Voyageurs National Park - Rainy Lake Unit

The Rainy Lake Visitor Center is the only visitor center open year-round. It is located at the end of a peninsula and is only about six miles from our campground. 

Voyageurs National Park Main Visitor Center

The Park Service estimates there are about 40-50 moose in Voyageurs National Park.

LIFE ON THE LAKE NATIONAL PARK BOAT TOUR

We made reservations for the Life on the Lake Boat Tour with stops at historic locations on Rainy Lake. The ranger guide led us to gold mines and a fish camp and explained the diverse history of the area.

This National Park Boat holds 49 passengers. We had 25 on our ranger led boat tour.

Our first stop on this two-and-a-half-hour trip was Little American Island. 

We took a short walk to two abandoned shaft type gold mines, 1894 to 1901. Most of the gold mines during this seven-year gold rush lost money. It is estimated that Little American is the only mine in the area that broke even. It yielded $10-$20 of gold per ton of ore.

Upon passing the next island the ranger pointed out the entrance to an abandoned horizontal gold mine.

Our next stop on the tour was the Harry Oveson Fish Camp.

Harry Oveson, an independent commercial fisherman, lived and worked here during the summers from 1959 to 1985. He spent his winters in Arizona.

The icehouse (ice cut from the lake) is on the left and fish cleaning building on the right. Up before dawn he harvested and processed 50 pounds of walleye and several hundred pounds of whitefish daily. His catch was packed in ice, ferried over to the mainland, loaded onto trains and taken to the market in Minneapolis. 

OBERHOLTZER TRAIL

We took a very nice 1.6-mile trail through conifer and deciduous forests featuring two bay overlooks on Rainy Lake.

Oyster Mushrooms amongst the wildflowers along the trail.

We stopped for a marina patio lunch on Rainy Lake to try some of the local delicacies such as chicken soup with wild rice, walleye and even fried cheese curds.

Voyageurs National Park - Kabetogama Lake Unit

The Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center is about 35 miles south of our campsite. We booked a National Park Guided Boat Tour to the Ellsworth Rock Garden which is on the other side of Kabetogama Lake.

We checked in for our boat tour at the Visitor Center.

The tour was sold out with 29 passengers on this two-and-a-half-hour trip. 

We had a 30-minute boat ride across Kabetogama Lake to The Ellsworth Rock Gardens. We saw several nesting bald eagles along the way.

Jack Ellsworth, a contractor from Chicago, and his wife purchased this 54-acre island property in 1944. They spent their summers here every year until 1965. Jack began his project of creating terraces and gardens for the next 21 years. He always said he needed to keep busy.

This old picture is how the garden looked in 1965. He created 62 garden terraces with over 13,000 flowers.  

After he completed the rock garden in 1961, he started sculpting over 200 rock art pieces.

A Whale Sculpture

The Arrowhead Sculpture sits at the top of the hill and is one of the largest rock sculptures.

Jack Ellsworth's health declined and after 1965 he never returned to his beloved gardens. The garden fell into disrepair. Some structures were removed. It is now owned and maintained by the National Park Service.

We returned to the boat and cruised the scenic shoreline of Kabetogama Lake.

Voyageurs National Park - Ash River Unit

We traveled 150 miles north from the Duluth area to International Falls to visit Voyageurs National Park. This lightly used National Park has three Visitor Centers. Voyageurs is a water-based park that has 170 primitive campsites that are accessible by boat. 

We have a nice FHU campsite at a private park on Rainy Lake, only six miles from the main visitor center at Rainy Lake. An unusual amenity is each site has its own boat dock, since there are over 500 islands to explore as well as being a fisherman's paradise.

The Ash River Visitor Center is about forty miles from our campsite. We booked an all-day National Park cruise from this center.

Upon arrival at the visitor center the first thing we saw was hundreds of recently hatched Rosy Maple Moths covering the buildings. We had not seen these colorful moths anywhere before.

We departed on the Ne-zho-dain at 10am with 16 passengers for a 6-hour tour. We were accompanied by the captain and a National Park Ranger.

We entered Namakan Lake and zigzagged through the islands.

Along the way the Ranger pointed out American Bald Eagles on their nests.

Our first stop was I.W. Stevens Resort. A Norwegian, Stevens, built and opened this small island resort in 1931 and continued to run it until 1959, after which he lived here another 20 years until his death at age 94.

Stevens lived a very isolated lifestyle.

Back on the water headed toward Kettle Falls Hotel.

The Kettle Falls Hotel opened in 1913 deep in the wilderness of the Boundary Waters. It is still operated as a hotel with thirteen guest rooms accessible only by water. We ate our picnic lunch on the screened front porch.

The hotel bar is famous for its sloping floors. The hotel was built on clay. When the foundation settled, the whole building warped. The hotel itself was repaired, but they left the bar tilted. The more you spill, the more you drink.

