Voyageurs Nat Park hiking guide released

My latest hiking guidebook, “Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park,” hit store shelves today. The fourth in my “Best Sights to See” series, this volume details the 10 must-see spots at the northern Minnesota park as well as lists similar trails in the area. It also includes nearby trails in Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It’s available online in paperback or Kindle ebook.

Learn more about other national park's day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.

Hike past site of Minnesota’s only gold mine

Map of trail Little American Island sites. Courtesy of Voyageurs NPS.

Day hikers can explore the only authentic gold mine discovered in Minnesota.

The Little American Island Trail loops 0.25 miles in at Voyageurs National Park’s Rainy Day area. In summer, a boat is needed to reach the trail on Little American Island, but you can hike, snowmobile or ski there in winter.

If you need to hitch a ride there, the Grand Tour, a ranger-led boat tour, heads to and from the island in a Rainy Lake bay three days a week on summer afternoons. Along the way, you can see active eagle nests and a commercial fishing camp. The tour does charge a fee.

From the dock on the island’s north side, the trail heads about 100 feet inland. At the first junction, go right/west on the trail. This loops over an adit, a passage that leads into a mine, usually built for access or drainage.

Boomtown
In 1893 while prospecting on the island, George Davis discovered the gold in a six-foot wide vein of quartz. He crushed some of it, and an analysis found about 25 cents worth of gold in the sample.

With that news, the island's owner, Charles Moore, sold the land to some Duluth businessmen, and mining began in earnest. To support the operation, Rainy Lake City sprung up on the east side of Black Bay Narrows about a mile southeast of the island. At its height, the mining town boasted a population of a few hundred with 17 saloons (which sold whiskey at 15 cents a glass), a dry goods store, lumberyard, bank, furniture store, bank, hotels, bakery, brick factory, post office and even a school.

At the next trail junction, go right/south. This spur leads to another shaft and a pile of tailings. Most of the mine’s tailings were used to construct nearby International Falls’ main street, causing many to jokingly nickname it the “city whose streets are paved with gold.”

Returning to the main trail, go right/east. You’ll pass a large pulley wheel that was attached to a winch for hauling gold-bearing rock out of the mine. After that is another adit.

During the height of the rush in 1894-95, a 200-foot shaft the trail passes was dug with about $5600 of gold mined.

Waiting for eons
Magma pushed the gold up to the surface about 2.1 billion years ago when a fault line ran through the area. The fault was similar to today's San Andreas Fault, caused by two tectonic plates sliding past one another, as this region was near the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, the beginning of the North American continent we know today.

In the late 1890s, many other mines, both shafts and exploratory pits, across the “Rainy Lake Gold Fields” were dug, but no more gold was found. The boomtown soon went bust and became a ghost town by 1901.

At the next junction, turn right/east. In about 200 feet is an overlook of scenic Rainy Lake. Once you’ve taken in the view, return back to the junction except continue walking straight/west. The trail at the intersection that follow heads back to the dock; turn right/north onto it.

Trail links Voyageurs to International Falls

Rainy Lake Recreation Trail. Photo courtesy of Voyageurs NPS.

Visitors to Voyageurs National Park looking for an easy trail to hike or bike will enjoy the new Rainy Lake Recreation Trail.

Opened in 2015, the fairly flat, paved trail covers 1.7 miles one-way in the park’s Rainy Lake area. If looking for a longer walk or bicycle ride, the trail conveniently connects to the International Falls Bike Trail, which runs for another 12 miles.

Trail map. Map courtesy of Voyageurs NPS.

To reach the trailhead, from International Falls take Minn. Hwy. 11 east. Turn on County Road 96 and follow the signs to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. Park at the center.

Before heading out onto the trail, stop at the center to enjoy its exhibit, children’s activity center, and small theater for enjoying a film about the park. Rainy Lake is the only one of the park's three visitor centers that operates year around. A bike rack, picnic table, and benches are available at the visitor center plaza.

From the visitor center, the trail runs alongside the park road and County Road 96, dipping into the woods and curling around rock outcroppings.
The trail reaches the International Falls Bike Trail at the junction of County Road 96 and Hwy. 11. Running 12 miles, the bike trail offers views of Rainy Lake, heads through woodlands, and passes vibrant marshes and lakefront neighborhoods. A portion of the bike trail is in Koochiching State Forest.

At Jackfish Bay, the Bike Trail becomes a designated on-road shoulder route, which is fine for bicyclists but not so great for hikers or walkers. It turns back to an off-road trail after passing through Ranier.

After passing the Voyageurs National Park Headquarters in International Falls and running alongside Rainy Lake’s southern shore, the trail ends downtown. Parking is available in the Chamber CVB lot (301 2nd Ave.), close to where U.S. Hwy. 53 meets Minn. Hwys. 11/71. The trail is a quarter mile east of the CVB office.

Wheelchair accessible, the connected trails are open to walkers, bicyclists, runners, and snowshoers. Pets are allowed but in the national park must be leashed of no more than 6 feet and attended at all times.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Northern lights brighten trail’s night sky

Northern lights at Voyageurs National Park. Photo by Voyageurs NPS.

Oberholtzer Trail

Hikers can witness vivid displays of the aurora borealis at Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota.

One great day path to see the northern lights, as the aurora borealis is more commonly known, is the Oberholtzer Hiking Trail. The 1.7-miles round trip trail can be enjoyed during the day for its woodlands, lake view, and marsh, but at night its proximity to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center also makes it ideal for seeing these dancing lights.

