Minnesota's Jewel, Voyageurs National Park

Of course I am back home arrived on my birthday the 29th of Sept.  I wish I had been able to share all my trip memories in real time but the entire week in Canada I had only one day with WiFi service when I stopped in Terrance Bay. So that's why I fell so far behind and the fact that I was so tired at night I didn't have the steam to update!

(9/13/2016) I traveled south on Hwy 53 and then east to spent the night in Woodenfrog Campground, one of the 2 drive to Campgrounds connected with Voyageurs National Park.  In all honesty this is a boaters paradise but for land lovers like me, it offers only some great views and some nice short hikes! In the heat of summer is the best time to visit, as the water temp was quite cold so even getting in a kayak without a wet suit would be a silly thing to do!

Voyageurs is made up of 3 main bodies of water....Rainy Lake, Kabetogoma Lake, and Namakan Lake and surrounded by the Boreal Forest.   In the past trappers and fur traders paddled through these waters to bring furs between the Canadian Northwest  to Montreal where it was shipped to markets in Europe.  Parts of Voyageur can be accessed from Canada.  

There's 3 visitors centers.  Kabetgoma is the closest to Woodenfrog. 

I arrived here early just as the Ranger was raising the flag, and found out there had been a mass exit of help! She told me 4 people quit in one week so she was not scheduled to be at this VC and she was not familiar with the system.  I got my passport stamp, bought my souvenir medallion and picked up a hikes brochure...and a couple postcards then headed up to Ash River.  

... back onto Hwy 53 and  Hwy 129 to the  VC...it was closed! They were repaving the parking lot...BUT the ranger was nice enough to let me in to stamp my passport!

On the way to the VC is where I took 2 hikes.  

I didn't make it to the Crane Lake area due to the time constraints BUT in hindsight wish I had! There is another campground there.  There's thousands of islands with many primitive campgrounds and backcountry camping is prime here if you want to spend time on a primitive island this is the place for you! I hiked the Kabetogama Lake overlook trail and this was one of the views along that trail.  It shows the rugged coastline  and some of the many islands of the lake.  

The Beaver Pond overlook..

AND one treat for me was up in the trees that lined the trail.  I saw another new bird!! The Black Backed Woodpecker!  Here's a grainy shot of his yellow spot on the head.

and his name details he has a solid black back! 

This is a 3 toed woodpecker but not THE 3 toed woodpecker who is just like the black backed except its back has white barring on it. The Rangers at Rainy VC were excited to put this bird on the list of recent sightings!  And the second hike was to the beaver pond overlook.

I finally spotted the lodge over to the right of the pond..

Beavers play an important role in shaping our landscapes...if not for the ponds that flood the area and provide the beaver with a means for clearing it of trees we wouldnt have these open areas in the Boreal  Forest!

Just look at this SAP covered Red Squirrel as he gathers pine nuts for winter.

On this hike I also saw Red Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow Rumped Warbler, American Robin, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker and White Throated Sparrows. After the hikes Casey and I had lunch and then got in the van and headed back north again on Hwy 53 this time to Rainy. The reason I did not visit Rainy the day before when I was close to it was there is no campground there. 

Here is the Rainy Lake VC. 

Inside there is a museum, theater, and gift shop. I browsed the museum, I don't like when its full of stuffed animals...and this one was...this beautiful Gray Wolf was hit by a car is the story I was told he was so huge, tall as me in sitting position! (Im 5'5") 

Outside at Rainy VC is a nice seating area...

And a marina where I saw this really cool birch bark canoe, IN season you can get a ride in this baby..

Much like the one in the museum inside the VC...

this huge statue of Edward C Woods Sr, I couldn't find out a thing about him on the Net! Obviously he was a frontiersman by the looks of this attire...and a huge tribute to Smokey the Bear...

There is a very nice bike trail that follows the road coming into Rainy VC.  From here I headed south again stopped and spent the night in a Forest Service Camp for Free on Hwy 6. 

