Photo: National Park Service Digital Image Archives, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Voyageurs is a park you travel by water. Four big lakes and hundreds of islands wrap around the roadless Kabetogama Peninsula, the same granite-and-pine country the French-Canadian fur paddlers crossed two centuries ago. You can drive to three visitor centers, but the real park starts at the dock: on a ranger boat tour, in a rented canoe, or from the deck of a houseboat. Give it two or three days, and stay up late at least once, because the night sky here is as dark as it gets in the Midwest.
TRAILS
1 OF 8
Kettle Falls Cruise
Difficulty
Easy
Length
Full day (about 6.5 hr)
Elevation gain
Flat
Rainy Lake · Rainy Lake Visitor Center — The best way to see how big this park really is. The park's tour boat spends about two and a half hours crossing Rainy Lake to the historic Kettle Falls Hotel, where you get two hours to walk the grounds and the old dam. It is one of the few places in the lower 48 where you look south into Canada. Bring a jacket; the open lake is cool even in July.
⚠︎ Reserve on recreation.gov. Boat tours usually run mid-June through September.
Photo: Jeffkantor, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
2 OF 8
Cruiser Lake Trail
Difficulty
Strenuous
Length
8 mi one way
Elevation gain
Many short, steep climbs
Kabetogama Peninsula · Lost Bay or Anderson Bay dock — The one trail that crosses the heart of the Kabetogama Peninsula, from Kabetogama Lake to Rainy Lake. It rolls over bare rock ridges, past beaver ponds and through quiet pine forest to Cruiser Lake, with good odds of seeing moose or hearing wolves. Most people hike in from one dock and out the same way, or book a backcountry campsite and take two days. Both ends are reached only by boat.
⚠︎ Boat access only. No pets on peninsula trails. Backcountry campsites need a reservation.
Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
3 OF 8
Locator Lake Trail
Difficulty
Hard
Length
4 mi
Elevation gain
About 300 ft
Kabetogama Lake · north shore dock — Take a boat across Kabetogama Lake from the visitor center to the trailhead, then climb up and over a series of rocky ridges to the shore of Locator Lake. The trail is rooty, with stairs and steep pitches, but short enough for a half day. Reserve one of the park's canoes at the end and paddle the chain of quiet interior lakes beyond.
⚠︎ Boat access only. Canoes on Locator Lake must be reserved ahead.
Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
4 OF 8
Blind Ash Bay Trail
Difficulty
Moderate
Length
2.9 mi loop
Elevation gain
About 200 ft
Ash River · Ash River Visitor Center — The best hike you can reach by car. The loop leaves the upper lot at the Ash River Visitor Center and climbs onto rock outcrops with views over the bays of Kabetogama Lake. Tall pines, blueberry patches in midsummer and long stretches of bare granite make it feel far more remote than it is. Wear shoes with grip; the rock is slick when wet.
Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
5 OF 8
Echo Bay Trail
Difficulty
Easy
Length
1.5 or 2.5 mi loop
Elevation gain
Mostly flat
Kabetogama · County Road 122 — A gentle forest loop about three miles from the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center, with a short or long option. It winds past wetlands and beaver ponds where you can watch for herons, frogs and, at dusk, beavers at work. A good leg-stretcher on a windy day when the lake is too rough for a boat. In winter the same trail is groomed for skiing and snowshoeing.
Photo: Yinan Chen, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
6 OF 8
Oberholtzer Trail
Difficulty
Easy
Length
1.6 mi
Elevation gain
Mostly flat
Rainy Lake · Rainy Lake Visitor Center — A short walk from the Rainy Lake Visitor Center to two overlooks above a wetland and the lake. The first half mile round trip is built for wheelchairs and strollers. It is named for Ernest Oberholtzer, who spent decades fighting to keep this border lake country wild. Pair it with a boat tour from the same dock.
Photo: Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
7 OF 8
Grand Tour of Rainy Lake
Difficulty
Easy
Length
About 2.5 hr tour
Elevation gain
Flat
Rainy Lake · Rainy Lake Visitor Center — The shorter boat tour, and a good first afternoon in the park. The captain weaves between islands looking for bald eagles, loons and the occasional black bear on shore, and stops near Little American Island, site of a short-lived 1890s gold rush. If you can't give a full day to Kettle Falls, start here.
⚠︎ Reserve on recreation.gov. Tours run in summer and early fall.
Photo: NPS, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
8 OF 8
Night sky at Rainy Lake
Difficulty
Easy
Length
Short walk
Elevation gain
Flat
Rainy Lake · Rainy Lake Visitor Center — Voyageurs is a certified International Dark Sky Park, and the open water gives you a full sky in every direction. On clear nights the Milky Way is bright enough to cast reflections, and from late summer through winter the northern lights show up often. Walk down to the shore near the visitor center, let your eyes adjust for 20 minutes, and look north.
⚠︎ Winter nights can drop well below zero. Never walk on lake ice unless you know it is safe.
Photo: NPS, public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Plan your Voyageurs trip
The Nova Bound app builds the whole trip around these trails: where to stay, where to charge, and what to see each day. Coming soon to the App Store.
Distances are round trip unless noted, from NPS.gov and rounded. Trails, permits and road openings change; always check nps.gov before you go. Trail write-ups by Nova Bound.