To reach the trail, from International Falls take Minn. Hwy. 11 east to the park. Turn right/south onto County Road 96, aka Park Road; when Hwy 96 turns south, continue straight/east on Ut-342. Park in the lot for the Rainy Lake Visitor Center Public Boat Access, trying to find a space as close to the entry road as possible.

Walk along the side of the road toward the parking lot's junction with Ut-342; after a low, flat outcrop of rock but before the junction, look for the trailhead on the left/west.

The trail initially crosses an open area, running 0.35 miles to the beginning of its eastern loop. This stretch marks a great spot to stop and view the aurora borealis.

The light show occurs when charged particles from the sun strike the Earth’s magnetosphere, which deflects dangerous radiation and other magnetic waves from space. After being deflected, the striking particles flow around the Earth, as if water striking a stationary rock.

Sometimes the charged particles penetrate the magnetosphere, until smashing into nitrogen or oxygen atoms. Which one the particles hit and at what altitude this collision occurs determines the light show’s color.

Red lights means the particles are hitting oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude. If the particles hit oxygen below that altitude, they will be green. Purple is common when the particles contact nitrogen more than 60 miles above the surface. Blue occurs when hitting nitrogen below that height. Because of this, the northern lights can appear a variety of colors.

The aurora borealis will appear more intense in Voyageurs than at almost any other national park other than those in Alaska. That’s because the northern lights are more prevalent in middle to higher latitudes as approaching the pole. Sometimes at Voyageurs, it fills almost the entire sky.

The best time to see an aurora is during a solar storm on a clear night when there is little or no moonlight. An aurora forecast with maps is available online from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

If hiking the full trail during the day, go left/east onto it. Most of the rest of the way is wooded.

In 0.12 miles, you’ll come to a spur; go left/east into it, which in 0.05 miles leads to a bench overlooking Rainy Lake. All of Voyageurs’ lakes abound with walleye, northern pike and smallmouth bass, and during daylight you’re certain to see fishermen on the waters.

Once taking in the view, head back on the spur; at the loop, continue left/west. In 0.1 miles, you’ll reach the junction with the main trail; go left/west onto it.

After 0.16 miles, the trail crosses County Road 96. Then in 0.06 miles, it reaches the western loop; go left/west on it.

The loop circles to the north and in 0.11 miles comes to a bench. In 0.03 miles from there, you’ll reach the end of loop; continue by retracing your steps back to the first loop.

Rather than going on the east loop again, stay left/northeast; in 0.04 miles, you’ll come to the other junction for loop. Keep left/north back and head back to the parking lot.

Oberholtzer Hiking Trail also is used as a snowshoe trail in winter.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Enjoy Voyageurs National Park scenery without heading deep into backcountry

Tilson Bay Trail map. Courtesy of Minnesota DNR.

Wild strawberry blossom.

Casual visitors to Voyageurs National Park often worry about hiking deep into the backcountry, where getting lost among black bears and gray wolves always is a possibility. One solution that allows you to enjoy the region’s scenery without straying far from civilization is the Tilson Bay Trail, located just outside of the park’s Rainy Lake area.

The 1.6-mile round trip trail consists of a side trail and a loop at one end. It’s near a major highway and surrounded by a housing development but is nestled far enough away from both to give you that back-to-nature feel, especially as part of it is in the Koochiching State Forest.

To reach the trail, from International Falls, take Minn. Hwy. 11 east. Immediately after crossing Tilson Creek, turn left/south into parking lot. Walk to the other side of the highway into the boat launch area for the trailhead.

The trail quickly climbs, crossing rock outcroppings to an overlook of the surrounding forest.

At the first junction, go left/northeast onto a side trail. You’re now officially in the state forest. At 567,985 acres in size, the state forest crosses three counties.

You’re certain to find a variety of trailside wildflowers. In spring, the white blossoms of wild strawberry and blueberry flowers as well as violets are common, and the bright green glow of new aspen leaves are particularly impressive.

The next junction rejoins the main trail. Go left/east onto it. You’ll then cross a few small boardwalks that’ll keep your feet dry in wet areas.

After that, the trail crosses County Road 137 and parallels that road, passing a Little Free library along the way, and re-enters the woods. The trail then splits to form a loop. Which way you go on the loop doesn’t much matter; from either direction, the woods opens up to a view of Tilson Bay on Rainy Lake.

Upon completing the loop, retrace your steps back to the junction for the side trail. Rather than go on the side trail, though, continue left/straight west. You’ll soon pass the first junction for the side trail.

The trail again climbs past the first set of rock outcroppings you went over then descends to the parking lot.

The trees, flowers and rock formations along the trail resemble much of the rest of Voyageurs National Park’s Rainy Lake area. An entry to the national park is just a mile to the east.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Great trails abound in Voyageurs National Pk

Anderson Bay Trail overlook at Voyageurs National Park.

Imagine a place where you can traipse beside massive ice age lakes and across some of the oldest known rocks on the planet, where you can hike through green boreal forests during the day and stare at the northern lights dancing against a velvet black sky at night, where you can watch moose graze in ponds and bald eagles soar overhead while gray wolves howl in the distance. The place is real: It’s called Voyageurs National Park.

