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Exploring the Parks

Five Incredible National Park Excursions By Boat

Most of us arrive in a national park by car, truck, or perhaps train, and then spend our visit either walking or driving around, stopping at scenic overlooks, exploring history, or searching for wildlife. One mode of transportation not to be overlooked, though, is watercraft. Here are five incredible national park excursions by boat that are worthy of your consideration.

Floating Through The Gates Of Lodore In Dinosaur National Monument

Western rivers are the lifeblood of the landscape, threading through canyons and sweeping past the plains. The Green River is one such, born high in the Wind River Range of Wyoming and flowing steadily down to its confluence with the Colorado River in Canyonlands National Park. In Dinosaur National Monument, the Green has cut through the Uinta Mountains, creating the Gates of Lodore.

A Visual Tour Of Lassen Volcanic National Park

North of Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, and a host of other national park units in California, you might say Lassen Volcanic National Park gets no respect. You might also say it's a jewel in the rough, one that doesn't draw crowds, instead allowing you to enjoy this incredible landscape in relative solitude. A measure of solitude, of course, when compared to the Yosemite Valley, the Giant Forest, even sections of Death Valley come the cooler winter months.

Exploring The Parks: General Washington's Headquarters At Morristown

In central New Jersey, just a short distance from New York City, the Continental Army hunkered down in a place called Jockey Hollow for a long, cold, harsh winter of monitoring the British troops across the Hudson River in New York City. Today you can get a feel for this setting -- though it's heavily urbanized these days -- with a visit to Morristown National Historical Park where General George Washington and 10,000-12,000 troops spent what's believed to be the coldest winter on record.

Exploring The Parks: Oregon National Historic Trail In Wyoming

Plant yourself -- leaning into the wind, of course -- on the open prairie near South Pass City, Wyoming, and you can quickly envision the setting that faced Conestoga-riding emigrants more than a century ago in their exodus to the West Coast. Endless miles of sagebrush, the Wind River Range looming ever-present to the north, a boundless sky dotted here and there with distant rainstorms.

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