EASTOntario, Paddle Like a CanadianLike cross-checking and the ability to travel anywhere on Earth with impunity, paddling whitewater in a canoe may seem embedded in Canadian genes. But it's actually a learned skill that's expertly taught at
Madawaska Kanu Centre on the Madawaska River, 125 miles (201 kilometers) east of Ottawa. Owners Claudia and Dirk Van Wijk are both former national whitewater champions and host their charges in a chalet-style lodge—right on the river—that serves up big buffets befitting stoked strokers. The dam-controlled Madawaska flows dependably and warm from Class I to IV, making it ideal for aspiring paddlers or experts looking to hone their skills for a summer of solo or tandem canoeing. Weekend courses run May through August ($390, including meals;
owl-mkc.ca/mkc).
Massachusetts, Be a VIP in the VineyardIt's easy to forget you're in Martha's Vineyard in May, before the 100,000 or so city folk descend on the island. That is, until you realize you're hiking on the five-mile (eight-kilometer) Carly Simon Trail. The dune-skirting path runs right up to
Winnetu Oceanside Resort ($225;
winnetu.com), which overlooks South Beach, the island's most tranquil strand—think stone fireplace, views of breaching whales, a three-mile (five-kilometer) bike path ride to Edgartown for breakfast at Espresso Love. Say the word and the inn will have a road bike delivered to your stoop ($50). Or stick close to your nest and paddle Poucha Pond while oystercatchers and kingfishers streak by ($46 for a half-day kayak tour). Pretty dang peaceful. For now.
North Carolina, Surf Sitting Down"No wave is ever the same while surf kayaking," says Lindsay Usher, who has placed as high as fifth in the world in the sport. "It's an awesome feeling
to drop into a wave and figure out where to get the most speed." Usher is partial to the Outer Banks, where the wind dictates the best spots—e.g., First Street in Kill Devil Hills, around milepost 10–13 in Nags Head. Best plan is to bed down at the
Ramada ($102;
www.ramada.com) and stop in at
Kitty Hawk Kayak and Surf School, where Usher teaches her craft ($65;
khkss.com). Or rent a sit-on-top from
Kitty Hawk Sports in Nags Head ($29;
www.kittyhawksports.com). With small surf and a couple of hours in the saddle, you'll be cutting in the curl of a once-in-a-lifetime wave.
Virginia, Cruise the Creeper
The mountainous southwest corner of Virginia is home to perhaps the easiest mountain bike trail in the world. It's called the Virginia Creeper, a 33-mile (53-kilometer) crushed limestone rail-trail, which descends gently for 17 miles (27 kilometers) from Whitetop (3,500 feet [1,067 meters]) to Damascus (1,910 feet [582 meters]) and then flattens out for a 16-mile (26-kilometer) run to Abingdon. Make two days of it by base-camping at Creeper Trail Cottages in Damascus ($125;
www.creepercottage.com) and shuttling to Whitetop with Adventure Damascus ($23 for bike and shuttle;
adventuredamascus.com). Ride through lush forests and over pristine trout streams, and stop at the Creeper Trail Café for lunch (somebody'll be pickin' and singin'). The next day, shuttle down to Abingdon and ride back to Damascus.
CENTRALWisconsin + Michigan, Ply a Superior Shoreline
Great sea kayaking knows no state boundaries. Up at the meeting point of northern Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula is an isolated stretch of Lake Superior shoreline where rivers tumble over 80-foot (24-meter) cliffs onto polished-pebble beaches. Whitecap Kayaks leads customized camping trips that skirt the shore between Little Girl's Point and the Porcupine Mountains and venture up Black River, Maple Creek, Carp River, and Presque Isle River ($315 for three nights;
whitecapkayak.com). That means tons of flexibility: a new campsite each night beside a different river and numerous hikes to waterfall swimming holes.
Texas, Dominate the Davis Mountains
Long climbs, quiet roads, and sweeping descents make the Scenic Loop in the Davis Mountains one of the most popular, and difficult, road bike rides in the state. From Davis Mountain State Park you'll forge a 75-mile (121-kilometer) counterclockwise loop: north on Texas 118 toward McDonald Observatory, then circle back on Texas 166, which joins Texas 17 for a bit into the town of Fort Davis, where you pick up 118 for the home stretch. The crux comes early—the ascent of Mount Locke is a superb climb through forests and high meadows. Feeling Lance-like? Take the two-mile (three-kilometer) side road to the observatory if you dare, but you're looking at a 17 percent grade for the entire ride—steeper than, say, l'Alpe d'Huez. After the long descent you'll be riding over sometimes flat, sometimes rolling, and surprisingly green plains, with few cars to distract you from the beauty. In the park, book a night at the recently renovated Indian Lodge ($90;
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/indian_lodge), a 39-room complex of pueblo-style, log-beamed adobe rooms built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The nearby observatory hosts stargazing under what UT Austin considers the darkest skies in the lower 48 ($10;
mcdonaldobservatory.org).
