When most people think of an adventure vacation, different destinations come to mind- like New Zealand, Australia, Iceland or Costa Rica but you don’t always need to go incredibly far to find some great adventure destinations within the U.S.  Many of My Vacation Lady’s clients may prefer to stay more local this year since New Zealand and Australia are still closed to American Tourists.  Iceland and Costa Rica are open with restrictions or mandatory covid insurance.

Hiking

You might not have realized how many really good hiking trails there were in the US.

In this USA Today article, they list 20 of the best hikes within the US that include the Appalachian Trail, Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and trails in both Zion and Yosemite Parks.  Trails.com listed 100 of the best trails in the U.S. HERE.  According to the Huffington Post, their readers couldn’t decide which were the best hikes in Hawaii  

White Water Rafting

For those who love rafting, you’ll know that the rapids are rated from I-VI (1-6). Class I is something that you’ll do on a leisurely day of tubing or canoeing with Class VI as being just insane to try.  For most a level II-IV are what most will be considered pretty good rafting.  So where can  you get some pretty good rafting within the US?

  • Colorado River through Arizona
  • Salmon River in Idaho
  • Deschutes River in Oregon
  • New River and Gauley River in West Virginia
  • Denali National Park in Alaska

 Kayaking

If you talk about kayaking, are you talking about Kayaking on the open ocean or on a river?

For instance, in Hawaii, the only navigable river is the Wailua River and you can certainly kayak on that river through some beautiful scenery.  But there is also some great sea kayaking around the San Juan Island in the state of Washington.  The Kona side of the Big Island of Hawaii has some of the world’s best sea kayaking since there are sheltered waters and  remote coves on the this side of the island.  Would you ever consider kayaking in Alaska?  Some of My Vacation Lady’s clients have done it on the Inside Passage itinerary of an Alaskan Cruise, particularly in Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan and Prince William Sound.

Biking

One of My Vacation Lady’s top excursions in Maui is to get up in the middle of the night, see a beautiful sunrise over the west side of Maui and then bike down the inactive volcano.  We recommend this a lot to our clients because it’s not terribly active (you’re coasting down the mountain) but the scenery is fabulous.  But if you are a pretty serious biker, where can you do some great biking trips?

  • How about a 6 day bike trip from Anchorage to Prince William Sound in Alaska?
  • Or 6 days circumnavigating the Big Island of Hawaii?
  • You can combine biking and waterfalls on the island of Oahu in Hawaii
  • You can bike through Death Valley or Yosemite in California
  • You can bike through the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina

 Zip lining

Again, My Vacation Lady sends lots of clients on zip line tour in the Hawaiian Islands and our favorite island to go zip lining is the island of Kauai.  If you want to stay in the continental US, you can try zip lining in Colorado, New Hampshire, Idaho and even at the Utah Olympic Park.  There is a 2000 foot zip in Georgia– who would have thought!!

So whether you are looking for some action and adventure on your next vacation, or just want a bit of thrills and chills, there are plenty of places to do it.

Read what USA Today considers to be their 10 Best Adventure Trips in the USA

My Vacation Lady take the personal approach to vacation and honeymoon planning.  We’ll take the time to get to know you and to envision your dream vacation or honeymoon.   The professional team of travel advisors at My Vacation Lady is ready to help you plan your vacation !