Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota commemorates those French-Canadian fur traders (Voyageurs), the first Europeans to travel through the area with their canoes 250 years ago. Indeed, while there are a few visitor centers and trails that can be reached by car, the best way to explore the 218,000 acres of lakes, rivers, and forests is by boat.

This is a national park where you can stand upon the oldest rocks in North America (1 – 3 billion years), while casting your eyes skyward for the nighttime dance of Aurora Borealis colors. Visit during the winter and you can literally drive an ice road over a lake to your snowshoe, snowmobile, or ice fishing destination. Visit during the fall and join other “leaf peepers” seeking the brilliant orange, gold, and red colors of trees lining the trails.

If you feel like stretching your legs on a hike, you are in luck, regardless whether you are driving or paddling. While Voyageurs National Park is a water-based park, you can still drive to 10 different trailheads. With a boat, you can access five more trails ranging from 2.5 miles (1.6 km) to 8 miles (12.9 km) in length.

Feel like dropping a line in the park’s waters? You can fish in the 30 named lakes (four large lakes and 26 smaller interior lakes) to reel in one or more of 54 fish species, including walleye, sauger, pike, bass, perch, and crappie.

Bring your binoculars and camera with you for spotting any of the 100 bird species living within or passing through the park, including songbirds, birds of prey, shorebirds, and waterfowl. You might also strike it rich with a bobcat, bear, wolf, or moose sighting. In fact, Voyageurs is home to several wolf packs and collaborates with Northern Michigan University on the Voyageurs Wolf Project, a research program studying the summer ecology of wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem.

Keep your eyes on the ground and perhaps you’ll cross paths with a blue-spotted salamander or bright red central newt. If you are camping beneath the stars, listen for the nightly chorus of spring peepers. 

Speaking of camping, Voyageurs offers 137 frontcountry campsites – but you’ll need watercraft to reach any of them since they are located on the park's large lakes. Same for backcountry camping. If you don’t have access to a boat, though, you can still hike in to two campsites along the Kab-Ash Trail.

Experience solitude while exploring the park from the unique perspective of a houseboat. Bring your own or rent one just outside the park’s boundaries to get away from it all while bringing the comforts of home with you.

Visit during 2025 and “raise a canteen” to help Voyageurs celebrate it’s 50^th anniversary as a national park. All summer long, the park will offer events and programs to commemorate this milestone.

Not a boater or don’t own a boat? Voyageurs National Park offers a wide range of guided boat tours and ranger-led programs to engage and educate you about the park’s ecosystem. So go ahead and add Voyageurs to your national park bucket list. There is plenty to do and the pages below will help you plan and prepare for a visit.

Traveler’s Choice For: Boating, birding, wildlife, photography