Ohio, Rise Above the Flats
Think Ohio is all plain vanilla and fields of corn? The glaciated country 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Columbus is anything but: a realm of craggy caves, striated sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, rivers, and forests of birch and hemlock. Climbers gravitate to Hocking State Forest, where a mile-long (two-kilometer-long) sandstone face up to a hundred feet (30 meters) high has slump blocks, cracks, chimneys, and overhangs for top-roped climbs from 5.0 to 5.12. Another hot ticket is the Hocking River—not for anything resembling whitewater thrills, but rather canoeing by moonlight and tiki torch, followed by a hot dog feast ($35;
hockinghillscanoeing.com). Don't miss the fried bologna sandwiches at Etta's Lunch Box Café, home of more than 800 lunch boxes (maybe they have your old Boba Fett model or, perhaps, a Roy Rogers edition). Hocking Hills State Park has cottages ($85), camping ($15;
dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/743/default.aspx), and easy hikes to those caves and waterfalls.
Illinois, Kick It in KickapooNature has reclaimed what is rightfully its own on 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) of land in east-central Illinois near Danville, which was strip-mined for coal until the 1930s. The recovering landscape is now Kickapoo State Recreation Area ($10 for a campsite;
dnr.state.il.us), where the mining scars have long been covered over by hardwood forests of oak, hickory, walnut, maple, and beech—this time of year bursting with Johnny-jump-ups, trilliums, and Dutchman's breeches—or filled in with crystal clear ponds. Sportsman's Lake is a favorite training hole for local divers. Mountain bikers have ten miles of this-can't-be-the-corn-belt trails all to themselves that dip in and out of ravines and include some tight switchbacks, log jumps, and steep climbs. Hikers and runners have their own ten miles (sixteen kilometers) of trails, with adjoining loops that follow the Middle Fork Vermilion River (a National Scenic River) and lead to some of the park's 22 backwoods ponds.
MOUNTAINNew Mexico, Hike to American Graffiti
The National Park Service doesn't normally glorify graffiti, but when the tags date from 1605, they merit attention. Thirty miles (48 kilometers) west of Grants, a hunk of sandstone known as El Morro National Monument rises above a permanent pool in the sere high desert of central New Mexico, where travelers have long bookmarked reliable water holes. Spanish conquistadores, U.S. Army soldiers, and Union Pacific Railway surveyors all paused to dip a canteen here—and to etch into the sandstone a record of their sojourn. It's the darndest thing to behold: more than 2,000 signatures and aphorisms carved into the rock, some flamboyant, others as terse as gravestone inscriptions. When you're done reading, hike the two-mile (three-kilometer) loop atop the 7,200-foot (2,195-meter) monolith to an 875-room Puebloan ruin. Set up camp in the park ($5;
www.nps.gov/elmo) and spend the ensuing days exploring the Zuni Indian pueblo just west (full of artists) or the lava badlands of El Malpais National Monument to the east.
Utah, Go Bigger Than the Grand When spring runoff pumps up the flow of the Colorado in Canyonlands National Park south of Moab, the rapids can get wilder than anything in the Grand Canyon farther south. "Big Drop Rapids in Cataract Canyon are the biggest navigable rapids in the U.S. when the water is high," says guide Walker Mackay of Colorado River and Trail Expeditions. The time to go is in late May and early June. That's when CRATE runs motorized raft trips into the heart of the park ($895 for four days;
www.crateinc.com). After takeout, a scenic flight shuttles you over the Canyonlands back to Moab ($100).
Colorado, Ride the LineJust when you thought the zip-lining craze was, like, so totally 1995, here comes Soaring Tree Top Adventures high in the southern Colorado Rockies ($329;
soaringcolorado.com). Not only do you zip along more than a mile of helicopter-grade cable comprising 22 spans without ever touching the ground, you're doing it in old-growth ponderosa pines and aspens—yet no trees were harmed in the making of this extravaganza (nothing actually penetrates a tree). There's only one way to get to this place, by the way: via the 1881 Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway (fare included;
durangotrain.com).
