An Unplanned Voyage to Voyageurs
Shortly after arriving at Isle Royale, I got a text from some of my friends back in Iowa:
“We have reservations at a dog friendly villa at the Kettle Falls Inn in Voyageurs National Park for the 7th-10th, please join us.”
This was scheduled for exactly two days after I was leaving Isle Royale. The good news was, I had campground reservations for the 5th through the 7th to figure out my next steps and absolutely nothing planned after that.
I had an oil change scheduled for the late morning of the 7th, which meant a seven-hour drive to the marina afterward. I told my friends if I didn’t make it in time, I’d just camp nearby and catch a ferry to the Inn the next morning.
But I had two major things going for me:
I gained an hour on the drive by going from Eastern time to Central Time.
My friends are perpetually late.
I can say this for a few reasons. We’ve been friends for over 20 years and I’ve experienced this first-hand. It is also something I would say to them in person—and have, many times. Plus, they don’t read this blog, so they aren’t likely to find out I let everyone else in on it.
Ignorance is Bliss (On a Boat)
So this is how I found myself on a boat, with my friends, in a giant lake between Minnesota and Canada, right at sunset as it was starting to rain a little. We had an over-an-hour boat ride in front of us just to get to the Inn in the fading light.
Now, some of this is on me. I didn't ask questions. Questions like:
Have either of you ever actually driven a motor boat before?
What do you know about boat navigation?
Are there a bunch of giant rocks just under the surface of the water, just waiting for us to hit them? (I bring this last one up for absolutely no particular reason).
The ride in was actually magical for me, mostly because I lacked all of this terrifying information. I’d bought Baxter a life jacket and he did great on the boat. It was definitely more stressful for my friends, who were panicking about making it before night truly fell. I guess what they say is true: ignorance really is bliss.
We made it during twilight and even saw a rainbow on the way (which, unfortunately, neither of my cameras got a great shot of). We apologized profusely to the innkeeper who met us on a golf cart and hauled us and our massive amount of gear to our villa. He claimed he didn’t mind.
True to our usual M.O., we stayed up way too late getting caught up, drinking beers, and playing card games.
Life on the Water
We spent the next day exploring the park by boat. This is really the only way Voyageurs can be experienced. About 40% of the park is water and it has over 500 islands. From tiny little outcroppings with a dozen or so trees on them, to larger islands with houses and hiking trails, this park is entirely about the water.
One of our stops was the Ellsworth Rock Gardens, which were created by Jack Ellsworth, who had a cabin on the island from the 1940s to the 1960s. By the late 1970s, the forest had started to take the gardens back over, but the park service has put in a lot of effort to maintain them today.
The following day was also spent on the water, but mostly fishing, swimming (on my part), and listening to music. For me, this day was super relaxing, although my friends may have spent more time putting their fishing poles together than actually fishing.
Bootleggers and the "Tilton Hilton"
That night, we visited the hotel part of the Inn for dinner and drinks. Built between 1910 and 1913, it originally served as a hotel for lumberjacks and commercial fishermen. However, it quickly became known as a hotspot for bootlegging—my kind of place. One of its more famous stories is that in 1918, it was sold to a new owner for $1,000 and four barrels of whiskey.
The bar inside the Kettle Falls Inn is known as the Tilton Hilton, and it is 100% a Midwestern dive bar. This immediately promoted it to the best bar in a National Park ever, in my opinion.
It is called that because it is legitimately tilting. The entire floor is slanted to a point where you feel like you might fall right off your barstool, and the pool table has to be propped up on one side just to keep the balls from rolling away.
A Perfect Detour
I’m very thankful to my friends for inviting me on this trip. I thought I was either going to have to skip Voyageurs for now, or just do a short boat tour with the park service. This allowed me to see so much more of the park than I had planned, and spending that time with old friends was amazing.