Category Ranking
Best National Parks for Kayaking in Summer
Top parks for kayaking during summer, ranked by a composite of activity quality and seasonal conditions.
Updated
Channel Islands National Park
California's Galápagos lies 12 miles offshore with 145 endemic species. Sea lions, island foxes, and rare seabirds inhabit five islands.
Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve
Fifteen tidewater glaciers calve into a 65-mile fjord where humpback whales surface within camera range, reachable only by boat or plane.
Voyageurs National Park
Four interconnected lakes form a water maze where boats replace roads through 340 square miles of boreal wilderness and scattered islands.
Kobuk Valley National Park
Six hundred square miles of sand dunes rise from Arctic tundra, carved by 15,000-year-old winds still pushing them across permafrost.
Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve
Six million acres where caribou migrations follow ancient routes and the Brooks Range rises through valleys most will never reach.
New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
The East Coast's deepest river gorge cuts 1,000 feet through ancient rock, with Class V rapids and 100 miles of trails above.
Lake Clark National Park & Preserve
Two active volcanoes, 42-mile glacial lake, and bears fishing roadless salmon streams you can only reach by floatplane.
Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park
Gunnison River carved North America's steepest gorge through 1.7-billion-year-old rock, with 2,000-foot walls that trap the sun.
Glacier National Park
Twenty-six glaciers remain from the 150 that once filled these valleys. Going-to-the-Sun Road climbs past Logan Pass to the evidence.
Crater Lake National Park
America's deepest lake fills a volcanic caldera with water so pure scientists use it as a baseline. The 33-mile Rim Road circles the crater.