazing here right now when the forest is transforming from "Leaf off" to "Full Bloom". You can literally sit in the forest and watch it close in around you as the leaves unfold. The fact that I am here is proof it's my first choice

My second choice would be wondering around the forest of Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and other areas where the old Mayan cities exist. I've got to do that a few times and I know I could spend years enjoying it. Guatemala has uncounted pyramids that are still overgrown with dense forest. You can see them in the distance when your standing atop a restored pyramid. I would love to be able to bushwhack off into the forests there and climb one of those pyramids, then sip a beer while sitting in the breeze on the very top of it.

Bill

Denali Park

Gee, I'd say my backyard, too!!! Except I consider the states of Oregon and Washington to be my backyard.

I go outdoors for different reasons. Where I would choose to have a cup of coffee is different from where I would seek wildlife, or adventure, or hike.

It is also impossible for me to pick the "best" of anything! There are too many variables. I like it all.

Bill, aren't you lucky? Planning on having a house guest anytime soon? ;-)

I couldn't possibly pick. I've been too many places that are fantastic for this, and I hope to be to many more.

I also find my enjoyment of sitting with a cup of something
enjoying nature is also very much dependant on my mood as much as where I am.. I very much enjoy that sort of thing, and don't
need to be anywhere "amazing" to enjoy it a lot. (Although I've been fortunate enough to enjoy watching the world wake up and the sun rise with my morning cup in some pretty neat places the past few years..)

Having the same general "back yard" as Aimless, and with the Columbia River Gorge trailheads 20 minutes' drive from my house, I have plenty of places to be happy depending on my mood.

My heart, though, never quite left Wyoming, where I grew up. On the other hand, it has no regrets about missing Wyoming's winters!

My dad grew up in northern Wisconsin and he had a saying that I am sure also applies to Wyoming, too:

We had nine months of winter every year, followed by three months of tough sledding.

The one I heard most often while growing up in Wyoming is that there are three months in a year: July, August and Winter.

That's pretty darn funny

We went from 40 to 80 degree days here in less than three weeks. It seems like whatever the "Average Temp" for whatever time of year it is here is never what the actual temp is.

Bill

If I didn't have to deal with the gaper tourists and park regulations, pretty much any national park in the Rockies.

Emigrant wilderness just north of Yosemite