Top 16 Outdoor Adventure Destinations in the U.S. for Extreme Sports
Need an adventure vacation but don't know where to go? Start here, with our list of America's best hotspots to get your adrenaline fix — from bouldering to backpacking, and kitesurfing to parkour, we've got you covered.
Kayaking, Whitewater Rafting & Scuba Diving
1) Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona
A classic jaw-dropping destination for whitewater rafting.
2) Tuolumne River, California
Thrill seekers flock to these Class IV rapids.
3) Glacier Bay, Alaska
Kayak alongside orcas and humpback whales.
Windsurfing, Kitesurfing & Standup Paddleboarding (SUP)
4) Sunset Beach, Hawaii
The North Shore of Oahu is a fabled locale for both SUPing and surfing.
5) Hood River, Oregon
Known to some as the Windsurfing Capital of the World, the Columbia River Gorge is a haven for wind sports.
6) Cape Hatteras, Outer Banks, North Carolina
Beginner and expert windsurfers alike find the best conditions on the East Coast here near Cape Hatteras.
Parkour, Skateboarding & BMX
7) Coleman Oval Skatepark, New York City
The Lower East Side skatepark recently underwent a face-lift, creating a better “flow” for novice and expert skaters, complete with wall rides, double bumps, and old-school pyramids.
8) Houghton Skatepark, Long Beach, California
This 25,000-square-foot park has taken over as the go-to skate park in the LBC for skaters and BMXers. The street and bowl sections are well separated so—hopefully— you can ride without crashing into someone during a session.
Rock Climbing, Bouldering & Paragliding
9) Red River Gorge, Kentucky
Test yourself on hundreds of miles of beautiful red sandstone cliffs, all packed into a small area.
10) Yosemite, California
Widely regarded as the best single rock climbing area in the world, the slick, glacier-polished granite of Half Dome, the Nose, and other big walls (upward of 3,000 feet) draws climbers from around the world, but also has plenty of practice climbs, too.
11) Hueco Tanks, Texas
The best place for bouldering. It’s a great wintertime climbing area, too, since daytime temps only dip into the 50s.
12) Telluride, Colorado
This ultrahigh-altitude launch (12,250 feet) won’t disappoint avid paragliders who want to soar across a stunning box canyon down to 8,750 feet.
Cycling and Mountain Biking
13) Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride/ Armstrong Pass, South Lake Tahoe, California
A super-technical 18.8-mile mountain bike (MTB) loop with good climbing followed by nine miles of downhill snaking and drops between boulders and nice banks.
14) TransAmerica Trail
The mother of all cycling routes winds 4,233 miles from the Atlantic Coast of Virginia to the Pacific Coast of Oregon.
15) Great Divide MTB Route
This epic MTB trail crisscrosses the Continental Divide 50-plus times, gains more than 200,000 feet in elevation, and stretches 2,493 miles from Montana to Wyoming to Colorado to New Mexico.
Backpacking
16) Appalachian Trail
These 2,180 miles of woodland slopes, ridges, valleys, and farmland spanning from Maine to Georgia make up America’s most storied modern hiking route.
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