As a water-based park, plenty of opportunities for canoeing, motorboating, kayaking, houseboating, sailboating or jumping aboard a tour boat await in Voyageurs. In winter, cross-country, snowshoeing and ice roads – paths plowed atop the frozen lakes – provide a number of adventures. The plentiful number of campgrounds, fishing camps, and other historical resort sites ensure you’ll find a place of solitude and quiet. And you’ll also find several miles of hiking trails, each offering a unique experience.

Here are three must-do trails at Voyageurs National Park:
• Echo Bay Trail
• Blind Bay Ash Trail
• Rainy Lake Recreation Trail

Learn more about the park's day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Trails explore Voyageur NP’s geology

Ancient rocks and Lake Kabetogama behind the Ash River Visitor Center
at Voyageurs National Park.

Eons ago, the area that now makes up Voyageurs National Park sat near the southern edge of Canadian Shield – a gigantic dome of volcanic bedrock that birthed North America. In fact, the park is one of the few places where you can see and touch rocks older than 2.8 billion years, more than half of the planet’s age.

This early rock appears in multiple places. The bedrock on the shore of Sand Point Lake’s Brown Bay is about 2.7 billion years old. Other outcroppings of the ancient stone can be seen elsewhere throughout the park, including the Echo Bay Trail.

During the Archean, mountains were building in what is now the park as another tectonic plate slid under the Canadian Shield. It was similar to the Pacific plate sliding against the North American plate in modern day California, leading to the rising of the Coast Ranges there. The result at Voyageurs was the creation of the bedrock that makes up the current state south to the Minnesota River Valley.

This same process caused volcanic islands to form offshore. The lava basins along the ancient fault lines eventually became greenstone belts that held a variety of metals and minerals, such as gold, silver and copper. An attempt was made to mine gold from this belt during the 1890s; the abandoned mine can be hiked on the Little American Island Trail.

Eventually, erosion wore down the volcanic mountain ranges. What happened afterward until about 190,000 years ago is a mystery, though.

That’s because repeated periods of glaciation during the intervening years scraped off the topsoil and rock layers, exposing the Canadian Shield and ancient mountain building that left behind granite, biotite, schist, migmatite and greenstone. The last ice age about 11,000 years ago also finished gouging out several depressions; as retreating glaciers melted, the water settled in those massive troughs, creating the park's major lakes. Park visitors can walk across some of this rock next to those ice age lakes behind the Ash River Visitor Center.

Learn more about the park's day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Trails explore Voyageurs NP’s geography

Beaver Pond Overlook Trail

Located on Minnesota's northcentral border with Canada, Voyageurs National Park is a fairly flat region with rolling hills.

Measuring 218,054 acres in size, the water-based park boasts more than 500 islands and 655 miles of shoreline. The park's southern and eastern side sits on the mainland, but the bulk of the park is on Kabetogama Peninsula, which can be accessed only by boat. A variety of trails explore the peninsula.

Water makes up the majority of the park. Rainy Lake forms the park's northern boundary. Kabetogama Lake, on the southwestern side of the park, separates the Minnesota mainland from the peninsula. Namakan Lake is on the park's northeast side. Sand Point Lake and smaller Crane Lake below it forms the southwestern boundary.

The U.S.-Canadian border runs through three of the park’s four major lakes, all of which are popular among canoeists, kayakers and fishermen for their unspoiled beauty. A remote area, Voyageurs is surrounded by several preserve areas. Koochiching and Kabetogama state forests are on the west and southern sides and Superior National Forest on the southeast. In Canada, Sandpoint Island Provincial Park sits on the northwest side and Quetico Provincial Park to the northeast.

On land, the boreal forest stretching across Canada has taken root in the foot of topsoil that has settled over Voyageurs’ bedrock since the ice age ended about 10,000 years ago. The forest largely consists of birch and aspen, spruce and pine. Park visitors can walk through a boreal forest on the Blind Ash Bay Trail.

Thanks to climate change, elk and other native boreal forest species have moved north with neotropical birds new arrivals to the area. Whitetail deer and bald eagles are common in the park. Wildlife or signs of them can be seen on the Beaver Pond Overlook Trail.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Trails explore Voyageurs NP’s history

Ethno-botanical Garden Trail

The Ojibwe had been long settled in the area that is now Voyageurs National Park when Euro-Americans arrived there. In fact, the names of many of the park’s lakes – Namakan, Kabetogama and Natasha, among them – come from the Ojibwe language. The Ojibwe mostly lived on the lakes' shores, spearfishing and harvesting wild rice, as well as trading by canoeing across the region. Park visitors can learn about the plants the Ojibwe relied on via the Ethno-botanical Garden Trail.

French-Canadian canoeman, later known as the voyageurs, soon realized the dozens of interconnected lakes made it an ideal route of travel, as they could traverse 3000 miles of waterways between Lake Athabasca in northwest Canada to Montreal.

Many voyagers paddled their 26-foot-long canoes for up to 16 hours a day as they crossed these waterways; the long days were necessary to avoid winter, as a canoe trip from Grand Portage, Minn., to the subarctic Canadian interior could take between four to five months. When they needed to walk between lakes or bypass a particularly rough stretch of water, they'd portage, or hike to the next shoreline, carrying their canoe and usually a 90-pound pack of furs. They whiled away the time in their canoes by singing, which set a rhythm to paddle by; usually their songs were about cavaliers, fair ladies, gallant captains, springtime, rosebuds and nightingales. You can get an idea of what portaging was like on the Gold Portage Trail.

