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Michigan & Minnesota

Isle Royale & Voyageurs National Parks

By Scott Richardson

September 29^th, 2024

After last summer's road trip to Alaska, returning in winter to photograph the northern lights, and visiting the most beautiful sights in Canada, the western US, and Hawaii over the past three years, people have asked, "Where to next?" Everyone seemed a bit surprised to hear that the destination of our next road trip was Michigan and Minnesota.

My quest to visit all of America's national parks led us to one of our most unique trips yet: a road trip, interrupted by a fly-in backpacking trip, followed by a week-long boat trip, before road-tripping home.

No matter how many preparations I made before a trip, managing to leave the house on time was always a struggle. My wife, Kirsten, asked that we depart by 1:30. I worked until closer to 2, scooped the cat litter, packed leftovers into a cooler, and cleaned the last of the dishes, only to find that the kitchen faucet had sprung a leak and soaked the cabinet below. We finally hit the road closer to 3 but stopped within a 1/4 mile of home to grab a slice of pizza for a late lunch.

While Michigan's Upper Peninsula is relatively close compared to prior trips (a mere 850-mile, 12-hour trip), we'd booked our first campsite south of Cleveland and knew we'd be in for a late night.

After a lackluster sleep interrupted by a surprise rainshower, we hit the road early en route to Michigan. A mid-morning detour found us spending money at REI (to resupply shower wipes for backcountry body maintenance) and only later realized we'd likely only been a parking lot away from a college friend we hadn't seen in over a decade. For lunch, we strained our eyeballs to read the small type of a 13" menu board hoisted 8 feet in the air at a tasty little taco shop in Midland, then headed straight to Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Knowing our time at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore would be limited to one night; we immediately set out on a hike to explore the dunes left behind by the last ice age. The landscape is reminiscent of Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan's south shore, but, away from the major interstates and outskirts hundreds of miles away from major cities, it was much quieter.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We set up camp in the park's campground and wandered to the lakeshore for sunset. After dark, I returned to the beach to see if any tiny signs of aurora borealis might be visible. Looking out to the north, I saw nothing but clouds building on the horizon. The southern view was clear and dark, thanks to Lake Michigan buffering the beach from city lights, and the milky way was visible to the naked eye.

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We started the second morning of the trip just as early as the first. We had a lot of miles to cover and a boat tour to catch by early evening at Pictured Rocks. Lingering clouds blotted out the sunrise, and wind pounded the car as we drove north toward the Upper Peninsula. We stopped for coffee in Traverse City, decided that gnat-covered pastries would still be delicious, and admired an odd roadside "scenic viewpoint" that only featured a view of the highway itself.

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By late morning, we'd reached the Mackinac Bridge, and the sun finally poked out to give us a clear view of Mackinac Island and Lake Huron.

The bridge was under a high-wind warning, but we quickly crossed and entered the Upper Peninsula.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The Upper Peninsula

The Upper Peninsula greeted us with roadside pastie shops, abandoned motels, and more scenic viewpoints than you could pull off the road to enjoy. We continued along the top of Lake Michigan before stopping for lunch at its northernmost point. There, sandwich-making became an athletic sport as I ran after chip bags, condiment lids, and napkins that the wind took from out of my reach.

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Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

The wind made it no surprise to receive a text alert that our sunset cruise at Pictured Rocks had been canceled due to rough seas. Lake Superior's immense size creates its own weather, and the number of shipwrecks noted on maps shows how dangerous it can become.

Without a deadline, we slowed down our pace and leisurely explored Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. And given it was Labor Day weekend, so did everyone else. We abandoned an anxiety-inducing drive to Chapel Beach as hikers had crammed cars into every open space along both sides of the narrow gravel road, and a "quick visit" to the site would've taken us hours to drive out of. Instead, we found a somewhat quieter experience at the Miner's Castle overlooks before continuing toward our campsite.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Searching for dinner in Munising, we found fried pickles on the menu of a hot dog stand, and for whatever reason, that sounded perfect. The stand shared a location with a bar, and for whatever reason, that also sounded perfect. While we waited for dinner, I opted for a beer while Kirsten ordered a cocktail from a "specials" list sitting on the bar. The bartender answered that she had "no idea what that cocktail was" and that "the spirits suppliers make that stuff up." She gave it a shot and produced something that resembled a cocktail. We ate and drank in the bar's yard and watched local kids run in front of passing cars, hoping to sell them a lemonade out of a long-abandoned IGA grocery store parking lot.

