>>1425140 is a pretty accurate and thorough response. the benefit of living in the U.S. is that we have everything. our wilderness is the envy of the world, as evidenced by the number of Germans, Australians, Koreans, and British that you'll meet on the PCT any given year. we go to Europe to see cathedrals and courts older than our country. they come to our country to see a wilderness older than primates.FWIW, I think California is easily top 5 /out/ states, but it has nothing to do with the coastline. the real value in California is the interior and the north, and it's amazing that 99% of people have it backwards. Beaches in California are so shitty. The sand is shitty, the water is cold and opaque, and everything is trashy. But the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite Valley, Joshua Tree are national treasures.
If you want beaches, we have Hawaii, Long Island (if you think I'm fucking with you you've never been to East Hampton main beach), Florida, and if you count territories, the U.S.V.I., particularly Saint John, although all 3 are good.
For me, the indisputable #1 is Alaska, but that depends, as has been mentioned, on what you want to do.
