Take a break from your property away from dwelling RVing and go to Voyageurs National Park. Voyageurs is Minnesota’s solely nationwide park and is exclusive as a result of it presents a very water-based expertise for these keen to make the leap.
With over 218,000 acres which might be accessible year-round, Voyageurs National Park is an oasis of forests, waterways, and wild, undeveloped areas. Sharing its northern border with Canada, you’ll take pleasure in among the best-unspoiled nature obtainable in Minnesota.
Why Visit Voyageurs National Park in an RV?
Take a break from the highway and commerce in your tires for oars. Experience over 84,000 acres of waterways, 655 miles of undeveloped shoreline, and greater than 500 islands. Open year-round, with no entrance charge, you’ll be able to discover the pristine nature anytime.
Boating, mountaineering, snowshoeing, stargazing, paddling, and extra are all nice methods to expertise the park. The solitude and fantastic thing about the park maintain guests coming again 12 months after 12 months.
Roughly a 4.5-hour drive north of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Voyageurs National Park is situated within the northernmost a part of Minnesota, sharing a border with Canada.
While you’ll be able to’t keep in your RV inside the park boundaries, you’ll be able to park at any customer middle, discover boat leases to entry the assorted tenting websites, or commerce in your tent for a houseboat. RV tenting is out there in close by communities for these wishing to discover the park throughout the day.
When to Visit Voyageurs National Park
Voyageurs National Park is open year-round for enjoyment irrespective of the season. Check the National Park Service’s web site earlier than visiting to find highway or entry closures.
Voyageurs National Park within the Spring
Spring is an unpredictable season in Voyageurs. Weather adjustments shortly and may snow properly into late April and early May. The common ice-out is May third. Check native climate and updates on the NPS web site earlier than planning your journey.
If visiting the park to fish – opening weekend in May is touted as among the greatest walleye fishing on the earth. Late spring brings life to the park with the primary indicators of offspring. Ducklings, fawns, and the occasional moose calf might be seen dotting the panorama.
Voyageurs National Park within the Summer
This is the busiest season for Voyageurs. Planning your journey prematurely is essential to making sure you keep the place you need, as campsites will refill shortly. The mosquitos, flies, and gnats are in full pressure this time of 12 months – pack mosquito nets and bug spray.
Your first support package must also comprise antihistamine and anti-itch cream. June, July, and August boast delicate climate and highs within the ’70s. This is the very best time for swimming at Voyageurs. Although not too heat, pack loads of sunscreen because the water displays the solar.
Voyageurs National Park within the Fall
One of the best occasions to go to is early fall. The climate is nice, the bugs are gone, and the magical sundown hour is breathtaking. Fall colours solid good reflections on the water.
Packing further garments is necessary within the fall as you by no means know what the wind will carry. September and early October will maintain the evening lows above freezing.
Voyageurs National Park within the Winter
As an ice-fishing, cross-country snowboarding, and snowmobiling paradise, the lake is an ideal vacation spot for people who take pleasure in enjoying with outdated man winter. Be aware of ice circumstances and climate reviews, as temperatures can dip beneath 0℉.
Where to Stay
A spotlight of visiting Voyageurs is tent tenting on a non-public island. The nightly name of mainland wolves, waves caressing the seaside, and loons chatting within the distance. Some islands even have docks so you’ll be able to motor to them. Others are accessible by canoe or kayak solely.
All campsites inside the park are solely accessible by watercraft, excluding two hike-in websites close to the Ash River Trail.
Voyageurs has 270 reservable websites, together with campsites, houseboat websites, and day-use locations. Many of the websites obtainable inside Voyageurs are on islands. There are 4 accessible campsites (N41, R26, R74 & K54) with accessible boat docks and tent pads.
Frontcountry campsites embrace tent pads, bear-resistant meals lockers, a metallic picnic desk, a hearth ring with a cooking grate, and entry to an outside vault rest room. Amenity availability could rely in your selection of small, massive, or group websites.
Backcountry campsites have a hearth ring and pit rest room. It is really useful to carry bear-proof containers or rope to hold meals. Visit the NPS web site and click on on a web site to view its location, distance from customer facilities, boat entry sort, and the dimensions and max individual limits of every web site.
Another nice alternative to expertise the park is to hire a houseboat. There are many corporations obtainable to hire from. If renting a houseboat, you’ll want to reserve a houseboat web site on Recreation.gov for every evening of your keep.