Many of the voyageurs were colorful characters, and not just in their behavior. They often wore a bright blue capote with red cap and sash as well as leggings and deerskin moccasins. Some who became Nor'westers – eight-man crews who rowed canoes that could carry up to 3000-pounds and often stayed the winter – earned the privilege of wearing a plume.

In addition to trade, a search for a water route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans sent a number of explorers in the area. Among them was Pierre Gauliter de Varennes who in 1731 arrived in what is now Grand Portage. Two years later, they established Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake.

Ojibwe often supplied fur posts and canoe brigades with everything from food and birchbark canoes to “soft gold” – pelts of beaver and other animals that were popular in Europe.

In 1787, the international boundary between the United States and Canada (which at time was part of Great Britain) was established here between Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods. Fifty-six miles of that boundary sits in the national park.

Euro-American settlers began to arrive in large numbers during the 1800s. In 1865, gold allegedly was found on Vermilion Lake just south of the park, and then in 1890s gold was discovered in quartz veins on Little American Island. On the island, Rainy Lake City sprung up, boasting a population of more than 200, but the boomtown soon went bust and became a ghost town by 1901. A giant metal winch left by miners still remains among the ruins. Those ruins can be seen today on the Little American Island Trail.

Later, during the early 1900s, loggers came to the area. More than 40 logging camps operated in what is now the park between 1907 and 1922, so there are few big, old growth trees here.

Tourism and recreation began when U.S. Hwy. 53 opened in 1922 and has been the economic mainstay of the region for well over a half-century. One of the popular tourism sights of the mid 20th century that has enjoyed renewed popularity is the Ellsworth Rock Garden Tour. Voyageurs became a national park in 1975 though the idea had been around since 1891.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Hike Voyageurs National Park’s four regions

Rainy Lake Recreation Trail

Voyageurs National Park’s vastness can be divided into four general areas, each of which offers a number of great hiking trails.

Located a few mile east of International Falls, Rainy Lake is the most popular area. From here, park visitors can explore Rainy Lake and its islands, Black Bay, and make their way to he Kabetogama Peninsula. A great trail to hike or bike here is the new Rainy Lake Recreation Trail. Opened in 2015, the fairly flat, paved trail covers 1.7 miles one-way. If looking for a longer walk or bicycle ride, the trail conveniently connects to the International Falls Bike Trail, which runs for an additional 12 miles.

To the southeast is the Kabetogama area, which sits on the south side of Lake Kabetogama. There you can see and even walk atop rock almost half the age of the Earth on the Echo Bay Hiking Trail. The 2.2-mile trail consists of three stacked loops. Part of the route runs alongside Lake Kabetogama.

Further east is the Ash River area, where the Ash River flows into Lake Kabetogama. This is an excellent area to walk alongside the lake and explore the park’s boreal forest. The short 0.4-miles round trip Beaver Pond Overlook Trail crosses a spruce, fir and aspen woods and ends at a vista of a former beaver pond.

Much of the park consists of the fourth region, the Kabetogama Peninsula. No roads lead to the backcountry peninsula, which is only accessible by boat. One easy to reach hike is through the whimsical man-made rock garden on a ranger-led Ellsworth Rock Garden Tour. Though a short hike, it includes the bonus of a boat ride across beautiful Lake Kabetogama.

Each of the areas, other than the peninsula, maintains a visitors center.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

How to get to Voyageurs National Park

Beaver Pond Overlook Trail

The remote national park in northern Minnesota can be reached via U.S. Hwy. 53, which runs north from Duluth and east from International Falls.

From the Twin Cities, take Interstate 35 north and then, once in the Duluth area, Hwy. 53 northwest.

From Thunder Bay, Canada, take Canada Hwy. 11 west to Fort Frances and cross into the United States. In International Falls, the road becomes Hwy. 53 or Second Avenue.

Hwy 53 offers access points to each of the park's visitor centers:
• County Road 129 heads to the Ash River Visitor Center and resort area. An excellent trail there is the 0.4-miles round trip Beaver Pond Overlook Trail, where you can spot iconic Northwoods wildlife...or at least signs of it during the day.
• County Road 122 runs north to the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center. In this area, you can hike atop rock almost half the age of the Earth on the 2.2-mile Echo Bay Hiking Trail.
• Minn. Hwy 11 runs east from International Falls to Rainy Lake Visitor Center. A great day hike there is the Little American Island Trail, which loops 0.25 miles around the only authentic gold mine discovered in Minnesota.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Explore Voyageurs major lakes via a hike

Kabetogama Lake from the Kabetogama Lake Overlook Trail

If you love lakes, Voyageurs National Park is a great destination.

Five massive lakes, all carved out and filled by glaciers during the last ice age, sit in the park – Kabetogama, much larger Rainy Lake to the north and west, Namakan lake to the east, and smaller Sand Point and Crane lakes in the southwest. Rainy, Namakan and Sand Point all help form the U.S.-Canada international border.

