Saturday, August 11, 2018

9 August 2018 Kabetogama Visitor Center

The first part of the day was taken up by David working and having to drive up the hill to call into teleconferences. We then went to visit the Kabetogama Visitor Center of Voyageurs National Park. The visitor center is only a couple miles up the road from our resort. Voyageurs NP has three visitor centers spread along the vast shoreline of the lakes the compose Voyageurs NP. It’s primarily a water park so without a boat there are limits to what one can do. We got our passport stamp (#12), saw the park film and reviewed the exhibits. There are two guided boat tours in the park, one from the Kabetogama Visitor Center to Kettle Falls and one from the Rainey Lake Visitor Center, which goes to the Oveson Fish Camp. The Kettle Falls cruise books up months in advance since it is a small boat (only 16 people). We checked to see if there were any cancelations just in case and got some suggestions for hikes in the park. Voyageurs gets its name from the French-Canadian men that rowed canoes from the far west with furs to what is now Grand Portage National Monument. There, the furs were traded for pots, guns, beads and other trade goods, which would be taken west and traded to the Indians for Beaver furs. Their Birch Bark canoes were large (Called Montreal Canoes) with 12 rowers and could carry 3 tons of furs or trade goods. In an average summer, a Voyageur could row up to 3000 miles. From Grand Portage, the furs would be shipped east and then to Europe to be used in hats. 

We then drove around and located a couple of the restaurants in the area.

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