Voyageurs National Park

After leaving Isle Royale we went back to Duluth for a few days before heading on to Voyageurs National Park. Voyageurs is located in the northern part of Minnesota, near International Falls. It is actually on the border of Canada.

Voyageurs has several different entrances and we stayed by the Lake Kabetogama entrance on the southern part of the park. The RV park is a very new one and is right on the lake. We got a little concerned as we pulled up to the entrance of the park as it looked like the road we needed to turn on was closed and if we kept going straight it dead ended at the lake. We stopped and I got out to walk down the road to see what was going on. A bridge was being built over a stream feeding into the lake. They had a temporary crossover beside the bridge being built but you had to weave around a giant crane and other construction equipment to get across. We decided to disconnect the car as it was some tight turns so had to just stop in the road to get the car loose. Fortunately no traffic behind us but two different vehicles did come from the park and had to get between us and the crane. We finally got loose and got across and into the RV park.

As Bruce is driving up to the office a woman comes out and stops him before he could turn towards the office. Apparently there is usually a sign saying for big rigs to stop lower down and not come to the office, it had been blown over by the wind. No problem for Bruce since the car was not connected, he just backed down and turned and had the coach aimed back out with no problem. The parking area by the office turns out to not be that big of an area for a big coach and there was no way to get out without turning around or backing back down a steep area.

We got all set up, one of their workers even came to help with the setup, helping to put pads under the tires to help get us level as the site slanted a little. He said they had some big rigs in one other area of the park and he had to build ramps for them to help them get level as those spots were new and they were having issues with getting them level.

We only stayed here for three nights as there was not much we had planned to do at Voyageurs. It is primarily a water based park with very little of it accessible without a boat. We did go to two of the other visitors centers while we were here and took 2 1/2 hour boat trip out of one of the visitors centers. There are a few short hiking trails you can get too from land but all camp sites are accessed from the water. There are lots of places in the area where you can rent house boats and they have parking spots for the house boats through the park.

Boat for tour

On the boat tour we had a ranger give us the history of the park, it was established in 1975 so a fairly new park. We stopped on one island to tour where there used to be a gold mine and then we traveled around looking for wildlife and being shown other mine sites.

Equipment by gold mine

Another gold mine at water level

We did see several eagles, including some young that have not yet gotten their white feathers. Saw a a few eagle nest. The eagles mate for life and come back to the same area to nest each year. They use the same nest and keep adding to the size of it and they can weigh up to one ton after several years of use. The ranger said they have about 40 breeding pairs in the park. We also spotted beaver lodges, ducks and loons.