karens

Here are some of my favorite hikes

Glacier NP - Grinnell Glacier, Avalanche Lake

Yosemite - Mist Trail

Grand Canyon - hike to Havasu and Mooney Falls (Supai)

Sedona - West Fork Oak Creek

Zion - Narrows (!)

Bryce - Queens Garden/some-else, it's a loop trail

Columbia River Gorge, OR - so many great hikes - Eagle Creek to Punchbowl Falls, Oneonta Gorge, Latourell Falls

San Diego area - Torrey Pines SP

Big Sur - Los Lobos SP, Julia Pfieffer Burns SP

Cape Cod - Atlantic White Cedar Swamp, Beech Forest Trail

Vermont/NH - almost anywhere in the Fall

Olympic NP - Marymere Falls, Second Beach, Hoh Rain forest, Soleduck Falls

Monadnock

Nubanusit Lake and Willard Pond in Hancock, New Hampshire--especially if you love the sound of loons. Also, Dublin Lake and Stone Pond, in Dublin, and Marlborough, NH, respectively.

cactushugger

Monadnock,
Yes, I do love to hear loons. Alas I've never heard multiple calls except in movies and on tv. Imagine my thrill when I heard a single pair calling on our local reservoir hear in the mountains of southwestern Virginia

islandpaddler

The Green River in Utah. It was my all time best vacation. Since we don't live on the mainland, we rented a canoe from Tex's Riverways in Moab. The company shuttled us to the put in, we canoed downriver to where the Green meets the Colorado. The company picked us up in a jet boat for the trip upriver to Moab.

There were some kayakers doing this trip. You can just buy the shuttle service.

There are two putins to give you a choice of distances. The longer put in is at Green River, so you could make quite a trip of it.

I won't tell you all the details because you'll have fun doing the research. There is a guide to this river that was very useful.

The scenery was stunning - all red rocks and blue skies. There was lots of hiking opportunities along the river. Since you'd only have to pay for the shuttle no matter how long you were out on the river, extra days spent hiking wouldn't cost you extra.

I'd like to do this trip once again in my life, but there are so many other places to go and rivers to canoe.

cmcfong

Cactushugger, do you enjoy biking? Have you tried the New River Trail between Galax and Pulaski, VA?

Birdie

Cape May NJ has great birding in either May or Oct. Some great kayaking and birding in the inlets near Stone Harbor.
One of my best birding trips was to Point Pelee in Canada just east of Detroit. In the spring when the birds are flying north it is the first point of land they reach after crossing the lake.

AuntAnnie

I loved paddling the Upper Missouri River in the White Cliffs area of Montana in the footsteps (paddle swirls??) of Lewis & Clark. The scenery is magnificent and the current is very swift, no rapids to speak of. The camping was primative and the river is MUDDY but it was a great trip. The BWCA in my home state of Minnesota has already been mentioned; I like to trip out of the Gunflint Trail so I can swing through the picturesque town of Grand Marais situated on the rocky shores of Lake Superior. My future paddling dream is Acadia Park in Maine. Happy Trails!!!!

AuntAnnie

islandpaddler: I think I need to add the Green River to my list.

cactushugger

cmcfong, I'm not much of a biker. Peddling is actually more uncomfortable on my pathetic knees than hiking. Too bad. I'd love to ride with my 85 year young mother. Now SHE is an avid cyclist. She's leaving in two weeks to ride all the way across the state of Missouri on a Rails To Trails ride. I do hear great things about the Virginia Creeper Trail which you mentioned. Have you ridden it?

cmcfong

The Creeper is on the to do list for this fall. We live about forty five minutes from the New River Trail (we are in Pinnacle, NC just south of Pilot Mountain) so we do it fairly often. It sure is great fun!
Keep paddlin' and head down to the NC dismal swamp.

starrsville

Lake Jocassee -
Here's a link to great SC options -

http://www.paddlesc.com/rivers.htm

NGail

There's some lovely kayaking and hiking on Cape Cod--nothing too far from civilization, but fun just the same. In fact I just posted to ask about other kayaking areas we haven't tried yet.
I'd love to know where you kayak in Florida. We've done some canoeing around White Springs.