Each of these lakes can be seen during a day hike:
• Kabetogama Lake Overlook Trail – Day hikers can explore the shores of massive, 40.2-square-mile Kabetogama Lake. The 0.4-mile round trip trail and a 0.1-mile walk from the visitor center to a dock on the lake allow visitors to get up close and personal with the lake. A parking lot for the trail sits off Mead Wood Road north of County Road 129/Ash River Trail.
• Oberholtzer Hiking Trail – A spur off the trail leads to a bench overlooking Rainy Lake, the largest of Voyageurs’ lakes at 355 square miles. The trail starts near the Rainy Lake Visitor Center.
• Beast Lake Trail – This is a great trail to experience 39.2 square-mile Namakan Lake. It begins at the lake’s Mica Bay and goes inland on Kabetogama Peninsula to much smaller Beast Lake.
• Little Trout Lake Portage – No trail runs alongside 8.1 square-mile Sand Point Lake. A waterway can be canoed from Sand Point Lake’s Grassy Bay to Little Trout Lake with this small portage.
• Casareto Cabin visitor destination – The Kettle Falls Cruise heads to 4.6 square-mile Crane Lake, making a stop at this historic site on its north shore. In addition to walking through the historic site, visitors can dine at a hotel here.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Experience boreal forest at Voyageurs NP

Boreal forest on Beaver Pond Overlook Trail.

Voyageurs National Park is a great destination for exploring boreal forests.

The park marks a transition zone between the hardwood forests common in the United States to the conifer-based boreal forests of Canada. Boreal forests – which account for a quarter of the planet’s remaining forests – largely consist of spruce, fir and aspen trees. Because they exist in a cold climate, the decomposing of pine needles and other dead plants on the forest floor is slowed considerably, allowing for the storage of carbon that if otherwise released would heat up the planet.

A few major park trails cross though this spruce-, fir- and aspen-dominated woods. Those trails include:
• Beaver Pond Overlook Trail – The short hike runs 0.4-miles round trip to a former beaver pond. A parking lot for the trailhead sits off of Mead Wood Road (on the way to the Ash River Visitor Center) north of County Road 129/Ash River Trail.
• Kab-Ash Trail – The 28-miles trail runs between the terminus of County Road 672/Salmi Road and the end of County Road 129/Ash River Trail. It also can access it via a stem trail off of Hwy. 129 east of Hwy. 53.
• Blind Ash Bay Trail – The 2.9-mile round trip trail sits at the southern tip of North America’s vast boreal forest. The best time to visit is June through August when temperatures are warmest.
• Gold Portage Trail – The Kabetogama Peninsula is virtually all boreal forest. The Gold Portage Trail, which runs 0.25-miles one way alongside the rapids-portion of the waterway connecting Black Bay and Kabetogama Lake, is a good way for hikers to experience it via canoeing.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Several trails cross Kabetogama Peninsula

Jorgens Lake campsite off the Cruiser Lake Trail.
Photo courtesy of Voyageurs NPS.

For many visitors to Voyageurs, the national park’s heart is the Kabetogama Peninsula. No roads lead to the peninsula, so the only way to reach it is by boat or plane. Once on it, most visitors’ time is spent canoeing, camping in the backcountry, or hiking primitive trails.

Indeed, many of the trails are portages or near campgrounds. Most are not day hikes.

Among the peninsula’s many trails, listed roughly west to east and secondarily north to south, are:
• Black Bay Beaver Pond Trail – The 1.2-miles round trip trail sits on the westernmost tip of peninsula separating Black Bay from Rainy Lake. It can be snowshoed in winter.
• Black Bay Ski Trails – These five stacked loops, stretching from 1 to 5 miles in length, take you through northern pine country to a scenic and active beaver pond. They continue the Black Bay Beaver Pond Trail; in winter, each can be reached via the Rainy Lake Ice Road.
• Gold Portage Trail – The short trail runs alongside the rapids-portion of the waterway connecting Black Bay and Kabetogama Lake.
• Locator Lake Trail – This 2-mile one-way trail takes you up and down a variety of hills and through forests and wetlands. It connects the northwest side of Kabetogama Lake to Locator Lake.
• Cranberry Creek Portage – Actually an unnamed trail, it’s a portage where Cranberry Creek narrows.
• War Club-Quill Lakes Portage – This route connects its namesake lakes. War Club Lake is west of Quill Lake.
• Quill-Loiten Lakes Portage – The portage runs between Quill and Loiten lakes; Quill is west of Loiten.
• Shoepack Lakes Portage – The trail connects Shoepack and Little Shoepack lakes; the former is northwest of the latter.
• Cruiser Lake Trail – The 9.5-miles one-way trail links several lakes – Jorgens, Quarter Line, Elk, Agnes, with spurs to Brown and Peary – boasts two accesses from southside at Lost Bay and an access on its north side at Anderson Bay on Rainy Lake. Two stacked loops run between and north of Elk and Agnes lakes. This trail crosses the peninsula up rocky cliffs and down into remote wetland areas. If you are hoping to spot some of the park's larger wildlife, this trail improves the odds of spotting a moose or hearing a wolf’s howl.
• Brown Lake Trail – The portage runs from Browns Bay on Rainy Lake to Brown Lake in the peninsula's interior.
• Peary Lake Portage – The short trail links Finger Bay on Rainy Lake to Peary Lake.
• Anderson Bay Overlook Trail – The short 1.75-miles loop is accessible from Anderson Bay on Rainy Lake, just past the Kempton Channel, or the north end of Cruiser Lake Trail. The trail takes you up a rocky cliff to a spectacular view of Rainy Lake. It can be snowshoed in winter.
• Beast Lake Trail – The route runs from Mica Bay on Namakan Lake for 0.25 miles to the south side of Beast Lake and for 2.5 miles to the Cruiser Lake Trail southeast of Brown Lake. This trail heads along a ridgetop; a steep climb at the beginning and at the end awaits the adventurous.
• Ryan Lake Portage – The trail connects Rainy Lake to Ryan Lake on the peninsula’s east side.
• Hoist Bay visitor destination – This 0.25-mile ranger-led tour of old logging camp and of a historic resort site sits on Namakan Lake’s Hoist Bay east of the Ash River area. The Hoist Bay boat tour leaves from Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center for the site. During the boat ride, watch for active eagle nests.
• Kettle Falls Historic District visitor destination – The ranger-led Kettle Falls Cruise makes a two-hour stopover here. Hikers can traipse around the historic site and walk to an overlook of the neighboring dam, as well as dine at a hotel or enjoy a picnic lunch. The site is on the Canadian border in the park’s northeast corner.
• Casareto Cabin visitor destination – The ranger-led Kettle Falls Cruise also spends two hours here, where you can traipse the historic site and dine at a hotel. The site is on the north side of Crane Lake in the park’s southeast corner.
• Little Trout Lake Portage – This short portage connects Grassy Bay on Sand Point Lake to Little Trout Lake.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Great trails surround Voyageurs National Pk.

