Ray Stern
Audio By Carbonatix
To recognize National Trails Day, June 4, a new list of the best cities for hiking was just released, and Phoenix is near the top of the list.
LawnStarter, a business that offers lawn care services across the country, ranked the 200 biggest cities in the country, and Phoenix came in at No. 3.
We were beaten by Portland, Oregon, which tops the list, and our neighbors to the south, Tucson, which came in at No. 2. However, Phoenix ranked No. 1 for most hiking routes (Tucson was second on that list).
To come up with the list, LawnStarter researchers took into account 13 factors, including access to hiking trails, the quality of hiking trails, the number of outdoor supply stores, how many extremely hot or extremely cold days the cities have, and safety concerns like natural hazards and crime.
The rest of the top 10 was: 4. Colorado Springs, Colorado; 5. Oakland, California; 6. Salt Lake City, Utah; 7. Los Angeles, California; 8. Boise, Idaho; 9. Las Vegas, Nevada; and 10. San Diego, California.
Other Arizona cities were farther down the list: Scottsdale came in at No. 29, while Mesa, Glendale, Peoria, Tempe, Chandler, and Gilbert were at 58, 64, 89, 150, 166, and 194, respectively.
