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.