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Given the crowds at Pictured Rocks nearby, we were surprised by how quiet the local campground was. We enjoyed the campground's empty beach, and I read up on the native and mining history of Isle Royale as the sunset faded on the horizon. Later, we found a clearing and stargazed.

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Keweenaw Peninsula

The third morning of our trip was like the others: early. Having reached as far north as possible, we headed west toward the Keweenaw Peninsula. In Houghton, we stopped to snap photos at a friend's alma mater, then talked with a ranger at the Isle Royale visitor center in preparation for our trip the following day.

North of the canal, we stopped to explore the Quincy Mine, part of Keweenaw National Historical Park, and learned about copper mining throughout the peninsula.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We continued to explore the Keweenaw Peninsula, stopping for coffee in Calumet, a picnic lunch near the Eagle River lighthouse, a forested (and bug-filled) hike at Redwyn Dunes, and took in waterfall views along the way. Though we knew it'd be closed before the trip, we still kicked ourselves for being in the area when the monk-run bakery, The Jampot, was closed.

We skipped an exorbitant fee to climb the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse and paid a state park fee that no ranger would've ever likely come to collect near Fort Wilkins. At the end of the road and the start of the nearly 2000-mile-long US 41, the only fee we paid for enjoying the gravel roads and hike to Horseshoe Bay was in picking up after inconsiderate visitors who left their soda cans on the beach and rock cairns in need of swift disassembly.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Isle Royale National Park

We spent our first hotel night of the trip frantically packing four days' worth of food, clothing, and camera gear into backpacks in preparation for an early morning seaplane departure to Isle Royale. We're amateur backpackers, and although we've accumulated a collection of lightweight camping gear, the bulk stretches our backpack's zippers.

Isle Royale National Park contains Lake Superior's largest island and more than 400 outlying islands, preserved as wilderness for recreation and isolation. Its remote location limits access to two options: by boat or seaplane. We chose seaplane to maximize our time on the ground and to save ourselves the inevitable seasickness that Lake Superior might provide.

Beyond being packed into the plane tighter than our gear was in the backpacks, our ride above Lake Superior was uneventful. Nothing can beat the scenic small plane rides we've done in Alaska, and the scenery of the Keweenaw, Lake Superior, and the eastern edge of Isle Royale don't even try to compete. Uneventful, boring; insert whatever word fits here. The idea is: the seaplane's value is in its quick, non-seasick inducing delivery of you to the island.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Our arrival at Isle Royale was met with a setback: our plan to canoe camp down the island's coast and through its barrier islands was thwarted by Lake Superior's relentless winds, leading to a swift denial of our canoe rental request.

Instead, he offered us a canoe for 4-hours to cross Tobin Harbor and explore Hidden Lake, which he noted was great for wildlife viewing. Immediately upon docking at the lake, we saw a wolf poking around in the trees before taking off into the brush.

We took the trail through an area burned by a lightning-caused wildfire in 2021, marveling at the gigantic Monument Rock, clearly visible through the sparse forest remnants. At Lookout Louise, we took in a view of Duncan Harbor and further to Canada on the horizon.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The paddle back across Tobin Harbor was rough. The harbor master's reading of the weather was correct: high winds kicked up waves, creating a problematic headwind to paddle against. We shot a diagonal line across the seaplane landing strip and returned to the Rock Harbor dock unscathed.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We took a mid-afternoon hike to Scoville Point along the Stoll Trail. Hiking along the Rock Harbor trail found us hiking over boulders with water views for nearly the entire hike to the point. We completed the loop by hiking the more forested Tobin Harbor side back to the lodge, ending at the remnants of the Smithwick mine.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The rough waves of Lake Superior's summer turn into a sheet of ice in winter and Isle Royale is deserted from late fall until early spring. The end of the tourist season in early September meant staff shortages, so we lined up for dinner promptly at 5:30 PM, which left us plenty of time to experience the sunset over Tobin Harbor after dinner.

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Early the following day, we traded in our lodge room overlooking Rock Harbor's outlying islands for Isle Royale's rougher side. We zipped up our backpacks and hit the trail for 2-nights of backpacking along the Rock Harbor trail.

A sign near the visitor's center advised hikers to consider hiking the Tobin Harbor trail as its dirt surface provided fewer hazards than the slippery rocks of Rock Harbor. With no rain in the forecast and partly sunny skies, we still opted to take the easier, forested trail. The quiet of Tobin Harbor was only briefly interrupted by a passing hiker or a distant floatplane landing.

