Voyageurs National Park – Rainy Lake

We arrived in the Voyageurs National Park area with a full day before the work week began so we made a run to the Rainy Lake Visitor’s Center to pickup my obligatory lapel pin and go for a little adventure too. Kerri, as usual,  scouted the area and decided to give the kayaks a shake down before our yak-packing trip this weekend. Not far out from our launch point was Little America Island which was once home to the only profitable gold mine in Minnesota. It really wasn’t much larger than a football field so we didn’t stick around for long.

We then set our heading to go see the Rainy Lake ghost town, about a mile across the channel. There was not much left, just the hollowed out shell of the old saloon and an old storage shed. We walked around to see what we could find exploring, but other than the saloon’s floor literally covered in rat droppings, some old metal and glass bits in the grass, a witch-like chicken (it screamed and followed us, super spooky), and some flowers blooming there wasn’t much more to it.

We paddled on further down the shore to another dock. There we went for a small stroll down a trail, but chose to keep it super short. By the time we returned to the kayaks at the dock, I had found four ticks on my clothing. Two more were found on me over the course of the paddle back to the truck. One more was found biting into my stomach later that evening… all from one tiny hike on an established trail.

I may – one day – stop having nightmares about these tiny fuckers, but not for many years I’m sure.