When folks think about paddling trips in the National Park System, quite often floating the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park floats to the top of the mind. But there are other paddling treks out there, trips that are just as beautiful and inspiring and which just might offer a tad more solitude.

Ironically, two stories about paddling trips in the National Park System surfaced today. One, which ran in the Denver Post, looks at both the past and the present in terms of paddling the Yampa River through Dinosaur National Monument. It's a wonderful story, if for no other reason that many folks probably don't relate Dinosaur with paddling opportunities.

The other, an Associated Press story, takes a close up look at canoeing on the Niobrara National Scenic River, a unit of the National Park System that few have probably ever heard of, let alone considered for paddling.

You can find the Denver Post story here. The AP story exists here.

At the Traveler we're always looking for paddling trips in the national parks, so if you have any suggestions or can point us to any other stories, please let us know.