I could not agree more pika
Many of us can afford to kayak because we have a small disposable income, or we live near some great places, or a combination. But there is an entire class of people who don’t have the luxury. Why not get them into the water where they live?
Part of it is undiong the mess we created when we built towns and cities that turn their backs on the water, or treat it as an industrial element (which in many cases, it was).
PA’s W. Branch Susquehanna Water Trail
I can highly recommend the fantastic West Branch Susquehanna Water Trail map published by the Pennsylvania Lumber Heritage. A packet with separate waterproof multicolored maps for each section with comprehensive information on put-ins, hazards and highlights.
http://www.lumberheritage.org/watertrailmap1.htm
Mississippi - Great River Water Trail
– Last Updated: Feb-19-12 8:00 PM EST –
Currently starts at Saverton just below Hannibal, MO and goes to Cairo, IL. We've been working with the Army Corps of Engineers for a few years on the trail. We hope it will extend the length of the Mississippi and paddlers can use it like Hikers use the Appalachian Trail.
http://greatriverwatertrail.org/
You can paddle just the islands of the upper pools for days, a high speed trip down the main channel is possible but you'd miss a lot of wildlife.
Paddlers Point just below Louisiana, MO is my favorite site. And it's well worth paddling back upstream from there to have breakfast at the donut shop two blocks up from the landing in Louisiana, MO.
SYOTR
Randy