You are here

2nd Annual Essential Guide To Paddling The Parks

Share
Alternate Text
The National Park System offers endless miles of water for paddling sports/Kurt Repanshek

Flat water. Whitewater. Tranquil pools and rising tides. All this and more abounds in the National Park System's water world. 

Though often described as "€œmore than 84 million acres"€ of landscape, the system also embraces endless miles of streams, lakeshore, and ocean front. It'™s a watery landscape you can explore for half-a-day, or for the rest of your life.

Run with the Atlantic Ocean tides down Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina, or use them to reach the Ten Thousand Islands area of Everglades National Park. Venture into the Pacific Northwest to explore Ross Lake at North Cascades National Park, as Peter Wise did for his story about exploring Ross Lake by sea kayak, or head to Olympic National Park, where the demolition of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams has opened up more than 70 miles of river for paddlers.

You can retrace the past, as Bryan Hansel did for his story about paddling from Voyageurs National Park to Grand Portage National Monument. Curious about private Colorado River trips through Grand Canyon National Park? Joe Miczulski shares his trip of a lifetime. Cast your eyes beyond U.S. borders, as Jameson Clifton does, and you'€™ll find an amazing paddle in New Zealand at Fiordland National Park.

Beyond the park units with their waterborne adventures, there are more than a dozen water trails overseen by the National Park Service worth dipping a paddle into.

Our 2nd Annual Essential Guide to Paddling the Parks is bigger, and better, than last year's first edition. Along with the feature stories mentioned above, the guide includes safe boating tips from the National Safe Boating Council as well as a rundown on the 18 trails in the National Water Trails System. National Parks Conservation Association staff provide an overview of the fun that can be had paddling in the parks, as well as the work being done to keep park waters healthy. 

You can dive into the guide right now by clicking on its cover in the right-hand column, purchase a print copy for $14.95 via Magcloud, or  take it a story at a time as we roll out the content on the Traveler in the coming weeks and months. Whichever approach you choose, we invite you to sit back and relax with our paddling guide, and begin planning your next adventure!

 
Essential Guide To Paddling The Parks, 2015

By Kurt Repanshek in National Park Advocates, LLC

60 pages, published 1/31/2015

The 2nd Annual Essential Paddling Guide to the National Parks helps you choose where in the National Park System to raft, canoe, kayak, and even SUP.
 
Featured Article

Add comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.