Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park
Water and woods rule in this 218,000-acre preserve, which stretches for 55 miles along the Minnesota/Canada border just east of International Falls, Minnesota.
You can join park interpretive tours in giant canoes that make you feel like the 18th-century French-Canadian fur traders for whom the park is named. The tours are perfect introductions to this haven for boating, hiking, fishing and wildlife watching.
Water encompasses a third of the park. You can reach the three visitors centers by car, but you'll need a boat to explore the more than 800 islands and much of the Kabetogama Peninsula at the center of the park, where there are no roads. Vacationers can rent motorboats, canoes and houseboats at four resort towns near the park before crossing giant Kabetogama or Rainy lakes. These two largest of the park's 30-plus lakes nearly surround the untamed 25-mile-long peninsula.
The new Kabetogama-Ash River Backcountry Hiking and Ski Trail connects the gateway communities of Kabetogama and Ash River. The nearly 10-mile-long trail, which you can reach by car, winds through pine and oak forests, cedar swamps and beaver ponds.
Some visitors hop aboard excursion boats for wildlife watching, as bald eagles soar overhead. Another boat drops you off at the park's 1913 Kettle Falls Hotel, a white clapboard inn 20 miles from the nearest road.
Other lodging options include camping at more than 100 boat-in sites. Or choose one of several small lakeside resorts and lodges. Three that Midwest Living Senior Travel Editor Linda Ryberg recommends include: Nelson's Resort near the town of Orr along Crane Lake, Sandy Point Lodge in the community of Lake Kabetogama and Thunderbird Lodge east of International Falls along Rainy Lake.
Nelson's Resort >>
Crane Lake >>
Sandy Point Lodge >>
Thunderbird Lodge >>
Voyageurs National Park is open year-round. For more information about boat rentals and area services: Crane Lake Visitor & Tourism Bureau (800/362-7405), International Falls Area Chamber of Commerce (800/325-5766) and Kabetogama Lake Tourism Bureau (800/524-9085).
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