If I Were Going...: Midwest Adventure: Voyageurs National Park #1

Another National Park; Photo: Scott Stevens

Finally, we arrived at one of my REAL destinations -- Voyageurs National Park, #53 on my quest to visit all 59 National Parks. Because Voyageurs is primarily water, there are no accommodations in the Park except for boat-accessible rustic campsites. So, I had booked three nights at Krueger's Harmony Beach Resort on Lake Kabetogama (KAB-beh-TOE-gah-mah). While on private land, the resort is very close to the Kabetogama Visitor Center. Lake Kabetogama is mostly inside the Park.

Just before we went to the Park, we stopped at a little diner in International Falls, where we partook of two iconic Minnesota meals. Scott had walleye (again -- and not for the last time) and I had wild rice "hotdish." A Minnesota staple, it was a casserole of wild and white rice, ground beef, onion and cream of mushroom soup. Yup.

And, here's no surprise -- Lake Kabetogama has a huge statue of a walleye! This one you are invited to sit on!

About as cheesy as you can get

Located in northern Minnesota, near International Falls, Voyageurs National Park was established in 1975. I am always amazed at the number of National Parks that didn't even exist when I was growing up. The Park's name references the voyageurs, French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settlers to frequent the area. Popular with canoeists, kayakers, boaters and fishermen, most of the Park is either water or accessible only by water.

I was a bit concerned about visiting without a boat and even looked into renting a houseboat instead of camping. But in the summer, houseboat rentals are for a minimum of seven days. Since we had a lot of ground to cover, that wouldn't do. So, I found the resort and Scott arranged for a half-day of fishing with a guide. Plus, we knew we could rent a boat at the resort.

First, we stopped at the Rainy Lake Visitors Center -- one of three in the Park. With very limited roads, one has to drive through International Falls to travel between Rainy Lake and Kabetogama.

The Rainy Lake VC was also the site of the boat tour we had signed up for our third day there. We tried to change it to our arrival day, but, even in such a remote area where there seemed to be no crowds, that day's trip was fully booked. It actually worked out well, though.

Boat tour

Voyageurs, which has 344 square miles of water, encompasses all or part of four major lakes:

Rainy Lake - 60 miles long, 929 miles of shoreline, 161 feet maximum depth
Kabetogama Lake - 15 miles long, 78 miles of shoreline, 80 feet maximum depth
Namakan Lake - 16 miles long, 146 miles of shoreline, 150 feet maximum depth
Sand Point Lake - 8 miles long, 92 miles of shoreline, 184 feet maximum depth

Namakan, Rainy and Sand Point straddle the U.S.-Canada border. Namakan and Sand Point Lake are accessible only by boat except in the winter. The southern boundary of the park is the northern shore of Crane Lake. The Park has many smaller lakes, especially on the Kabetogama peninsula, which comprises the majority of land within the park and has no roads. To the east of the National Park is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is accessible primarily for non-motorized boats.

Map: NPS

Formed on the Canadian Shield during the early ages of earth, Voyageurs National Park comprises rocks averaging between 1 and 3 billion years old. These rocks were first compressed and folded under tremendous pressure. Then, molten flows of lava intruded through the layers, creating a mosaic of gneiss and granites. Additional layers of sedimentary rocks developed on top over time and were then stripped away by the continental glaciers of the Wisconsin Glacial epoch.

Camping and Fishing

The Harmony Beach Resort was perfect. It is convenient to the park, has cabins, showers and just a few camping spaces. We took the campsite one farthest from the lake, near the road.

Our campsite; Photo: Scott Stevens

The resort is very casual and homey. It has a dock where folks can bring their own boats and where you can rent a boat. They also have kayaks and paddle boats that can be used for free. We never got around to the kayaks.

A nice dock; Photo: Scott Stevens

When we arrived some young teens were playing joyously in the water, jumping from the dock and on a floating trampoline. The lake is a bit cold for my taste, but it did look fun.

Throughout the afternoon, boaters came in their catch -- primarily perch and walleye. The resort has a "dockboy," who helps with boats and will clean and filet fish for you. It is illegal filet the fish on your boat (it is, in fact, illegal to possess filets on a boat) because then rangers would not be able to determine if your catch was of legal size. For walleye, for example, fishermen can keep anything under 17" and anything over 27". The ones in the middle are prime breeding size and must be thrown back.

