How to Plan a Trip to Voyageurs National Park

Voyageurs National Park is a place that you must leave the land and take to the water to fully explore and appreciate. Voyageurs National Park, located in northern Minnesota, is made up of a series of interconnected waterways that provide days of enjoyment for recreational boaters. If you are planning a trip soon, you should plan on visiting Voyageurs National Park to explore the northwoods lake country of Minnesota.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Water Travel
   
   Plan on spending time travelling by water in Voyageurs National Park. Visitors to Voyageurs recreate and travel using a variety of vessels including kayaks, motor boats, house boats, and canoes. Stopover at any or all of the three visitor centers to participate in guided tours and naturalist programs based on the cultural and natural history of the park. Consult the visitor centers, park bulletin boards, and park website, for current activity schedules.

2. Boats on Interior Lakes Program
   
   Plan on exploring the interior lakes through the Boats on Interior Lakes Program. Visit the Kabetogama Peninsula where you can hike, fish, camp, and rent boats. Once you rent a boat you can travel to several lakes in the area and camp out as you paddle along your journey. Reserve a boat up to one week in advance by calling a visitor center.

3. Accommodations
   
   Plan on camping when you visit Voyageurs National Park. There are over 200 designated campsites in Voyageurs National Park that are all exclusively accessed by boat. You must register for a free permit to camp overnight in the park. Get your free permit by registering at a visitor center or at a self-registration site at a boat launch area. There are two drive-up campgrounds located just outside the park- Woodenfrog and Ash River state forest campgrounds. If you don't want to camp, consider lodging at the historic Kettle Falls Hotel.

4. Operating Season
   
   Check the Voyageurs National Park website or call the visitor centers to find out when the park is open for visitors. As that the park is located in northern Minnesota the winters are long and cold, and winter recreational opportunities are limited in the park. Winter visitors to the park tend to snowmobile and cross-country ski on the frozen lakes. Only the Rainy Lake Visitor Center is open year-round, so consult them for information during the winter months. The best months to visit are July and August, when the weather is pleasant and bug season is mostly over. All three visitor centers are open during the summer.

5. Additional Information
   
   Look online and in books for additional information as you plan your trip to Voyageurs National Park. See the Resources section below for links to additional information.

Resources

• Paddling the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs National Park
• Voyageurs National Park