If you want a break out of your sleeping bag, you’ll be able to e book a keep on the Kettle Falls Hotel. The solely lodge and restaurant obtainable within the park are situated 15 miles from the closest highway and solely accessible by boat. Kettle Falls Hotel is open May-September.
Staying Outside the Park
Although there are not any RV websites inside Voyageurs, there are alternatives within the park’s gateway communities. Staying close by, you’ll be able to have the facilities you want whereas accessing the park for day excursions and actions.
- Pines of Kabetogama Resort: Located in Kabetogama, about 5 minutes from the Lake Kabetogama customer middle. Open May by means of October.
- Rainy Lake RV: Located in International Falls, about 10 minutes from the Rainy Lake customer middle. Open May 1st – October 1st.
- Ash Riviera Resort: Located in Orr, about 10 minutes from the Ash River customer middle. Open late April by means of late October.
- Woodenfrog State Forest Campground: Located in Kabetogama, about 11 minutes from the Lake Kabetogama customer middle. Open early May by means of November.
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Tips to your Camping Stay
Use these tricks to plan your keep close by or tenting at Voyageurs National Park:
- Reservations might be made at Recreation.gov and open November fifteenth for the next High-Use Season (May 15 – October 15) and April fifteenth for Low-Use Season (October 16 – May 14.)
- Look on the footage and orientation of the positioning. If you’re hoping to see the Northern Lights, discovering a web site with a north-facing seaside is good. If you desire a view of open water, select a web site that isn’t nestled within the bushes.
- Ensure the seaside of your web site can accommodate the watercraft you’ll be utilizing.
- Check hearth restrictions earlier than your go to. All wooden should be bought from retailers authorized by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
- Tent campers can park automobiles at any customer middle for as much as 14 days throughout their reservation.
- Check-in in any respect websites is 3 pm, and checkout is 12 pm. Sites might be briefly used for swimming or picnicking between 12-3.
How to Get Around Voyageurs National Park
Voyageurs National Park is a water-based park accessible by watercraft or, within the winter, snowmobile. Plan forward by bringing your watercraft or securing a rental from a close-by clothes shop.
There are three customer facilities in Voyageurs National Park and extra entry websites at Crane Lake and Orr/Pelican Lake. The customer middle parking tons have ample RV and boat trailer parking obtainable.
From June by means of September, guided boat excursions and ranger-led applications can be found. These depart from the Kabetogama and Rainy Lake Visitor Centers. More data might be discovered on the Events Calendar.
Places to Go
Add these locations to your itinerary when visiting Voyageurs National Park:
Visitor Centers
Voyageurs has three customer facilities. At every location, interactive reveals, a theater for viewing the park movie, a youngsters’s exercise desk, and a staffed data desk present particulars of park actions, boat excursions, and ranger-led applications.
- Rainy Lake Visitor Center sits on the shore of Black Bay in Rainy Lake and is open year-round.
- Kabetogama Visitor Center is on the southwest shoreline of Kabetogama Lake and is open from late May to late September.
- Ash River Visitor Center is contained in the historic Meadwood Lodge and is open from late May to late September.
Ellsworth Rock Gardens
Ellsworth Rock Garden is a panoramic attraction created by Jack Ellsworth within the mid-1900s. The gardens contained 62 terraced flower beds full of over 13,000 lilies. It options artwork sculptures made totally of stone, together with multi-tiered tables and carved figures.
Ellsworth handed in 1975, and the placement grew to become a part of the park. The gardens have been partially reclaimed by nature till the early 2000s when a gaggle of volunteers began to scrub up the grounds and reassemble sculptures. A way of what was once has returned, but to grasp the glory of the historic Ellsworth Rock Garden really, one should use somewhat creativeness.
Grassy Bay Cliffs
Grassy Bay Cliffs are situated in Sand Point Lake within the Southeast a part of the park. Rising 125 above the lake, these cliffs of sheer granite are an unimaginable testomony to the fantastic thing about nature. The greatest time to go to is within the fall when the bushes are blazoned with colours.
Gold Portage
If wildlife is what you search, look no additional than Gold Portage. Located in Black Bay on Rainy Lake, this Wildlife Management space boasts bald eagles, black bears, moose, foxes, and sometimes wolves. 24 acres of northern boreal forest and 776 acres of wetland enable the right place to look at completely different species.
