>>1384341Missouri is based. Please don't tell anyone though. The brutal summers and cold winters have kept most people at a reasonable distance for decades. I'm afraid with the obscene housing prices everywhere in the west more people are going to start looking at the Ozarks for beautiful real estate, so it'd be great if we could get another thirty years or so of uncrowded National Forest and Wilderness Areas.
Just don't live in Kansas City (purgatory for sc/out/s; every good hike is 3+ hours away) or the northern third of the state (plains and farmland, might as well be in Iowa or Kansas). Also if you live in the south you can easily cruise into the Arkansas Ozarks if you get bored of Mark Twain NF.
Oh yeah, with regards to state lands, Missouri has one of the best-funded conservation departments in the country. There are conservation areas scattered everywhere that you can camp at, if you're not in the mood to drive to Mark Twain.