Minnesota is about fishing: Photo: Scott Stevens

Our initial exploration of the area -- the resort and the nearby Lake Kabetogama Visitor Center -- revealed some Deer ...

A youngster

... a Great Blue Heron ...

A beauty

... and some juvenile Common Mergansers ...

The water isn't murky with blood, it is just reflecting a red boat parked at the dock

The next morning, we headed out with our guide, Travis, to fish on Lake Kabetogama. Well, Scott fished and I just enjoyed the morning out on the water.

Fishing

The morning started out sunny, then it rained for a few minutes and a breeze came up. And, then, it got sunny again.

Fortunately, the rain didn't interfere at all.

Pretty sky

They caught a lot -- Travis catching some big ones; Scott's all somewhat small. Of course, the main goal was Walleye, which is also sometimes called Walleyed Pike, Colored Pike, Yellow Pike or Pickerel, although the fish is not related to other species of pikes.

Not a pretty fish

The fish's name comes from the fact that its eyes point outward, as if looking at the walls. Walleyes have an "eyeshine" caused by a light-gathering layer in the eyes that allows the fish to see well in low-light conditions and rough waters.

This excellent vision allows the fish to populate the deeper regions in a lake, particularly during the warmest part of the summer. That's why a guide with a depth gauge that actually shows where the fish are is a good idea.

Fishing for walleye is different than other fishing I have seen. You basically drop your line (with leeches for bait) down, down, down and wait. So, you have to be where it's not too deep or your line wouldn't reach the walleye.

Scott is used to fly fishing, so it made him a little antsy to be waiting rather than doing something.

Walleyes grow to about 31 inches long, and weigh up to about 20 lbs. The maximum recorded size is 42 inches and 29 lbs., although northern walleyes tend to be a little smaller than their southern cousins. Walleyes may live for decades; the maximum recorded age is 29 years.

The other common fish, of which Scott and Travis caught quite a few, is Yellow Perch. These striped fish generally range from 4-10 inches long, but can grow as big as 18 inches. They also caught, but didn't keep, a Sauger. That's a perch in Scott's hand.

Happy fisherman

Although the time with Travis was devoted specifically to fishing, I did see some birds, including Common Loons too painfully far away to photograph. The only birds close enough out on the lake were Ring-billed Gulls, which swoop, fly and float ...

Ring-billed Gull

But, after we had fished in the middle of the lake for a while, we did move to an area where the Kabetogama flows into Rainy Lake.

The narrows

This area was narrower, with a stronger current and had more of a river-like appearance. They didn't catch many fish, but I caught a (still rather far away) Belted Kingfisher. These guys are very hard to photograph because they fly very quickly and they tend to flee if you get close. I am not thrilled with this shot, but it's the best I got of a Kingfisher on this trip.

Belted Kingfisher

But, back to the fish ...

When we got back, the dockboy cleaned and fileted the fish. Scott took enough for our dinner and gave the rest to Travis.

Catcher and cook

We noticed that fishermen in this part of the country tend to keep everything legal they catch. There's not a lot of catch and release. I guess if you're a fishing guide, you end up eating lots and lots of fish. We declined their offer to ship us the rest because we wouldn't have been home to accept it.

We certainly didn't want to keep fish in our cooler.

So, we had walleye and perch for dinner -- lightly pan-fried with a dusting of cornmeal and flour, served with lemon, green beans and wild rice. One of the best dinners I have ever had.

Delish!

The Park

After dinner, we went down to the Ash River Visitor Center to check the area out and watch sunset.

An after-dinner destination

Of course, we were greeted by one of the constantly chattering Red Squirrels that can be found (or at least heard) everywhere. This guy didn't seem to like us there.

A cutie

The mosquitoes did, however, seem to love having me there. Still, we hung around for a very pretty sunset.

A very pretty sunset

It keeps getting better

And better

Boating

We enjoyed being out on the fishing boat so much, we decided to rent a boat from the Harmony Beach Resort to explore and fish a little more the next day. Although Scott bought bait, we ended up exploring more than fishing.

On our own

We started out photographing some Mallards that were wading near the dock .

Look at how green and clear that water is

Then, we skimmed he shore just west of the resort. We thought we might see more birds than what can be seen in the middle of the lake. Plus, we got to see some of the gorgeous houses that rim the lake. I am always amazed when people have lake houses bigger and nicer than my primary home.

