Minnesota
Why Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota is a hidden well of natural beauty
National Parks: Rarely visited parks worth going out of your way for
These are among America’s least visited national parks, excluding remote places like Alaska, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Dry Tortugas.
Staff video, USA TODAY
Just like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a national park by its numbers. Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota is one of the least visited national parks in America.
“I think it’s one of the best kept secrets,” said Mark Miller, the park’s acting chief of Interpretation, Education, Visitor Services, Public Affairs and Partnerships.
“We are a water-based park predominantly, with approximately 40% of our acreage being water,” he said.
In the summer, Voyageurs’ lakes are prime for water recreation like canoeing, fishing and just relaxing on houseboats “complete with a hot tub and a waterslide off the upper deck.” In the winter, Miller said, “People love to come for 110 miles of snowmobile trails that we have, a number of miles worth of groomed cross country ski trails, (and) ice fishing.
Here’s what travelers should know about Voyageurs, the latest national park in USA TODAY’s yearlong series.
What is so special about Voyageurs National Park?
“The park is so well known for its amazing landscapes, the 218,000 acres of woods and waters that border on the boreal forest,” Miller said. “From an ecology standpoint, great stands of white pines, red pines and the ecosystem that holds megafauna like moose and bear and wolves, but also the geology of the park, rocks up to 2.8 billion – with a B – years old, some of the oldest rocks here in the heart of the continent of North America. Our lakes are lined with this amazing, rocky shoreline of exposed granite with pine tree-studded forests.”
He noted that 99% of the park’s campsites have lakefront views, which is unique among national parks. They’re perfect spots to sit back and take in the night sky.
“We are a certified International Dark Sky Park and what that means is incredible dark skies that we strive to preserve and protect so that people can come and have an opportunity to see the Milky Way in all its glory, constellations like they’ve never seen before, and the northern light, the aurora borealis, shimmering in waves, the orange, red, pink and green,” Miller said.
Where is Voyageurs located?
Voyageurs National Park is located in Northern Minnesota, almost to Canada. It’s about four-and-a-half hours away from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul by car.
The gateway city of International Falls is about 12 miles away from the park. There is a small airport in International Falls, which offers connecting flights to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport via Delta and regional carrier Sky West.
“For those people that are looking for a remote, yet unique, beautiful experience, Voyageurs is a great place,” Miller said.
What’s the most visited national park? Answers to your biggest park questions
Can you drive into Voyageurs National Park?
Yes, but how far you can drive depends on the season.
“Via snowmobile and driving on our plowed ice roads, one could make the argument that in terms of driving a car, there’s actually more mileage that you could do in the wintertime,” Miller said.
The rest of the year, there are a couple of what Miller describes as spur roads that lead to the park’s Rainy Lake and Ash River visitor centers. “That’s about the extent of driving a vehicle on our road inside the park boundary.” During open-water season, he said most people take watercraft deeper into the park.
What is the best time of year to visit Voyageurs?
Voyageurs is a year-round park with no entrance fees, but there are two sweet spots for Miller.
“I love August and September,” he said. “You get the best of summer. The air is dried out. There’s less bugs. It’s warm. And then if you wait a little further into September, you get the opportunity to enjoy the turning colors of autumn.”
For winter activities like snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and ice fishing, Miller recommends February and March.
“February and March is often when we have the best snow and ice conditions and warmer temperatures. We’re talking maybe highs in the 20s come mid February to mid March,” he said. “Hopefully we’re done with highs that are below zero like we often see in January.”
What months can you see the northern lights in Voyageurs National Park?
You can potentially see northern lights any time of year at Voyageurs.
“If you’re a night owl, being here in the summertime is of course as good a time as any, yet it stays light pretty long at these northern latitudes,” Miller said. “It’s really not getting dark in June and the first half of July and until after 10 p.m., and there’s ambient light that persists seemingly as late as 11 p.m.”
In the winter, he said there’s roughly nine more hours of darkness. But darkness alone isn’t enough.
“The key to being able to see the northern lights really has to do more with is there a solar storm and are the skies cloud-free?” he said. “With the solar storms increasing lately – and we’re kind of in a peak of an 11-year typical cycle – here in 2024 and 2025, there are great opportunities to come and see the northern lights.”
Who are the Native people of the land?
“The predominant Indigenous tribe is the Anishinaabe. That is the term that the area tribes often refer to themselves as,” Miller said. “The word Ojibwe is probably more commonly used. It’s the same people group essentially as the Chippewa, which is another word that is used.”
“The Dakota (Sioux) people that have a history in this area as well. Throughout the generations, they ended up migrating to further west onto the plains and the prairies,” he added. “There’s also the Cree but they’re more north, northwest.”
(ABC 6 News) — It’s a big weekend for politics in Minnesota as both the DFL and GOP conventions are getting underway.
The DFL Convention is being held in Rochester, and delegates will endorse candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, and governor on Friday night.
Current Attorney General Keith Ellison received the DFL endorsement for attorney general.
Meanwhile, endorsements for U.S. Senate will be up on Saturday.
On Sunday, delegates will be voting on who they will back for state auditor.
A big shakeup in the convention took place earlier this week with Rep. Angie Craig announcing she will not seek the DFL endorsement as she campaigns for U.S. Senate.
Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig no longer seeking DFL endorsement in Senate race
Both Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are running for the seat on the DFL side.
This U.S. Senate seat is open after current Sen. Tina Smith announced she will not be running for reelection.
Senator Tina Smith will not seek reelection in 2026
As for the gubernatorial race, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is expected to receive the DFL endorsement on Friday night. ABC 6 News is at the convention, and we will have the latest updates throughout the weekend both on air and online.
Beef prices have climbed to record highs this year, and consumers are noticing.
That’s due in part to the U.S. cattle herd being the smallest it’s been in 75 years due to drought and high feed costs. John Lauritsen shows us how that’s impacting smaller beef producers in Minnesota.
“In 2008 we started with three cows. And we didn’t sell our first beef to consumers until 2011,” said Josh Krenz of Windland Flats Farm near Princeton.
But for the past 15 years, Krenz said his Highland Cattle have been in high demand. The long-haired cows are a niche product, and over the past 5 years consumers have been contacting Windland Flats Farm for their steaks and ground beef.
“It’s super lean but really tender and has a lot of marbling to it still,” said Krenz.
The rising popularity of Highland meat has allowed Krenz to expand. The natives of Scotland are hearty animals and good grazers who need shade but not barns, so they’re cost-effective to raise. But lately, Krenz has wondered what the future holds for his herd, as consumers adjust.
“They are not buying in bulk packages that we used to sell. They are buying smaller just trying to go from paycheck to paycheck is what it feels like.”
Instead of buying 35-pound packages for about $450 like they have in the past, lately their clients have been looking to buy just a fraction of that.
“We just see people wanting to go down to 10 pounds or 15 pounds or maybe they aren’t coming back at all,” said Krenz.
And it’s forced Windland Flats and other farms like them to make a number of adjustments when it comes to promoting their product and limiting their overhead costs.”
“That’s what we are doing the most is watching our costs. Some of that is using technology to lower labor costs. Optimizing the land because we aren’t going to be able to afford to buy more land in 5 years if we aren’t going to have that income flow coming in,” said Krenz.
There’s still hope that things will turn around. In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the Highlands.
“Just as an economy as a whole, everybody is watching their wallet really hard right now,” said Krenz.
In Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, there are about 250 members of the American Highland Cattle Association.
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