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National Park Mystery Photo 12 Revealed: It's Voyageurs National Park

 

Change. Sometimes it's just easier to notice it from overhead. That was the point of this week's Mystery Photo, which surfaced from Voyageurs National Park.

Earlier this summer the park offered an evening program for park visitors, and this is how they promoted it:

Aerial photos taken by satellites and aircraft are used to track changes of the forests in and around Voyageurs National Park. By tracking these changes we can provide land managers with information to make informed decisions.

Join Ulf Gafvert and Al Kirschbaum of the National Park Service’s Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring program on a journey from a satellite in space down to a plot on the ground. Participants will have a bird’s eye view of the changes that have taken place at Voyageurs National Park throughout the years.

Comments

This is a generic comment but for those of us who aren't intimately familiar with all the parks, I would love for you to at least give us a state when you mention a park.


This one, Voyagers, is in northern Minnesota, in fact on the Canadian border, I believe. It's just west of the USDA FS's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and is very similar to that park in many regards. It's also fairly new, I believe.


We provide hot links in a park's name that take you directly to the park's homepage, which tells you in which state the park is located. That said, not a bad suggestion.


As long as we are talking about Voyagers NP and the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness, I would at least like to give praise to the Canadian Quetico Canoe Wilderness just over the border from the Boundary Waters. The Canadians issue fewer backcountry permits and the 3 times I visited there, I found a much more serous wilderness experience. I honestly saw more moose than I saw groups of humans, as opposed to the Boundary Waters where I saw an average of 5 groups/day and very little wildlife. In my three 1 week treks in the Quetico, I never saw more than 3 other groups the entire trek. Access to the Quetico can be made through border crossings from the Boundary Waters. I believe the outfitters serving the Boundary Waters in Ely, MN can provide the necessary forms to send in to the Canadians to reserve a permit in advance. I would forwarn you though that to get into the Quetico requires a couple of serious portages of more than 200 rods. But is is well worth the effort because those portages scare away a lot of casual groups.


That's a nice photo. I grew up at Kabetogama Lake which is the gateway to Voyageurs National Park (VNP). It is the only national park in Minnesota. It was named after the French Canadian Voyageurs who used the interconnected lakes to travel, fur trade, and whatever else they did. VNP is a water park with 55 miles on the US and Canadian borders. The Kabetogama Peninsula takes about a week to voyage by canoe or kayak, and there are several free camp sites enroute on a first come first serve basis. There are no fees to enter and use the park. It is called God's Country by those who have ever been there.

The Bald Eagle population has increased nicely and people can view the eagles at VNP more than any other national park. What beautiful birds!

I could go on and on...I love it at Voyageurs, its my favorite place in the world.


After seeing this picture I'm almost sorry that I turned down a winter seasonal job there. At least until I remember that it gets down to -40!! I would love to visit that park when it's nice and warm though! I don't think it's mentioned often enough

Ranger Holly
http://web.me.com/hollyberry


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