Boat Trip

2019-09-07
Voyageurs National Park, MN

The trains overnight came a bit too often for my taste. I was pretty tired, so it wouldn't have been a problem except that many of them blew their horn more or less as they went past. It's not a great location for a hotel, but tonight I'm once again very tired so I didn't pack up and leave. I picked this town because it's an hour further south than any other place I found, which means a shorter drive tomorrow.

Today was my trip to Voyageurs National Park, which is on the very northern border of Minnesota, just west of Lake Superior. I had reserved a boat tour through the National Park Service but that wasn't until 2:00 PM so I had some time to kill. There aren't many hiking trails in the park that can be reached without a boat, but there are some at the Ash River area. Most of them were just walks in the woods, but there was a nice beaver pond overlook where I sat for quite a while hoping to see wildlife. There were ducks and geese that were too far away to photograph, numerous squirrels, and a pileated woodpecker flew past quite close but I wasn't swift enough to catch it. I did get one bird that is perhaps a black-backed woodpecker.

I then headed over to Rainy Lake Visitor Center where the boat tour starts. I had a little time to kill so I walked up their nature trail for a mile and a half, then boarded the boat with a couple dozen new friends. The tour was 2.5 hours where we got to see a bit of the park. Boat is definitely the best way to see it since it's mostly islands and lakes.

The guide talked about the attempt to mine gold around here, and there were many mines in this stretch of Minnesota, with exactly one being (barely) profitable. Luckily I wasn't required to find any gold to pay for the boat ride. The scenery was beautiful, and we did get to see several bald eagles as well.

Hiking Distance: 3 miles