Tilson Bay Trail

Several million acres of forest and public land surround Voyageurs National Park. All boast a number of great hikes that pass fascinating rock formations, head to little seen waterfalls, and offer inspiring trailside vistas.

Most of these trails can be found in one of three regions: the International Falls area, east of the city as heading to the national park's Rainy Lake Visitor Center; Kabetogama State Forest, which sits south of the park’s Kabetogama and Ash River visitor centers; and Superior National Forest, which includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to the park’s west.

In the International Falls area, a bicycle path runs from the city to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. Along the way, the Tilson Bay Trail and the Tilson Creek Ski Trails in the Koochiching State Forest allow you to clamber over ancient rocks as heading through lush woodlands.

The Kabetogama State Forest offers a variety of trails and forest roads that can be hiked. The best sight to see is the Ash River Waterfalls Trail, which leads to a little-known three-story waterfall.

Superior National Forest offers two particularly scenic trails near Voyageurs. The Vermilion Falls Trail heads to a 25-foot waterfalls while the Vermilion Gorge Trail overlooks a narrowing of the Vermilion River.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Kabetogama trails found near Voyageurs

Pelican Lake in Kabetogama State Forest

If driving north from Duluth, Minn., to Voyageurs National Park, you’ll first have to pass through the expansive Kabetogama State Forest. Covering 967 square miles, fir, spruce, aspen, pine, maple, and birch cover the public lands.

Plenty of great trails and forest roads perfect for hiking ramble through those woodlands. With the state forest’s entire northern boundary adjoining Voyageurs, a number of trails can be found near the national park. Most of these can be explored on a day hike.

They include:
• Arrowhead State Trail segment – The combination snowmobile/hiking trail runs 135 miles from south of International Falls to west of west of Tower. Park in the turnaround at the end of the road heading east off of County Road 122/Gamma Road immediately north of U.S. Hwy. 53. Go east on the trail down a hill to a stream flowing into Kabetogama Lake for a 1.5-mile round trip.
• Ash River Falls Trail segment – Two sets of stacked loops make up the ski/hiking trail. Park at the western trailhead parking lot off of County Road 129 east of Hwy. 53 and hike the first stacked loop for a 1.8-mile trip.
• Pelican Lake Trail segment – The trail runs from Hwy. 53 in Ash Lake to the north shore of Pelican Lake. Park off the highway alongside County Road 519 and walk to the creek flowing into Ash Lake for a 2.5-mile round trip.
• Ash River Falls Waterfall Trail – A three-story waterfall on the Ash River awaits at the end of 0.85-mile (one-way) hike. To reach the trail, as taking the last curve on the Ash River Recreational Trail (a paved highway) before the NoVA Far Detector Building, park in the pullout on the road's left/northwest side. Take the trail on the right and go northeast.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Garden trail explores Ojibwe heritage

Plants along the Ethno-botanical Garden Trail.

Ethno-botanical Garden Trail map, courtesy Voyageurs NPS.

Day hikers can learn how Ojibwe Indians flourished in the Upper Midwest on a new Voyageurs National Park trail.

The looping 0.25-mile Ethno-botanical Garden Trail runs through an Ojibwe encampment and the plants the Indians relied upon before European-Americans settled northern Minnesota. The trail was created just a few years ago, and though short, is packed with a lot of experiences.

To reach the trailhead, from International Falls take Minn. Hwy. 11 east. Turn onto County Road 96 and follow the signs to the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. Park there.

The trail leaves from the center’s south side. Rock cairns mark the way through the garden.

During the early 1990s, equipment dredging the boat basin brought non-native, invasive red canary grass into the area. The grass quickly overran the field between the boat basin and visitor center.

Then, during the early 2010s, volunteers from a variety of organizations worked together to plant a one-acre garden with native vegetation, almost all of which were vital to the Ojibwe Indian culture for food, medicine, ceremonies, and raw materials. To accomplish this, native seeds were collected from across the park, nurtured in the park's greenhouse, then transplanted in the garden.

Among the plants you can see there include: serviceberry and pin cherry, both of which blossom in spring; sweet fern, wild rose, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries in summer; golden yellow birch, aspen, reddish brown oak, and red maples in autumn; and red osier dogwood shrubs that contrast with the green of pines, firs and cedars in winter.

