The midwest is the US’s surprising new outdoor hotspot

Post-industrial states such as Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and even upstate New York, are seeing a boom in outdoor activities

At a nondescript mall in Beavercreek, a sleepy suburb in south-west Ohio, workers are unpacking the latest camping equipment, bikes and kayaks ahead of a grand opening of Ohio's fifth REI co-op location.

Surrounded by farmland and leafy streetscapes in a region that relied on manufacturing and an air force base as its economic lifeblood for decades, Beavercreek and the wider post-industrial midwest might not quickly conjure up images of outdoor bliss.