The Kettle Falls were at the juncture of Namakan and Rainy Lakes. The falls were replaced by this small hydroelectric dam in 1910. 

Canada is on the other side, the south side of Kettle Falls Dam. One of the few places where Canada is south of the United States.

The outflow of the dam feeds Rainy Lake. While we were standing at the dam, Kurt began singing the Hamm's Beer jingle "From the land of sky-blue waters..." Later we learned that old commercial was filmed right there at Kettle Falls.

We returned to the Visitor Center after completing an excellent National Park Service boat tour.

Duluth, Minnesota

We arrived in the Duluth area on June 6. We booked early and were able to reserve a lovely inland lakefront campsite at Red Pine Campground in Saginaw, Minnesota, just 17 miles from downtown Duluth. 

This private campground is well maintained and has large sites.

Red Pine Campground Site #55

CANAL PARK AND THE AERIAL LIFT BRIDGE

The Lake Superior Maritime Museum and Visitor Center was our first stop. It is located at the foot of the Aerial Lift Bridge and run by the US Army Corp. of Engineers.

The retired tugboat Bayfield is a permanent resident in front of the Maritime Museum.

This is a restored wheelhouse inside the free museum.

The lift bridge opened on the hour and half hour to a height that would accommodate the waiting ships.

Duluth North Pier Lighthouse

Duluth has a population of about 86,000.

The bridge lift span weighs about 1,000 tons and each of two concrete counterweights are about 500 tons, so the span is almost neutral in weight, requiring very little electrical power to raise and lower.

ENGER PARK AND TOWER

We drove a section of the Skyline Parkway which winds along a ridge that overlooks Duluth and the Twin Harbors. 

The Enger Tower and property, located along the Skyline Parkway, were donated to the city of Duluth by the Crown Prince of Norway.

We climbed the five-story tower.

View of Duluth Harbor Entry

Enger Park also has a Japanese Peace Garden complete with a loud Peace Bell.

SUPERIOR ENTRY

Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, form the Twin Harbors. The Superior Entry is the only natural opening as it passes through the longest freshwater sandbar in the world. We drove across the St. Louis River on the US 2 bridge to the Wisconsin port.

We walked to the end of the Superior Entry Channel Pier.

Two lighthouses mark the entry through the breakwater.

Superior Ore Docks

SS METEOR AND MARITIME MUSEUM ON BARKERS ISLAND, WISCONSIN

The SS Meteor, built in 1896, is the last remaining above-water whaleback ship in the world.

A whaleback was a type of cargo steamship of unusual design, with a hull that continuously curved above the waterline from vertical to horizontal. When fully loaded, only the rounded portion of the hull (the "whaleback") could be seen above the waterline. 

The SS Meteor is 380 feet in length.

The horn is still operable but with reduced volume.

Crew Quarters

Mess Hall

Engine Room with a Chadburn to receive orders from the Bridge.

This Mariner Monument, with his very large boots and small head, creates an optical allusion. Standing under him, looking up he appears much taller than actual size.

Fairlawn Mansion Museum

We drove across the Aerial Lift Bridge and viewed the Viking Expedition Ship, Polaris, in port at Duluth.

WILLIAM A. IRVIN MUSEUM

This retired restored freighter in Duluth Harbor is open for self-guided tours.

The US Steel Corporation Flagship, William A. Irvin, named after the company's president, was built in 1937.

Engine Room

The Galley

The Great Lakes freighter, Irvin, carried cargos of coal, iron ore, and lime.

The 610-foot ship was retired at the end of the 1978 season. She could not compete with the newer, larger, ships that could carry up to five times the cargo and were much faster.

The Irvin has a superstructure at both the bow and the stern. In addition to the wheelhouse and captain's quarters, the bow structure contains four luxury cabins for invited quests.

View of deck and bulk cargo holds from a forward cabin.

"OK my turn to drive."

Stairway into the cargo holds.

LAKE WALK ALONG LAKE SUPERIOR

We walked a very nice two-mile section of the boardwalk and bike path that follows the Superior shore from the Aerial Lift Bridge to the Duluth Rose Garden.

Northland Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Fitgers Historic Brewery

Lief Erickson Park

The Duluth Rose Garden was built above Interstate 35 which tunnels under a portion of the city of Duluth.

LAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSEUM

The Duluth train depot was built in 1892. It houses a huge selection of full-size railroad engines, cars and equipment trackside under the Depot's Train Shed.

This St. Paul & Pacific engine, built in 1861, is a wood burner.

This dashboard is more complicated than the motorhome.

This mobile post office train serviced remote towns along the line.

The woodburning Number 1 Minnetonka (1870) was the first engine in service on James J. Hill's Northern Pacific Railroad.