Voyageurs: the national park where 40% of the land is water

In the far north of Minnesota, the border with Canada runs through the middle of a string of great lakes. The park takes in four of them, linked by narrow channels, with hundreds of granite islands covered in pines. There are almost no roads: here, you get around on the water.

History and origins

The name comes from the “voyageurs”, a French word meaning travellers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, these French Canadians carried furs by birchbark canoe, from Montreal to the north-west of the continent. They paddled sixteen hours a day and carried their bales on their backs from one lake to the next. Their route passed through here, and the border was drawn along it.

Before them, and alongside them, there were the Ojibwe, who still live in the region. Then came gold prospectors, loggers and fishermen. The park was created in 1975.

What to do there

• The boat tours: in summer, the park runs narrated cruises from the visitor centers, to the islands, old mines and gardens.
• Canoeing and kayaking: sheltered bays, islands for picnicking, and the call of the loons at nightfall.
• Houseboats: you can rent one for several days, with no licence, and moor in the evening at a reserved site.
• Kettle Falls: an old wooden hotel from 1913, at the far end of the park, which can only be reached by boat. Its bar has a floor that slopes all over the place.
• The Ellsworth Rock Gardens: on one shore, a carpenter spent twenty years building terraces and stone sculptures.
• The sky: the park is certified for the quality of its night sky. You see the Milky Way and, with luck, the northern lights.
• Winter: the lakes freeze and become roads. You travel across them by snowmobile, on skis or by car on tracks marked out on the ice.

Stories and good to know

• Researchers track the park’s wolves with cameras and collars. Their videos of wolves fishing in the streams have gone round the world.
• International Falls, the neighbouring town, lays claim to the title of coldest place in the contiguous United States.
• The mosquitoes and black flies are fearsome in June.

Practical information for your road trip

• Getting there: the park is a little over 4 hrs from Minneapolis and 3 hrs from Duluth. The Rainy Lake Visitor Center is the only one open all year.
• Border: part of the lakes is Canadian. Don’t land on the other side without going through customs.
• Where to stay: in the resorts and lodges on the lakeshores, in International Falls, or on the water.
• Combine it with: the north shore of Lake Superior and Isle Royale.