Over the past few months I have hiked in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and of course California among other places.
Other than California I found most trails to be in dense forests and most travel confined to trails, as cross country travel is difficult at best. These places are often confining, the sky is often hidden by a canopy of trees, and views are only possible by climbing up to a peak. Instead of forest duff, one deals with rocks and roots.
In spite of these obstacles, those places I traveled are beautiful in their own right and highly recommended.
But I prefer open spaces. Spaces where I can at almost any time position myself to see for miles and miles. The open spaces I am referring to are deserts.