Voyageurs National Park / Ash River
Days 1 & 2 in Voyageurs National Park | Hiking & Camping in the Ash River District of the Park | July 2026
While spending time with my sister’s family, we had the opportunity to watch the kids alone for one of our afternoons together. As we drove away in my sister’s minivan with all the kids in the back, I loudly joked, “hope everyone has their passports. Next Stop Canada!” This naturally received much laughter and was an oft repeated punch line. When the holiday weekend was over and our visit was drawing to a close, Jess and I decided to make good on our joke and head North towards the Minnesota – Ontario border, where we planned to visit Voyageurs National Park, now with the intention of also eventually crossing the border just for the bit.
This would be our first visit to Voyageurs National Park, and truth be told, we did not have very high expectations. Like the adjacent Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area, we knew that Voyageurs is best seen on the water. But we’ve grown accustomed to sleeping in our van, and the prospect of moving into a tent, let alone a tent and sleeping bag transported across water in our not exactly waterproof folding kayak, was not a particularly enticing idea. But every other time we have visited my sister’s family in Northern Minnesota, we’ve considered coming here, and so we decided this year was the year we needed to make it happen. There were exclusive 250 stamps at stake, after all! And so we pieced together an itinerary that would take us to two of the visitor centers, and would focus on more land based hikes and collecting National Park Stamps, with maybe a short kayaking trip or two if we found one that felt reasonable for our boat and skill level.
On our first day after leaving my sister’s, we made the drive up to the Ash River district of the park. Between not leaving until after lunch, a few errands to run, and a much longer drive than anticipated, we didn’t arrive until late afternoon. Fortunately, the visitor center was still open and we were able to collect our stamps and watch the park film. And better yet, we found out that the park had a Hike for Health trail passport. If we collected enough rubbings on trail markers, we could also get a bonus stamp! A well received answer for ‘What to Do’ while visiting the park for people like us that prefer hiking and aren’t coming with a motor boat or plans to go fishing.
After we were finished in the visitor center, we decided that we still had plenty of time for a hike. We decided to just go for the one that started right next to the visitor center, which would take us out to Blind Ash Bay. This was a 3.25 mile trail, out and back with a short loop at the end, with about 300 feet of elevation gain throughout the hike. It offered several vistas between the trees of Kabetogama Lake, as well as beautiful green forest scenery with a wide variety of different trees and ferns covering the forest floor. But once we got to the far West end of the trail which had the best view of the lake, we noticed menacing clouds to the West and heard thunder beginning to sound in the distance, so after quickly taking a few pictures we hurried back to the van. You could say we were trying out trail running — it’s definitely not for us, but at least this was an easier place to do so with a flatter trail. Running also helped us avoid the bugs! If you’re interested, you can see our Alltrails recording here. When we finished the hike, we made and ate our dinner in the parking lot. Later, when we deemed it safe enough to do so, we wandered outside once more to a rocky outcropping just beyond the visitor center to see what we could of the sunset. We then left the park for today, with the intentions of returning in the morning. We found a place to sleep at a nearby trailhead that was outside the park boundary and settled in for a rainy night in the woods.
The next day, I requested the opportunity to hike to the highest point in the park. I knew it wasn’t going to be scenic, but if all we were doing was hiking in wooded areas, I figured we might as well get a “peak” out of it. We started walking along the Kab-Ash Trail, which turned out to be much more overgrown than we expected for a national park trail. After about a half mile, the trail became a bit too claustrophobic for Jess, so while she turned back I continued on alone and without event (meaning without any moose or bear sightings). This hike was 3.5 miles long and had around 300 feet of elevation gain. Once I had successfully ‘summited’ the peak, I returned the way I came, until I found myself near the park entrance road and opted to road walk back to the trailhead rather than continue through the overgrown woods. If you’re interested, here is my Alltrails recording for this hike.
Once reunited at the van, we spent the remainder of the day walking to other overlooks in the area and working towards the Hike for Health goal, and briefly debated putting in the kayak at a boat ramp. Maps showed a nearby ‘Ash River Falls’, but it was on State Forest land, not National Park, and we could find almost nothing online of people kayaking upriver to see it. And since it was warm and quite buggy, we decided we weren’t up for the adventure today.
We instead returned to the spot where we had camped the night before, and spent the rest of the afternoon resting in the van while more rain showers passed over. Since we surprisingly had cell reception out here deep in the woods, I got some work done while Jess worked on her junk journal, and we made plans for our next day in the park.
