Voyageurs National Park is located just south of Canada in northern Minnesota. This expansive park is named after the French-Canadian canoe voyageur traders that transported goods across these lakes to the Northern Plains natives in exchange for beaver pelts. They were the equivalent of the northern truck drivers of 200 years ago.
The National Park Service has three visitor centers, and operates a couple of boat rides. We took the two-and-a-half hour ride around Rainy Lake as well as the small island where gold was found.
We drove our truck to the main visitor center, then rode bicycles around the bike paths before embarking on the boat to learn about the explorers, this area’s gold rush, the lakes, and animals. The next day we also enjoyed kayaking on the lake to explore this wonderful park from the water’s perspective.
We stayed at Lake Kebetagoma (Keb-toe’-ga-ma) for four nights and met some very nice people on our journey. We enjoyed conversations with Linda and Ed (New Hampshire), Bruce and Rena (Maine), and Diane and Tom (Colorado), sharing stories of being on the road and the glories of the National Parks that we have each visited. On Friday, we take off again to go to our second National Park of this journey, an island in Lake Superior.