With the campsite map showing a surfeit of nearby islands, we would paddle east into Namakan. From there we could paddle to either lake. To the east, in the narrow passage that leads to Namakan Lake, is the Ash River center. Situated in the middle of the lake’s southern shore is the Kabetogama center. On the park’s south side are two seasonal centers, staffed by volunteers from late May through late September. The Rainy Lake center, 12 miles east of International Falls, anchors the park’s western border, and the Crane Lake Ranger Station is the eastern portal.

Three visitors centers are the primary access points. Looking at the park’s website map, most of Voyageurs National Park’s 218,200 acres are covered by interconnected lakes, Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, Sand Point, and Crane. But it got me started that’s how we ended up at the Ash River Campground. The only thing close to a current guidebook I found was Steve Parrish’s 2015 report at Central Iowa Paddlers. Mother Nature waited until sleep found us before squeezing the rain out of them.īy Google results, Voyagers National Park is not very popular with kayakers. As he hung his hammock, the clouds steadily thickened like new sponges tossed into a star-filled pond. He arrived at 2115 and reached for his wallet. Staring at the stars, we hoped that Braden would have $3. He reported a no-bar cell signal, but he did somehow get a Snap Chat from his girlfriend. Stumbling into a dark ditch on his way back to camp, Kyle cursed. Appointed plan master, my research was now becoming reality. Wanting to avoid bugs and people, we committed to September 2018, after Labor Day. Snuggled against the Canadian border between Ely and International Falls, the speaker said it was like the Boundary Waters without portaging, and a boat is the only way to reach campsites scattered among its roughly 500 islands. Recalling a seminar at Canoecopia, Madison’s annual paddling extravaganza, I suggested Voyageurs National Park. But where? Braden remembered his Eagle Scout trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and then he remembered all the portages. This adventure had to be DIY, flexible, and affordable. With wetsuit water temps and robust reactions to weather, prudent, inexperienced Lake Superior paddlers opt for experienced guidance. We considered an Apostles redux but then came to our senses. Braden has a 17.5-foot Pygmy Coho Hi that he built while stationed at the Camp Jejune Marine Base Hospital in North Carolina.

I’d built an 18-foot CLC Chesapeake the year after the Apostle trip, and Kyle would paddle the 17-footer I built for my wife several years ago. Since we had the boats, it must be a kayak adventure. Marking the commencement of my 64th year the next day, we recalled the highlights of our adventures, and we immediately agreed that it was time to resume them. We gathered at Braden’s new home for Thanksgiving 2017. They sustained us through their college years and the inauguration of their careers. We saw the Milky Way there, too.Īnnual adventures seemed the best way for me, a noncustodial father, to spend time with my sons that built lasting memories. We made our first big trip in 2002, a five-day guided tour of the Apostle Islands that introduced us to sea kayaks and Lake Superior. We three were camping in the wilds of south-central Missouri to raft our way down the Niangua River. I’d last seen the Milky Way in 2006, the year Braden graduated from high school. A loon warbled in the deepening darkness and the Milky Way came into focus. When Kyle wandered into the gloaming in search of a cell signal, I slouched on the picnic table and stared at the celestial hi-def big screen framed by the surrounding trees. Braden, a 31-year-old ICU nurse, was on his way from Kansas City, where he’d settled with his family after five years with the Navy. A 28-year old mechanical engineer, Kyle traveled from St. Pitched on Site 8’s level spots, our tents formed an obtuse triangle with two trees suitably spaced for Braden’s hammock. NOAA weather radio warned of coming rain. Three bucks short of the $14 fee, we hoped Braden had $3, so we wouldn’t have to sacrifice a $20. A Minnesota DNR pocket park across a gravel road from its eponymous waterway, you self-register for the eight first-come, first-serve sites. An hour before a cloudless September sunset, Kyle and I pitched our tents at the Ash River Campground and waited for his brother, Braden, so we could begin our five-day, father-son adventure at Voyageurs National Park.

Wolfpack island rainey lake