Plant markers set throughout the garden list the plant's name in English and Ojibwe.

The plants weren’t just important to the Ojibwe but to the local ecosystem. Bees, for example, can be seen pollinating blossoms such as the native milkweed, a plant that monarch butterflies depend upon for survival.

At the heart of the trail is an Ojibwe Indian camp. You can step into a lodge called a waaginogaan, in which young, flexible birch poles are tied together with basswood roots for a frame and then birch bark is layered in for siding.

The camp includes a central fire ring like the Ojibwe used for communal cooking, meals and ceremonies. Sometimes volunteers manning the site cook traditional bannock, or fry bread, over the fire. You usually can also see freshly picked herbs hung to dry and fish nets stretched for drying and repair.

Each park visitor can pick up to a gallon of berries per day in the garden. A Junior Ranger Garden Explorer Book also is available for kids. The trail can be snowshoed in winter.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Hike through playful Voyageurs rock garden

Ellsworth Rock Gardens at Voyageurs National Park

Ellsworth Rock Garden map

Day hikers can walk through a whimsical man-made rock garden on a ranger-led tour at Voyageurs National Park.

The Ellsworth Rock Garden Tour is short but includes the bonus of a boat ride across beautiful Kabetogama Lake. To reach the rock garden, from U.S. Hwy 53 turn north onto County Road 122/Salmi/Gamma Road. When Hwy. 122 turns left/west, continue straight/north to the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center. Once there, you can purchase tickets for the boat ride to the historic site. The boat leaves from a visitor center dock.

During the lake crossing, be sure to cast an eye to the shoreline and sky. Active bald eagle nests can be spotted in the tree canopies, and the majestic raptors often circle and dive at the water to catch fish.

The boat arrives on Kabetogama Peninsula at a dock near the rock garden. From there, a park ranger leads visitors through the historic sight.

During the 1940s, Chicago carpenter and artist Jack Ellsworth landscaped 62 terraced flowerbeds on rock outcroppings at the sight. He planted more than 13,000 lilies as well as a variety of other flowers. Each dry-stacked wall encircling a flowerbed was layered with crushed white quartz, so that it appears like frosting. Pathways, stepping stones and bridges connected the terraced layers. Then he added 204 abstract rock sculptures, made from native stone. In all, this took more than two decades to complete.

The sculptures range widely in their complexity. Some simply are a single rock of an odd shape or color. Others consist of larger rocks and boulders mortared together to form tables, gateways, monoliths, spires and figures.

Ellsworth never returned to the peninsula after 1965. He died nine years later.

A Minnesota Historical Society survey conducted in 1976 found that some rock garden items missing and a few sculptures tipped. By the end of the decade, the forest had reclaimed the flowerbeds.

Though the National Park Service purchased the property in 1978, the sight largely remained in a growing state of disrepair for the next 18 years. Then the park service, under pressure from the local Kabetogama Lake community, restored the flowerbeds and began repairing sculptures and nearby buildings. The effort is ongoing.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Rock half the Earth's age await on day hike

Trailhead for Echo Bay Hiking Trail

Echo Bay Hiking Trail map

Day hikers can walk atop rock almost half the age of the Earth on the Echo Bay Hiking Trail at Voyageurs National Park.

The 2.2-mile trail consists of three stacked loops, the third or northernmost of which really is intended to be used only as a ski trail. Part of the route runs alongside Lake Kabetogama.

To reach the trailhead, from U.S. Hwy. 53, go north on County Road 122. Turn right/east onto Northern Lights Road/County Road 332. A parking lot is on the road’s north side.

The excitement begins even before you reach the trailhead, however. On Hwy. 122 about 2.3 miles north of Hwy. 53, pull over where there's an exposure of black rock cutting across light gray granite. The gray granite is 2.7 billion years old, part of the Canadian Shield that was the forebear of the North American continent and among some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth.

The black rock is about 2.1 billion years old. As the continent began to split apart, magma was able to rise through the cracks and fill as well overlay some of the adjoining area. The magma, which cooled and hardened into the black mafic rock at the exposure, filled an area stretching more than 50 miles north through International Falls into Ontario.

Back at the trailhead, go right/east from the parking lot. The trail curves north through a forest and in 0.4 miles comes to a junction. Go right/north and continue alongside Kabetogama Lake. The lake formed when an ancient glacial flow sometime during the past 2 million years carved out the valley. At the end of the last ice age some 10,000 years ago, glacial meltwater settled in the valley.

The trail begins to climb as approaching the lake, and the aspen forest gives way to a rocky pine-covered ridgeline. The outcroppings here are about 2.692 to 2.695 million years old.

When these rocks were formed, they were at the southern edge of the Canadian Shield. As neighboring islands and small continents slammed into the shield, it expanded, until becoming the continent we know today.

In 0.7 miles, the trail reaches the junction with the third loop. Go left/south away from the lake. Should you accidentally turn onto the top loop, it runs for 1 mile and reconnects with the next junction.

The underlying and exposed rock here largely is schist. It began to form when a mix of rock flowed down the shield’s continental slope into a deep sea and settled in a clay mixture, forming a sandstone known as graywacke. The buried graywacke then was compressed and heated, transforming into a flaky rock known as schist.

The trail soon leaves the ridge and ascends into the lowlands. At 0.2 miles, the trail junctions with the other end of the third loop; go left/south here.

