Voyager National Park, MN, USA – 2 Day Trip

With COVID sweeping the world I was so limited in the amount of traveling I could do for the summer. I had initially planned to stay for six weeks in Europe and spend three weeks with my brother and Grandmother in Germany. Helping her knockout out bucket list dreams. After brainstorming with my brother and my grandmother we concluded that we should buy and recreational trailer and traveling to national parks.

The first stop was to the only National Park in Minnesota, Voyager National Park. This park is mainly for people who want to camp on one of the many islands, but I wanted to check it out from land first and then come back ideally the following summer. A few quick notes about Voyager NP:

• No entrance fee
• Established in 1975
• 218,200 acres in size
• Four Main Lakes (Rainy, Kabetogma, Namakan, & Sand Point)
• Best for water activities (Canoeing, Kayaking, Boating, Fishing, etc.)

Day 1 – Arrival 06.05.2020

Leaving my hometown in Minneapolis we drove up north, the total trip time was 4.5 hours and 422km (264mi). Since we were traveling with a recreational trailer, we stayed at campsite resorts. The first place was in the national park, The Pines of Kabetogama Resort. Throughout my trip, this was easily a top 3 RV/RT resort. The place was extremely clean, had great facilities and you could kayak right into the national park.

We arrived early in the evening and set up camp. Just in time to have a campfire and take in the lovely sunset. My puppy Chewie came with me as a test run for this weekend and then rode back with my dad to the cities two days later. He seemed to love glamping!

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Day 2 – Hiking & Kayaking 06.06.2020

The plan for today was simple, head into Voyagers NP Ash River Visitor Center, take a few short hikes, and then head back to the resort to kayak. The first trail was to get a look at Kabetogama Lake, We took the Blind Ash Bay Trail. This is a very easy and short trail but gives you a great view of the lake and has a National Park Sign. There was another trail that I didn’t see on the map that leads to the Kabetogama Lake Overlook.

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The next stop was to Beaver Pond Overlook. Bevers is no longer active in this area, but we did get to see a moose coming out of the pond. Lastly, we took the Voyageurs forest overlook. All four of these trails are less than 30 minutes round trip each, but they provide great views of the national park without having to hire a boat. The park list out all the hiking trails here.

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A short twenty-minute drive back to the resort, we had lunch and then headed out to kayak on Kabetogama Lake. The resort provides the kayaks and the price is included in your stay. At times the lake was pretty rough and windy so it was hard to get some good photos, definitely should have worn the Go Pro.

Tomorrow morning, we have the longest drive of the trip to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, check out the post here.

Looking forward to coming back to Voyager someday. If you’ve been here before or even camped out on one of the 200+ islands, drop your experience in the comments.

Cheers!