I spent my youth canoeing in Upstate New York, I’m no beginner. Since moving to San Diego decades ago I traded my canoe in for a kayak, however now we want to take the dogs and go canoeing and camping somewhere with wildlife, trees (forested), and water would be nice too. Seriously, the reservoirs around here are denuded and dull, as wildlife biologists and nature lovers we long for some more scenic places to paddle around with our canine kids. We do not enjoy crowds and we have had our fill of the desert. Any suggestions would be great, we are interested in locations 2 to 10 hours away. Thanks in advance.
Move to the Southeast. A bit further than 10 hours.
There are some reservoirs around Bear Valley (near Arnold, not Big Bear the closer ski resort to you) that could work.
Further than 10 hours, but Oregon was beautiful. I was on the Columbia which may be slightly large to canoe camp on depending on the weather, but the smaller feeder rivers looked quaint. I’m from MN but currently in the greater LA area and have not found anything within a few hours that resembles a nice northern river. I miss trees and clear, slow moving water for my canoes. MY surfski gets most of the paddling now days.
Interested to hear if there is anything around us though.