I was the only camper...sometimes I'm not too keen on these secluded areas of camping but I ended up staying here...

and the next day headed west on Hwy 2 toward Grand Forks ND.  The following are some road side oddities I spotted along the way...

this rural bar had a cool sign and name! 

and one more Eagle to see me on my way...

AND the headwaters of the Mississippi River start here.  I was not able to find the very start but it crossed the highway here so I snapped this shot of the not so Mighty Mississippi as she runs through Minnesota!

I headed for ND! Finally now I feel good about saying I've visited ND!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Blue Lake and Back in the States!

9/13/2016

I saw enough of Canada to realize it's a vast mostly uninhabited wilderness that I'd love to explore more if I ever get the chance again, and  hopefully I will and at a more leisure pace, like an entire summer?  But is there ever really enough time? If you spend days and days in one area you miss out on another area, my goal is to see as much as I can in the allotted time! Leaving Kakabeka Falls was hard I really wanted to just hang out there...but off I went!  From Kakabeka Falls to Blue Lake Provincial Park driving on the Trans Canada Highway its approximately 382 KM it's near the town of Vermillion Bay.  That's about 230 give or take miles, so half before lunch the rest after puts me in my camp at about the time of day I'm ready to stop which is 3 pm. 

And it was 5 days from closing for the season...so it was basically empty! There are some rustic looking cabins that sit right by the lake that one can rent...

the lake is large and it is a beauty! It was quiet the night I spent there.  I enjoyed the tree stumps/chainsaw art on the shore...like this Eagle coming in for a landing.

and this heron 

...even tho it was cool and breezy that day I spent some time walking along the shoreline and enjoyed the tranquility of the north woods, and next morning after breakfast I broke camp and took off for our last day of sightseeing in Canada,  the squirrels had obviously had a picnic on my table and didn't bother to clean up!  I would be re-entering the US at International Falls, MN.  

I stopped at a cemetery and was able to find one grave that had not been photo'd for the F.A. Grave website, and there was a Black Billed Magpie in the tree...he caught me off guard but I snapped this shot of him..I've only seen these guys way out west before, so I can add him to my Canadian Birds List. 

After the cemetery I decided to do a little off road trip.  There was a 19 mile "shortcut" to leave Blue Lake and then get back to highway and along this route was many "lodges". Many of these are rustic lodges for visitors. SO the road I took is Blue Lake Road. It was an awesome scenic drive.  For the most part the road was easy a few spots were sketchy...but I had no problem getting thru. 

The Aspens were starting to turn in this area...

after crossing the bridge over Red Story Lake I came up this sign of course I was curious so I stopped...

There was no sign of what this memorial was about, I found that out later via the internet.  

there's a few old buildings there too...

I found out that this school was run by the Catholic Church from 1925-1969.  It was a way to try and assimilate the Aboriginal people of Canada!  These were residential schools.  They tried to completely eradicate the spirit and belief system of the Indian people who were forced to go to these schools...Only recently did the Govt of Canada Issue an apology after the summary of the final report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). The report is a culmination of a six year study into the church run and government funded schools that existed in Canada for over 100 years.  People were tortured, abused, humiliated, and died!! It was an atrocity!  

stones and gifts left at the memorial

People living today were affected by this as it is ingrained in their family history...I did not know there was an overgrown cemetery near the location. I certainly would have paid my respects...I was able to at least reflect upon the fact that something had happened in this location and it seemed like a sad place...

As I continued on down the road I came upon this pretty beaver pond...complete with lodge.

Just one more delay...

A few more miles on the Trans Canada Hwy and then I crossed the border into International Falls Minnesota.  I stopped to exchange my currency at one of the duty free shops.

International Falls Mural

back in USA

...then secured my lodging at Wooden Frog, a Campground near Voyageurs N.P. A nice view of Lake Kabetogama is right by the campground.

The sun went down pretty fast that night...I went to watch the sunset and admire this tall aspen a beaver has decided to cut  down!!  No way he could drag this away...

Voyageurs is a park of water, islands, trees, rivers and lakes! Not the best time of year to go there Summer would def be better if one wished to kayak or to go boating even house boats are available for rent...

More of Voyageurs in my next post. 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.