When to go

Warm water and mild winters make the Southeast a long-season paddling region. Flatwater and coastal SUP run nearly year-round, while the southern Appalachians add spring-and-early-summer whitewater on rain and released rivers. Summer works but runs hot, humid, and prone to afternoon thunderstorms.

The mountain West runs on snowmelt, so rivers are low and cold through winter, build through spring, and peak on runoff from late May into July. Flows drop away through late summer. It’s a short, powerful season on very cold water, so dress for immersion regardless of the air temperature.

A split personality: wet winters feed year-round river flow, while the drier, calmer summer opens up coastal sea kayaking from California to Alaska. Rivers run cold and pushy in the rainy months; summer is the season for touring the coast, the sounds, and the islands.

The Northeast is a true four-season swing: spring snowmelt and rain drive the whitewater, and summer opens the lakes, ponds, and coast for flatwater. Fall adds foliage paddling on cooling water, and winter shuts most of it down with ice. The shoulder seasons are the region’s signature.

Water in the desert is largely made by dams, so the Colorado River corridor and its reservoirs paddle best in the mild shoulder seasons of spring and fall. Midsummer is brutally hot and midwinter is chilly but often still runnable on release-controlled water. The calendar here follows heat and release schedules, not snowmelt.

This is canoe country: a summer flatwater paradise of lakes, connected waterways, and classic wilderness canoe routes across the Upper Midwest. The season is short and firmly warm-weather, bookended by ice. When the water is open, it’s some of the best flatwater and canoe-camping paddling anywhere.