After a few miles, we took a spur trail to Suzy's Cave, the remnants of an ancient sea arch once carved by turbulent waters, now 100 yards inland of the lake shore.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The Rock Harbor trail's exposed rock faces proved more challenging than the dirt trail we hiked earlier in the morning. But its lake views, wildflowers, and lichen-lined boulders gave us plenty to look at along the way.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

While I'm usually happy with a Clif bar or a few crackers for lunch, my wife asked that we pack a hot option for each meal. I'm generally skeptical of the distress that freeze-dried backpacking food might create (intestinally), but our trailside meals were quite tasty on this outing.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The sunshine and verdant ground cover made the remaining miles fly by as we hiked into Daisy Farm campground. The forecast called for rain after midnight, so we looked for an open shelter, hoping to stay dry. Unfortunately, all of the shelters and almost all of the tent sites were occupied. We found an isolated campsite tucked into the back of the campground and stowed our food in a locking dog kennel provided by the park service to discourage scavenging wolves.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

With our heavy packs stowed in the tent, we hiked up the ridge toward the Mount Ojibwe fire tower. Clearing the first ridge, we found another ridge and then another until we climbed to the top of the tallest point on the eastern end of Isle Royale.

Blocked from reaching the very top, we admired a 360-degree view from the tower's steps. The wind whipped up, and we scrambled to the tower's base but found plenty to explore in the surrounding clearing

Bracing for a wet night, we hiked to the lake to filter drinking water for the next morning's hike. I waded into deeper water to avoid filling the filter with sediment and ended up with soaked pants by the time we'd filled our bottles and camelbacks. In camp, I hung my pants to dry, but the sun had begun to set and I accepted that I'd have to hike in wet pants without any time to dry them before the rain started.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The short four-mile hike to Moskey Basin felt long. A light rain persisted for much of the hike, and each step on a slick boulder caused a fear of falling. I lost my footing on a slippery rock, the weight shifted in my backpack, and I tumbled into a bush. Later, just outside the next campground, my feet slipped out from under me on a slick boardwalk, and I landed directly on my ass.

We vowed we'd get a shelter once we got to Moskey Basin, but our late start and campers taking a zero day to shelter from the rain meant there weren't any available. Kirsten asked a stranger if they'd be willing to share their shelter designed for at least five more people than the sole guy occupying it, and having heard precisely these words, he agreed to let us crash.

With a dry shelter to sleep and dry our clothes in, we were living high until I immediately caught a nail in my sleeping pad, and it refused to stay inflated. It would be an uncomfortable night.

Luckily, our shelter-mate made great company and we spent the day admiring the landscape and exchanging stories. He'd retired from a career as a Game Warden and pointed out birds that passed through camp. He also alerted us to a wolf circling camp each evening around dinnertime.

Assuming the wolf was running behind schedule or, more likely, had found another campground to stalk, we headed out for an evening hike. Crossing the creek, I leaned down to take a picture when Kirsten said "A wolf is coming across the boardwalk!" We walked to the far end of the boardwalk to give the wolf space, and it slowly rambled along the boards, stopping in the middle to admire the sunset. Eventually, the wolf made it to our end of the boards and bolted when we gave a quick hand clap as a warning.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

I'm not sure if I woke up early or if I never really fell asleep on the cold, hard floor of the shelter. Either way, I saw our shelter-mate hit the trail, retrieved the wet items I'd been drying on paracord strung between trees, and made a packet of freeze-dried oats for breakfast.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

The wind kicked up rough waters as we waited for a water taxi to return us to the land of comfortable mattresses, hot showers, cinnamon rolls, and beer. I saw my marriage start to crumble as we stared at the horizon, hoping to see a boat appear, a cold wind whipping us all the while. Luckily, after a 40-minute delay, the boat did appear, albeit with a captain grumpy he couldn't easily dock in the wind. Marriage saved.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Back at the Rock Harbor Lodge, we let the pastries win. We tried to warm up over a second breakfast of cinnamon rolls, coffee, and tea. In our experience, if you sit around that restaurant long enough, you'll likely make friends or trade an interesting story. We talked about our travels in Alaska with someone who insisted that the best hiking in the world is in Eastern Europe. We recounted war stories of our short backpacking trip on the island. Eventually, breakfast turned into beer, and we wondered if the guy we'd been talking to would take the hike he'd been telling us he'd been getting ready for all morning.

We waited to check into the cabin where we'd spend our last night on Isle Royale, get a warm shower, and claim our spot at the front of the line for the 5:30 dinner.