The schist bedrock joined the Canadian Shield (which much of the schist had eroded from) when an ancient island arc known as the Wawa subprovince pushed north, raised and compressed it, then merged with the proto-North American landmass.

In 0.1 miles, the trail arrives at the northern end of the first stacked loop. Go right/west. In just a few steps, a spur to the left/south leads to the top of a knoll, offering an overlook of a wetlands. Many years ago, beavers created this wetlands area by flooding a forest of ash trees via their dam building. At one time, the dead trees served as a great blue heron rookery.

From the overview, take the spur back to the main trail and turn left/west. In addition to the ancient rocks and the beaver pond turned heron rookery, the sounds and sights of warblers and woodpeckers are a highlight of the hike.

The trail eventually curls south then east around the wetlands, arriving back at your parking lot in 0.8 miles.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.

Discover Voyageurs NP wildlife on trail

A former beaver pond at the end of the Beaver Pond Overlook Trail.

Beaver Pond Overlook Trail

Day hikers can spot iconic Northwoods wildlife – or at least signs of it during an off day – on the Beaver Pond Overlook Trail at Voyageurs National Park.

The short hike runs 0.4-miles round trip. A parking lot for the trailhead sits off of Mead Wood Road (on the way to the Ash River Visitor Center) north of County Road 129/Ash River Trail.

Before heading to the overlook to search for wildlife, check out the outcrops of coarse pink to red granite along the trail’s edge. Some of the pink feldspar crystals are as large as four inches across, an amazing sight.

From the trailhead, the path climbs uphill to a rocky terrace.

Among the wildlife you might spot are moose. The largest animal in the national park, it can stand up to 6 feet high at the shoulders and weigh a thousand pounds. Only a few of the park’s moose reside off Kabetogama Peninsula, and beaver ponds are a great place to catch them enjoying a drink. Northern Minnesota represents the southern edge of the moose’s range in North America with about 40-50 in the park. The park’s moose population recently has declined, in part due to the increased heat during summer months thanks to global warming.

Predation from gray wolves also has taken a toll on the stressed moose population. The territories of about 6-9 packs, each consisting of about a half-dozen wolves, cross into the park, mostly on the peninsula. In addition to moose, wolves feed on deer and beaver. Though mainly gray in color, their coats also can be a red hue or even pitch black. Adult wolves are about 5-6 feet long; females weigh 50-85 pounds with males slightly larger at 70-110 pounds. Though reclusive, sometimes they can be seen crossing the park entrance roads, or their tracks can be spotted in the mud.

Also keep an eye out for black bear prints. About 150 black bears reside in the park. Common across forested regions of North America, the black bear is the smallest of the continent’s three bear species. Ranging from 4 to 7 feet long from nose to tail tip, males can weigh anywhere from 150-300 pounds with females just slightly smaller. Omnivores, they feed on berries, carrion, honey, insects, nuts, and small mammals; sometimes they’ll hunt small deer and moose calves.

If you don’t see any of these three animals, just pause and hold a hand to an ear. You’re certain to pick up red squirrels chattering and scampering around, as well as many of the park’s many bird species. Warblers abound on the trail, and near sunset owls usually can be heard.

When you reach a break in the forest canopy, look up. You may very well see a bald eagle. A year-round resident of the park, bald eagles enjoy the park’s tall white pines that line the large, deep lakes chockful of fish. About 42 breeding pairs reside in the park. Adults stand up to 35 inches high and sport a wingspan of six to eight feet.

Sightings or at least hearing the unmistakable, tranquil call of the common loon is even more likely. Around 190 loons reside in the park. Their black body sports a white checkered pattern, which allows them to blend well with a lake’s sparkling water. Adults are about 30 inches long with a wingspan of 60 inches.

Less likely to be seen flying the skies along this trail is the double-crested cormorant. Though populous in the park, they mainly reside on Rainy Lake’s rocky islands. Cormorants typically are a dark brown or black with iridescent highlights, but during breeding season their throat pouch turns a bright yellow, and along with teal-blue eyes, they can stand out from a distance.

At the trail’s end is the overlook, which sits high over a pond created by beavers, a common creature in Voyageurs and one of the very reasons that the park’s namesake came here. During the 1700s, French-Canadian traders exchanged European goods for beaver pelts that the local Ojibwe obtained by trapping. Due to overharvesting over the next two centuries, by 1900 the beaver almost disappeared from the area. The population has rebounded, though, and about 3000 beavers now reside in the park.

Beavers are no longer active at the pond seen from the overlook, but you still can observe how they re-engineer their environment by damming streams and small rivers. As the pond fills, they construct a lodge in which they raise their young. Beavers have created hundreds of ponds across Voyageurs.

Once you’ve taken in the view at the overlook, retrace your steps back to the parking lot.

If looking to extend your hike, consider picking up the nearby Sullivan Bay Snowshoe Trail. The trailhead is located just north of the turnoff for the Beaver Pond Overlook Trail.

At 1.2 miles round trip, the Sullivan Bay trail is mostly flat with one small hill toward its end. The trail heads to a picnic area with a scenic overlook from Sullivan Bay’s north shore.

Usually a loon or two can be seen on the bay; their diving and resurfacing, as well as their calls, can make for quite a show. In autumn, black-eyed Susans bloom trailside.

Learn more about the park’s day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at Voyageurs National Park guidebook.