Water trails (also known as blueways) are marked routes on navigable waterway such as rivers, lakes, canals, and coastlines for recreational use. They allow access to waterways for non-motorized boats and sometimes motorized vessels, inner tubes, and other craft. Water trails not only require suitable access points and take-outs for exit but also provide places ashore to camp and picnic or other facilities for boaters.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Canoe_8179.jpg/220px-Canoe_8179.jpg)
Water trails may be in public or private waters. In the United States, many water trails are assisted by the National Park Service.[1] Local statutes may apply to landowners who steward water trails and the boaters who use them.[2]
Much of the Trans Canada Trail will be a network of water trails open to canoes and other small vessels.[3]
Recreational use of water trails is a form of ecotourism sometimes called "paddle tourism".[4]
Notable water trails and blueways include:
- Allagash Wilderness Waterway
- Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail
- Lake Michigan National Water Trail from Chicago to New Buffalo, Michigan[5]
- Maine Island Trail
- Northern Forest Canoe Trail
- Ohio River Water Trail
- Red Rock Water Trail
- San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail
- Shiawassee River Heritage Water Trail
- Tennessee River Blueway
- Tip of The Thumb Heritage Water Trail
References
edit- ^ "National Water Trails System - National Trails System (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ^ Public Access Guide for Landowners, Water Trails & River Managers. National Park Service.
- ^ Canada Is Building a Trail That Measures Almost 15,000 Miles. Smithsonian 23 September 2016.
- ^ Water Trails. Georgia River Network.
- ^ "Lake Michigan National Water Trail - NRT Database".