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Our last morning on Isle Royale was sunny, and our seaplane arrived to return us to the mainland just down the hill from our cabin.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Frog Bay Tribal National Park

Back at the car, we stowed our backpacks, and I disassembled a solar panel I set up to keep a battery charged while we were on the island. The battery powers a fridge, and the refrigerator holds a modest selection of cold condiments for use later in the trip. Luckily, it was ready to keep the beer cold I picked up at a brewery in Houghton.

We left Michigan and headed for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin. Nearby, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa runs the nation's first tribal national park, Frog Bay, conserving boreal forest and pristine Lake Superior shoreline and protecting the headwaters of the Frog Creek watershed.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Several small towns in Wisconsin seem to offer municipal campgrounds along Lake Superior, but only one came up while I was planning the trip. Herbster, WI runs a great little campground in a charmingly small town with modern facilities. We ate dinner a few minutes away at The Cranberry, and explored a log-built community gym dating to the 1940s open for the public to use.

Sunset along the lake was vibrant, and as much as I hoped I might catch a glimpse of the northern lights above the lake, it didn't happen.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We headed back toward the Apostle Islands in the morning for a kayak trip along red cliffs and small sea caves. We met our guide at the end of a road running through a campground run by a casino, and waited for other guests to arrive. One late arrival mentioned another kayak guide canceled due to waves, but our guide was happy to take us out. Once on the water, we realized the waves would be a challenge.

Our guide led us over the remains of a shipwreck and along beautiful red rock cliffs along the Red Cliff reservation. Waves gently rocked us as we admired small caves but grew more active as we looped back toward our starting point.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Voyageurs National Park

Our next stop was Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota, tucked away from any large towns in the heart of an area where bar parking lots are filled with UTVs, and owning a boat seems like a prerequisite.

Though Duluth is 2.5 hours from the park, we figured it'd be the best option for a decent grocery run. We loaded up on meals and snacks for our four days in Voyageurs and to get us started on our drive home at the end of the trip.

From Duluth, almost every town you encounter is less populated than the last. We drove a straight road for the better part of two hours, then turned onto a smaller road and drove it until it ended at Crane Lake.

We stayed at the lodge of our houseboat outfitter, hoping to get an early start the following day. At dinner, it seemed we'd be the only guests of the lodge's restaurant until a boat arrived with two fishing lodge guests further up the lake looking for dinner.

Having wifi access (my cell signal had been non-existent for days), I checked the aurora prediction apps and hoped a minor solar storm might produce some action in the skies. I waited on the beach without any noticeable northern lights in the sky, hoping they might appear, but my camera could only capture some color.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We'd been promised access to our houseboat by late-morning but checked in hoping to get on the water early. "A little while longer" turned into an hour or two, and having already packed our bags and collected a pile of gear in the car, we returned to the restaurant for breakfast.

By late morning, the houseboat was cleaned up and ready to board. The lodge's front desk staff walked us through radio calls and boat return procedures. The deckhands guided our car to the dock, unloaded our gear, and gave a brief orientation.

I don't mean to discount the importance of their orientation, but, beyond showing us the boat's heat, plumbing and electrical systems, the driving orientation went something like this:

"You've never driven a boat before? No problem, it's easy. The throttle is governed to below 4000 RPM; you'll cruise under seven miles per hour. Going upstream you'll keep the green buoys on your right, red buoys on the right coming back. Remember: red, right, return. Tie the two mooring lines at 45-degree angles to trees each night. If you don't know knots, tie a lot. Don't hit rocks. That's it. Have fun." And with that, we were alone to drive a 44-foot pontoon boat through narrow, rocky passages for four days.

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Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Voyageurs National Park spans a massive area of lakes, forests, and rocky islands along the Minnesota/Ontario border. The park's name commemorates the French-Canadian Voyageurs who canoed the interconnected waterways, portaged between lakes and created settlements along the route of the beaver fur trade.

Indigenous people have occupied the land and used the waterways for over 10,000 years. Starting with nomadic tribes who hunted game, fished the waters, and gathered plants, and moving to permanent settlements who farmed and gathered wild rice.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Voyageurs' rocks tell the story of the continent. Its exposed rocks are the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, the volcanic bedrock on which the continent grew.

For our first campsite, we aimed to reach the park's highest feature: the 125-foot-tall Grassy Bay Cliffs. These sheer granite cliffs rise above Sand Point Lake and light up in the late-afternoon light.