An added treat was the beautiful reflections the buildings made in the lake

I realized while taking pictures that the reflections were pretty, but I didn't really grasp how cool they were until I looked in my camera. Wow! They looked more like paintings than photos.

Plus, I saw some new birds for me, including Red-Necked Grebes (top and lower right) and some juvenile Common Goldeneyes (lower left) ...

New birds: Top, lower right: Red-necked Grebes; Lower left, juvenile Common Goldeneye

I watched one of the Common Goldeneyes swim out into the lake ...

Aptly named

... and then slowly take off. The patterns of the splash behind it were as fascinating to watch as the bird itself.

Take off

I also saw a female Common Merganser not fully in the water. I never realized how really, really orange their feet are.

Female Common Merganser

Then, we ventured further into the lake, skirting rock outcroppings -- many populated with Ring-billed Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants ...

Bird colonies

One of the Cormorants put on quite a show as it attempted (and finally succeeded) in taking off from the lake.

Another funny take-off

But, believe it or not, it wasn't all about the birds. We also explored the islands and coves near the resort. This included passing by one of the 200 primitive boat-in campsites sprinkled across the islands in Voyageurs National Park. It looks like these guys were here for a while. Later, we overhead some conversations about the reservation system for campsites. Apparently, they used to be first-come-first-serve, but when folks arriving later in the day or on busy weekends couldn't find a site they liked, they would just make their own, damaging the terrain and creating issues for the rangers. So, now, all the sites must be reserved. It doesn't prevent folks from breaking the rules, but it has improved the situation.

Camper

Voyageurs National Park was once an area where volcanoes erupted beneath an ocean that no longer exists. The ancient rocks are found at the surface of the park because the passage of hundreds of millions of years has worn down the mountains and glaciers scoured the landscape, removing rotten rock and leaving behind a blank slate for the re-colonization of plants and animals.

Shore rocks

There are approximately 200 islands in lake Kabetogama, some small and some relatively large. We boated around many and then stopped briefly at the Locator Lake Trailhead on the Kabetogama Peninsula, which arches out to form the non-mainland perimeter of the lake.

Interesting landscape

Although it's a popular trail, there were no other boats anchored when we stopped at the very nice dock (albeit a little shallow going in).

The dock

There are even facilities (a vault toilet) at the trailhead. Very convenient.

The trail looked lovely. It heads to Locator Lake, one of the largest lakes on the peninsula, and then on to other lakes and trails, including some that lead to Rainy Lake. I looked around for animals, including the alleged moose and wolves, but didn't see any.

Pretty woods

But, after a brief stop, we headed back to the lake looking for my main objective: Common Loons. And we were successful. Finally!

Scott

The Common Loon is a large member of the Loon, or Diver, family of birds, so named because of their habit of catching fish by swimming calmly along the surface and then abruptly plunging into the water. They can dive as deep as 200 feet and can remain underwater for as long as 3 minutes.

A beautiful bird

The North American name "Loon" may be a reference to the bird's clumsiness on land, and is derived from Scandinavian words for lame.

Breeding adults are gorgeous with a black head, white underparts, a dark green neckband, a checkered black-and-white mantle and piercing red eyes. Non-breeding and juvenile plumage is brownish gray, with the chin and foreneck white. I believe we were seeing adults with this year's juveniles

Lots of Loons

In the spring and summer, most Common Loons live on lakes and other waterways in Canada and the northern United States. The lakes must be large enough for takeoff and provide a high population of small fish. Clear water is necessary so that they can see fish to prey on. As protection from predators, loons favor lakes with islands and coves. That makes Lake Kabetogama perfect.

In the winter, Loons usually migrate to the nearest body of water that will not freeze over.

Preening

And, of course, Common Loons aren't the only common bird in Lake Kabetogama. There are lots of Bald Eagles as well. We saw a few flying and then we caught this one standing guard over an island. It's still not fully mature, as can be seen by the streaks of brown on its white head and the white streaks on its brown wings.

Bald Eagle

But, we couldn't stay out all day because we had a boat tour scheduled for that afternoon. So, we had to get back and go to Rainy Lake (on what had turned into a sunny day). We used the GPS on my phone to make sure we knew where we were going and skirted some islands as we headed back to the Harmony Beach Resort ...