Worst Outdoors State by Area

Backpacker magazine has a great map [update: I'm told that this kind of figure is called a cartogram] this month (I don't think it's available online yet) of the states, with the size of the states adjusted for responses to the magazine's poll of outdoor activities. I.e., so the biggest state is the readers' favorite for outdoor activities, even if it isn't the actual biggest state. No surprise that Colorado gets top honors, with California, Washington State, and Utah all in the running.

The eastern U.S. is relatively small on the map, which is somewhat weird given the location of population centers. My guess is that the readership of the magazine has a pro-Western bias.

But looking at the map, it seems pretty clear to me that Illinois is the worst performing state, by land area, in the poll. I'm surprised that Ohio looks pretty small, too, but given Illinois's larger land area, I'd have to say that Illinois is the worst outdoor state by land area.

Btw, the number one activity of readers in the poll was day hiking, followed by backpacking and then photography.