We cruised around the Grassy Bay Cliffs and deployed our towboat to scout a campsite in a tree-lined secluded bay nearby. Kirsten steered the houseboat toward shore, cut the power, and let the pontoons drift into the boulders, creating a screeching sound. Nervous that we'd punctured a pontoon, I inspected the metal and saw that we'd adequately beached the boat on skis welded below the pontoons. We had successfully moored our boat into its first campsite.

After settling in, we took the smaller towboat out for a cruise around the cliffs, admiring their height and cracks. We rode around a rocky island, and I climbed a slope of lichen-covered, loose boulders to grab some photos.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

In camp, we made dinner and hiked up a hill to take in the view. We spotted another group camped nearby on the other side of the lake, but from our campsite you couldn't hear any other humans, only the sound of waves lapping and loons calling.

We watched the sunset and the moon rise over a small island across a narrows from our campsite. A few hours later, the moon set, and the Milky Way appeared in its place.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

In the morning, we piloted the small tow boat a short distance from our campsite to the trail to Little Trout Lake. The mushroom-lined trail leads to an inland lake with rocky shores.

Later, Kirsten piloted the houseboat out of Grassy Bay and back into the main portion of Sand Point Lake. We spotted a bald eagle perched atop a bald tree on an island.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Kirsten had claimed the role of houseboat captain. She expertly steered us through rocky lake sections, quickly navigating the buoy system and threading us through the Namakan Narrows into Namakan Lake.

At a max speed of seven miles per hour, we always cruised along at a speed appropriate for sightseeing. We chose a few small islands to cruise through as they were more interesting to look at but steered toward open water when we needed to speed through the miles a little quicker.

We dipped in and out of Canadian waters while cruising along Namakan Lake and passed a concrete international boundary marker. If you're on the water, and not setting foot on land, you can cruise through Canada. Our outfitter warned us to stay clear of the Canadian islands as they fail to mark rocks as obstacles on the maps.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We picked out a campsite on the map and hoped it'd be unoccupied when we arrived. To our delight, it was. The sandy site sat in the quiet, secluded Mica Bay, surrounded by marsh on one side and a forested rocky point on the other. It was positioned a short 15-minute boat ride in either direction to a hiking trail and the historic Kettle Falls hotel. It was also straightforward to moor the boat on the sandy beach with sturdy trees to lash to.

We took the tow boat along the glassy waters of Namakan Lake, where the lake poured into Rainy Lake at Kettle Falls. We parked the boat upstream from the waterfall and explored the area on foot.

Natives once caught abundant fish in the eddies surrounding the eight-foot drop between the lakes. In the early 1900's, a dam altered the waterfall to create electricity for growing local industries and make floating logs easier for timber companies. The dam raised water levels and destroyed native rice beds.

An area full of industry is usually full of colorful characters, and Kettle Falls is no exception. The Kettle Falls Inn has provided rooms to travelers since 1913. The hotel's cook greeted us and encouraged us to explore the rooms upstairs. He recounted numerous stories of unexplained, supernatural occurrences: strange noises of a bell ringing, unexplained electrical disturbances, and equipment acting up.

The hotel's bar is unique: its notably titled floor is a relic of the building's foundation shifting. When the hotel was renovated, the bar floor was left at a slant, though its pool table is situated on a flat platform. The bartender, though friendly enough, barely talked. He served drinks, made small talk then seemed to stop mid-sentence and stare at sports commentary on TV. Another couple walked into the bar and told us they had come to see the bartender, who the internet had labeled as "unfriendly."

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We returned to camp in time to cook dinner and enjoy the sunset by the marsh. The calm water and secluded location made for a relaxing stay.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We woke up to a fog, toasted English muffins for breakfast, and hoped it'd burn off quickly. Not wanting to derail our plans completely, we carefully steered the tow boat close to shore to keep any rock obstructions in sight instead of steering into the foggy center of the lake.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Several hikes have left a lasting memory from our trips: the hike up the Harding Icefield trail at Exit Glacier near Seward, Alaska, is memorable for its beauty. A walk along the steaming fumaroles in Landmannalaugar, Iceland, is memorable because I misrepresented its length and elevation gain.

The 12-mile hike around Beast Lake to Anderson Bay in Voyageurs may make that list for 12 miles of...nothing. It's not that the hike had nothing interesting to look at; it had plenty of colorful mosses and foliage and several lakes to detour to. It's that no part of the hike was remarkable, and certainly not for the effort of keeping on a trail that the parks service represents as "rustic unimproved," which in reality means "don't miss that next cairn or you'll be wandering lost in the forest."