Things To Do in Voyageurs National Park
Whether you prefer to cruise alongside having fun with the sights, solid a line for the possibility at a superb battle, or paddle round geological formations, Voyageurs has one thing for everybody trying to take pleasure in nature.
Paddle Sports
Canoe and kayak your method round among the greatest waters in Minnesota. You can carry your individual private watercraft or hire one – obtainable at many space companies close to the park.
Check out Camping World’s number of paddle sports activities gear.
Fishing
World-class fishing is out there year-round at Voyageurs. Over 50 species of fish name these waters dwelling, from walleye, perch, northern pike, and bass to crappies. Grab your Minnesota fishing license earlier than embarking in your journey.
Hiking
Locator Lake Trail is likely one of the greatest mountaineering trails in Voyageurs. It is 1.9 miles a technique and can take 2-4 hours to traverse the forests and wetlands from the north shore of Kabetogama Lake to Locator Lake. There are vault bogs at each trailheads. If you discover Locator Lake, rental canoes can be found, and a number of other reservation-only campsites to select from.
Stargazing
If fortunate, you should have an opportunity to witness the Northern Lights. Starting as a faint glow on the horizon, they are going to start to bop whereas filling the sky above. Even if the Aurora doesn’t present, you may be handled to an limitless provide of stars as Voyageurs is licensed as an International Dark Sky Park.
What to Bring and How to Prepare
You gained’t discover many facilities when you launch a watercraft to discover the park’s inside lakes. Visitor facilities have vault bogs, potable water, and rubbish/recycling receptacles.
Cellphone service is spotty the additional into the park you go. Prepare by letting family and friends know when and the place you’ll go and whenever you plan to return.
- Map: Always carry a printed map. If you could have a handheld GPS unit, downloading maps might be helpful too.
- Permit: Make your reservations properly prematurely and print your allow. Slipping your allow right into a plastic baggie will assist to stop it from getting moist whereas boating. If you arrive and notice you forgot your allow, the customer middle can print it throughout open hours.
- Firewood: Firewood should be bought from a DNR-approved retailer. Most gasoline stations across the park promote bundles.
- Dry Bags: Dry luggage are important to maintain cell telephones, wallets, and keys dry. Since this can be a water-based nationwide park, you may be flirting with catastrophe if you happen to don’t carry them.
- Personal Watercraft: Don’t overlook your kayak, canoeing gear, or perhaps a stand-up paddleboard if you realize the winds might be delicate.
- PFD (Personal Flotation Device): One PFD for every particular person driving in a watercraft.
- First Aid Kit: Remote actions might trigger a giant difficulty if unprepared for an emergency. Packing a first support package can assist you keep prepared ought to a necessity come up.
- Rain Gear: Rain gear is required throughout the Spring-Fall months because of climate adjustments and unpredicted showers.
- Insect Repellent. Visiting later in the summertime can assist you keep away from some bugs right here, however insect repellent is a should on this nationwide park.
Remember, pack it in, pack it out. Everything you herald with you need to depart with you.
Brief History of Voyageurs National Park
Voyageurs grew to become a nationwide park in 1975. Voyageur is the French phrase for ‘traveler’ and was given to the park as these waterways have been an necessary section of the fur commerce over 250 years in the past. Although the park now receives over 200,000 guests annually, there’s sufficient house and backcountry land to make sure a tranquil go to.
Containing among the oldest rocks on the North American continent, Voyageurs was sculpted some 2.5 billion years in the past. Glacial exercise continued to scour the earth creating the patterns of lakes and grooves in some rock formations.
Voyageurs National Park presents free entrance permitting all to expertise the bounty of the Minnesota Northwoods. Experience full serenity at Voyageurs at the moment.
Plan your subsequent journey to the nationwide parks in an RV. Rent an RV, commerce in your RV, or purchase a brand new or used RV and begin touring for lower than $5 a day.
Have you visited Voyageurs National Park? Share your expertise or ideas within the feedback beneath!
Amanda Zerebko is an avid outside fanatic residing in Northern Minnesota. Enjoying all the things Mother Nature has to supply; mountaineering, tenting, searching, fishing, foraging, and extra. Finding the hidden gems of nature, meals, and drink in all the locations she likes to journey to. When not touring, she enjoys engaged on her household’s passion farm.