Paddling near Chesapeake, VA

An independent city in southeastern Virginia, Chesapeake centers a flatwater paddling region built around the Great Dismal Swamp NWR, the Northwest River, the North Landing River, the Elizabeth River, and the Dismal Swamp Canal. The marquee water is Lake Drummond, a 3,100-acre blackwater lake — one of only two natural lakes in Virginia — sitting inside the 112,000-acre refuge.