Truthfully, I enjoyed the hike, though I'm convinced that the "beast" that gives Beast Lake its name must have been a mosquito. We found plenty of bear and fox scat along the trail to ensure that wildlife exists somewhere in the park, and we found swans swimming in a pond. Peary Lake provided quiet solitude.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

At the trail's end, the midpoint of our loop, we saw Anderson Bay, a rocky bay of Rainy Lake named for an eccentric man who claimed it had the most comfortable rocks to sleep on.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Our Mica Bay campsite was the clear winner of the trip. We spent both nights walking along the sandy beach to the marsh, searching for frogs hiding in the shallow water. It provided hours of entertainment.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We were sad to leave Mica Bay behind, but our radio signal barely reached back to the outfitter's base, and the distance we'd need to cover to return the boat on time demanded we find a campsite closer to Crane Lake.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We cruised through Namakan Lake on our fourth day in Voyageurs, weaving through scenic bunches of islands and looking out for eagles. When we reached the Namakan Narrows, an incredibly scenic narrow strip of water surrounded by Minnesota on one side and Canada on the other, we turned around. We cruised through several times to enjoy the beauty and look for ancient petroglyphs on the rocks.

Our last campsite was frustrating. We needed to return the houseboat to our outfitter on Crane Lake by 9 AM the following morning, so we looked for a campsite within a 1.5-hour distance. We'd penciled in the hike around Mukooda Lake as a possibility. I pulled up a satellite map I'd downloaded to my iPad before the trip, and we scouted a few campsites: two looked to have sandy beaches that should have made for an easy mooring.

In reality, neither campsite was suitable. We tried three times to moor our boat to a sandy shore before realizing our ropes were too short to reach sturdy trees to tie off to. The wind pushed the boat into dangerously shallow sand each time we attempted. I launched the tow boat and headed across the bay to scout the other side, but its soil had eroded from the tree roots. None of the trees could hold a massive pontoon boat from the blowing wind. And to cap it off, even the tiny boat was getting blown off course as I approached the beach to scout.

Kirsten eventually moored the boat to the first site by backing up and driving full steam into a spot further down the shallow beach. I quickly tied the ropes to two sturdy trees, and we called it good enough.

Tired from the effort, we phoned in the hike around Mukooda Lake and told ourselves it looked like every other lake we'd seen in the area. There was some truth to that.

A short distance from the trailhead lies the foundation of the "St. Paul Club," a hideaway for gangsters looking to relax or hide out from agents hot on their case. Many prohibitionists, gangsters, and crooked cops came to the St. Paul Club for vacation and protection.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We cooked pasta for dinner and experimented with freeze-dried pesto frybread as a side. It was delicious and stole the show.

As the moon started to dip below the tree line, I headed to the top deck of the houseboat to make one last attempt to see the aurora. I waited patiently as the temperature dipped, then started to see movement in the sky. I ran downstairs to alert Kirsten, climbed back onto the roof, and began snapping photos. Kirsten was unimpressed with the faint show of aurora, though we could both make out movement and forms in the sky.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Our last morning went quickly. I woke up and showered in time to catch the sun rising over the bay. We untied the boat and started cruising toward Crane Lake before breakfast. We ate the last or our oatmeal in transit and scrambled to clean the last of our dishes as we waited for our outfitter to accompany us into their dock.

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

Michigan & Minnesota

We're suckers for park stamps. We purchased national parks passport books at the Kenai Fjords Visitor Center nearly ten years ago, and while we sometimes forget to bring them along, we try to collect the park stamps when we can. That led us on a short detour north to the park's visitor center when we needed to head south toward our 21-hour drive home.

With our park stamps complete, the park film viewed, and a souvenir purchased, we headed home. First, through the backwoods of northern Minnesota, down to the big city of Duluth (and a visit to the quirky Duluth Trading Company store), onto a cheap hotel in Wisconsin Dells, a nine-hour day into a cheap hotel in the Pittsburgh suburbs, and onto home by Sunday. Another trip is complete.

Michigan & Minnesota

© 2026 Scott Richardson

Katmai National Park

February 10^th, 2026

Juneau & Kodiak

Where Pavement Ends and Wilderness Begins

Glacier Bay National Park

November 28^th, 2025

Big Bend National Park

September 7^th, 2025

Great Basin and Capitol Reef

September 4^th, 2025

Joshua Tree National Park

February 22^nd, 2025

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