Bugs and Beavers: Northern Minnesota

Hit Voyaguers National Park after a lot of rain and some very high water.  The hiking on the mainland was not too good, but no matter, 'cause Voyageurs is all about hitting the water and boat camping.

So after a torrential downpour, we hopped into our chartered party boat for a 10 minute cruise across Lake Katamogama to the wild peninsula where we would find a National Park boat and paddle it to our campsite.

Landed at the submerged dock, donned our backpacks, and headed off!

The 2 mile trail was varied and interesting and not flat. 

Were delighted to turn a corner and come upon a beaver pond with not one, but three beavers cruising about in it, in the middle of the day.   Nearly unheard of!  After they spotted us and slapped tail and submerged, they came back to the  surface and ignored us while we admired them from up close.

Found our canoes and set forth to our campsite.  Calm weather had the water looking like glass!

On day two we decided to take on the portages between lakes on an exploratory mission.  Here we are at the end of the navageable connector between the lakes,

The mosquito vermin were expected but the ticks were not. This one got a hold of Dirk, but five others were removed before we needed pliers to do so!  At night we went to sleep to the hum of mosquitoes and the wolf howl-hyena laughing sound of the loons on the lake.  Cool but noisy at 2 am.  Reminiscent of the roosters of Nicaragua, who are very disrespectful of the time of night.

The trail was mostly so full of mosquitoes that a lunch break could be disasterous.  Dirk took advantage of his head net to store his lunch carrots!

After two days of canoeing and camping, we left the park to visit the big boys of northern Minnesota.  Smokey,

Paul Bunyan and Babe

and Vic the Voyageuer!

Could not leave Minnesota without a "Walleye Dinner," so here it is.  A mild, easy to like fish served with wild rice-cranberry bread!  Nice!  Stopped at the fish market to pick some up for the road, to go with the weird smoked fish we had previously picked up from a sketchy homey type operation.

After our thorough review of the Mississippi from New Orleans to Iowa to Minneapolis, it was fun to see the headwaters where it spills out of Lake Itasca in northwestern Minnesota.  The CCC built a rocky crossing where the river begins.

And it travels through this pretty wetland as it begins its long journey.  For our long journey we again head west into North Dakota, with the little known Teddy Roosevelt National Park as our destination!