Voyageurs National Park

Driving through Saskatchewan is much like driving through eastern Montana and North Dakota, except there are no towns and they are growing yellow flowers instead of wheat and corn. It was a slog of a drive with one stop for the worst taco salad that Lisa has ever had. I had a passable ham sandwich. Just after crossing into Manitoba, we ducked south into North Dakota and continued east. 

At the end of the day, we arrived just inside the Minnesota border and found a great campsite at Bronson Lake State Park. We managed to have our tent set-up and dinner made in ten minutes which means that we are really on our game at this point in the trip!

The next morning, we drove to the boat launch to see Bronson Lake. It was a fairly uninspiring reservoir so we decided to keep driving east. The landscape through Minnesota was much improved over the previous day since there was a landscape. We saw plenty of deer along the roadside and drove gingerly.

At noon, we had arrived at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center at Voyageurs National Park. Since the park encompasses many lakes and islands, we signed up for the grand tour. The cruise reminded us of the voyage that we took on the St. Lawerence a couple of years back. This landscape was much less developed and not used commercially since the fur trade isn’t what it used to be. We saw many gold mines and plenty of wildlife including deer, bald eaglets, a nesting loon and a squirrel. This is certainly a park worth coming back to with boats.

After disembarking the S.S. Minnow, we grabbed some dinner in International Falls and found a campsite at Hoodoo Point Campground (a private venture) on Vermillion Lake. Other than some drunk fisherman carousing next door, it was an easy night - and they were nothing that ear plugs couldn’t fix.

On our next morning we continued venturing through the forests of northern Minnesota until we finally saw the seemingly everlasting waters of Lake Superior. We followed the shoreline road to the north until arriving at Grand Portage National Monument. It was the main point of trade for the Voyageurs during the fur trading years in Canada. The site featured a recreated trading post with a kitchen and great hall as well as interpreters in period costume. We particularly enjoyed the “Montrealer” canoe which was thirty feet long and made of birchbark.

We decided to continue driving along the northern shore of Lake Superior for the day and we spent the evening at Pukawaska National Park. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were terrible and we spent the last few moments left of the evening reading in the tent.

The mosquitos were still out in the morning so we donned our bug nets and headed to the beach to eat our breakfast. This would be a park to explore later in the season…or perhaps in a less rainy season. We continued our venture east along the northern shore of Lake Superior, impressed at how little development and trace of civilization appears in this part of Ontario. The winters must be horrible up here!

We stopped for breakfast in WaWa - one of the only businesses left in town apparently and continued driving east through Sault St. Marie where we are currently sipping on some root beer floats at the A&W. Eastward ho!