A story in last week’s Boston Globe talked about how the Slow Food movement is creeping into other areas of our life, including travel. How travelers want to delve deep into one locale on vacation, instead of killing themselves trying to see everything in the country. Well, active travelers have been doing this for decades, slowing down to backpack in one national park, to bike in one region of Italy, to paddle one river. This works well on multi-day camping trips where you’re far removed from your laptop and cell phone. Here are some of my favorite places to savor Slow Travel:

Paddling the Saranac Lakes Region, Adirondack State Park, New York
The countless rivers, lakes, and ponds in the Adirondacks are connected by short trails, resulting in a seemingly endless combination of canoeing options. One of the finest is a 4-day figure eight loop in the St. Regis Canoe Area that includes eight ponds and the Upper and Middle Saranac Lakes. Creeks, inundated with beaver dams and lily pads, connect the placid waters of the ponds. Mountains hovering over 2500 feet surround the lakes. St. Regis Canoe Outfitters will help plan an itinerary and provide all the necessary amenities for a canoe trip including canoe, paddles, maps, tents, backpacks, and sleeping bags. 

Backpacking The Long Range Traverse, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland
Nestled within Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, are the Long Range Mountains, one of the last remnants of pristine wilderness within a three-hour flight of New York, Boston, and Chicago. The Long Range Traverse is a 22 mile semi-circular route where topographical maps and a compass are a necessity to find your way among the web of caribou paths. Thus the need for a reputable local guide like Bob Hicks, owner of Gros Morne Adventures. On their 4-day trek, he’ll take you into stunning landlocked fjords and up snowcapped peaks where the caribou and moose far outnumber other backpackers. 

Whitewater Rafting the Firth River, Alaska and the Yukon
Every year, 35 to 50 lucky souls get to cruise down the Firth River and witness the spectacular migration of some 150,000 caribou. Add grizzlies, wolves, and arctic foxes and you start to grasp the magnitude of this incredibly vast and isolated wilderness. The Firth flows northeast from Alaska through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into Canada’s Northern Yukon National Park. After flying to the put-in by seaplane (there are no roads here, not even trails), you’ll start your descent down this lively Class III-IV river. On the shores, a boreal forest rises to 5,000-foot peaks known as the British Mountains. There’s no need to pack a flashlight for this trip.  The Firth lies above the Arctic Circle, where the sun refuses to set in the summer months. Rivers, Oceans & Mountains (ROAM) offers a 12-day trip down the Firth.