4 ms·
Not everyone lives in California. Recreational land is much more sparse east of the Mississippi.
by throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Not everyone lives in California. Recreational land is much more sparse east of the Mississippi.
- tpmx 5y agoMap of "BLM" lands: https://i.imgur.com/Czj3jmX.png https://i.imgur.com/Czj3jmX.png
- chrisseaton 5y agoWhat's the story behind that?
- brudgers 5y agoThe west is vast, mountainous, dry, and sparsely populated. Also title was acquired by the US Federal government. Mostly via Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War and “treaties” with indigenous peoples.
- graycat 5y agoNYS crowded, right? Well, just look at a map, e.g., via Google maps. Can look for lots of wilderness places in NYS, but, to make looking easy, just go to the Catskills or, better yet, north of Albany. There are huge areas of forest. For a name, try the Adirondacks. Somewhere up there they had a Winter Olympics -- plenty of ice, snow, and skiing! Recently I escaped from NYS and went to east TN. There have the Smoky Mountains with huge areas of forest and hills. Long lived in Maryland and often went to the mountains of VA -- huge areas of meadows, forests, deer, bears, etc., that is, Shenandoah! And that's all well east of the Mississippi River. Yes, technically, "Recreational land is much more sparse east of the Mississippi." but still huge. Yes, in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, it's harder to find people or buildings and easier to find wilderness!!! But, sure, if go to Canada and north a few hundred miles of the border with the US, then find very sparse areas -- it seems that most of the people in Canada live not so far from the US. But for the US again, if want wilderness, try Alaska. Of course we don't hear so much about the wildest parts of Alaska -- maybe the reason is so few people come back alive!
- prawn 5y agoCan't see that changing in a hurry. It's barely a political given that BLM land in the West would survive as public space given how Americans feel about their federal governments. Still, there are solid public spaces for camping/recreation in the east if you look. Harder to find, but it's there.
- packetlost 5y agoI live in the Midwest. There's a handful of decent camping/easy hiking places, but nothing fantastic. Glacial drift flattened most of the land here, so it's very boring. That being said, we still have a lot of public land here, it's just mostly run by the state or counties.
- prawn 5y agoWhat constitutes midwest? Googling suggests it's more mid and north - is that right? There's still some charm in flat desert or forest. And if midwest includes South Dakota, I wouldn't cry about that - loved it. For me, half of the appeal goes beyond the scenery to the ability to freely use a space. I'm not American but visit a lot and think the hierarchy of national parks, state parks and then monuments/forests/BLM is brilliant. If you don't want the rigid rules of a national park, go camp on BLM land for 10 days and pay nothing, etc.
- packetlost 5y agoSouth Dakota is indeed part of the Midwest (so is North Dakota), and arguably one of the more interesting parts of it. A good chunk of the Midwest is flat farmland, plains, and forest[0]. It's not very interesting, but certainly still camp-able. But hiking here is very mediocre. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States#Physical_geography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States#Physi...
- prawn 5y agoWe roadtripped twice across the US in 2019 and didn't stop much going through Nebraska! Not everywhere wins the scenery lottery.