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We've all felt it—the itch to get away and adventure, whether for just a few hours or for several weeks.Some of us may dream of lively, vibrant scenes and throngs of people everywhere; new faces to see, stories to hear, friends to meet. But there's also the dream of quiet, calm escape, where we can explore by ourselves or our small group of friends, and temporarily forget about the rest of the world. Both kinds of adventures have their merits, but we're going to focus on the latter option for now. Nature lovers, this piece is especially for you. If you’re hoping to stretch your legs without coming across hordes of strangers, the map above should be helpful. It compares each state’s total acreage of National Park Service (NPS) land with the number of visitors the state’s NPS sites had last year. Darker states indicate a high number of acres relative to the number of visitors, meaning they’re a promising direction in which to head if you want to enjoy public lands but avoid the crowds. Conveniently, these less-visitor-dense states are distributed fairly evenly throughout the country, so no matter where you are, you should have good options for planning a still-a-little-socially-distant getaway.

Big adventures, small crowds

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