Idaho, Check Off a Life ListerNorthwest Voyageurs' Little Salmon Lodge in west-central Idaho lets you raft one of the finest river runs in the country without getting locked into a week on the water. During a multisport weekend, you can hit the Little Salmon River for two days of Class III, then recharge at the 12-room lodge for another day
at play. That could be horseback riding on the rim of the Salmon River Canyon or a mountain bike ride from that rim to the bottom, a 5,000-foot (152-meter) drop called the Cannonball Run. May is chinook season on the Little Salmon, or you can cast from the lodge in the evening for whatever's biting, microbrew in hand ($849 for four nights, all-inclusive;
voyageurs.com).
PACIFICNorthern California, Rule the RedwoodsRedwood National Park and its contiguous state parks finally have an outfitter and lodge to complement the neck-craning wonders of the star attractions, the tallest trees in the world. Redwood Adventures runs two- to four-night trips that offer a daily choice of guided river kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, plus a furnished cabin ($1,000 for two nights, all-inclusive;
redwoodadventures.com). The paddle is an easy ten-mile (sixteen-kilometer) float by inflatable kayak down Redwood Creek through the heart of the forest to the ocean, a trip likely to be spiced up with the presence of bald eagles and black bears. One of the mountain bike options is a wild 13-mile (21-kilometer) descent from the Bald Hills to Lost Man Creek. After each adventure comes a dinner brought to the door of your cabin and a chance to soak in a redwood hot tub while you watch Roosevelt elk enjoy their own version of room service—the tender grasses of surrounding Elk Meadow.
Southern California, Climb Fossil Falls
Fossil Falls, a little-known top-rope paradise east of Highway 395 just north of Little Lake (follow Cinder Road east to the signed 2WD dirt road), is a great high-desert alternative to the hubbub at Joshua Tree. A defunct stretch of the Owens River long ago carved this dried-up defile out of volcanic rock, leaving a low, narrow canyon about a half mile (less than a kilometer) long that's pocked with cracks and holds. One-pitch climbs from 5.1 to 5.11 suit every taste—if one doesn't taste good, there's another one next door that will. The lands below the cliff have been inhabited for 15,000 years, when the world's protocampers bedded down along the now dry lakes and rivers of the Mojave Desert. Up top are views of the southern Sierra, an 11-site primitive campground with water, and, at night, a sky that's far, far from city lights ($6;
www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/ridgecrest/fossil.html).
Oregon, Ski In, Raft Out
The combo of great snow up high and sunshine down below in Oregon's eastern Cascades makes it plausible—if not obligatory—to ski corn snow on Mount Bachelor one day and ride the runoff on the Upper Deschutes River the next. Bachelor's 9,060-foot (2,761-meter) summit and last winter's big snowfalls assure reliable skiing well into May (there's also a drop in the $56 lift ticket tariff;
mtbachelor.com), while Sun Country Raft Tours kicks into gear May 1 with its Deschutes Big Eddy Thriller ($46;
suncountrytours.com). Tall ponderosa pines and dark lava rocks line the way, but the real draw is Class III Big Eddy itself:
It churns and swirls for nearly half the three-mile (five-kilometer) trip. Sun Country will pick you up at Sunriver Resort, a timber-hewn lodge that excels at winter play—it sits near the base of Bachelor—and spring flings—it partners with a dozen outfitters, from fly-fishing guides to charter-jet flyboys ($175;
sunriver-resort.com).
British Columbia, Float the Full MoonIt's hard to decide on the most compelling reason to stay at Rockwater Secret Cove Resort on BC's Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver: the luxe canvas "tenthouse suite"—replete with ocean-view bathtub, heated slate floor, and private deck overlooking the rocky shoreline—or the opportunity to paddle three miles (five kilometers) out to Thormanby Island under a full moon for a multicourse repast, cooked on the spot by the resort's chef. Rockwater offers a package that includes a midnight ramble during full moons from May through September ($545;
rockwatersecretcoveresort.com). Full moon or not, the paddling's great anytime, and Halfmoon Sea Kayaks is on-site for rentals of swift fiberglass boats ($32 for a half day) and guided tours of nearby coves and islands ($100 for a half day;
halfmoonseakayaks.com).
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