Minnesota - Voyageurs National Park

It was a chilly morning when we left Duluth just before 7:00am and headed north on Highway 53. For the first time on the trip I wore a jersey under my jacket. Must be some cold air blowing down from Canada! The riding was great, with not a lot of traffic and the scenery mainly comprised of small lakes, rivers and pine forest in what is known as the 'North Country'.

We had breakfast at the town of Virginia and then continued on. All the warnings during our tour and road signs about watching for deer became a reality when I came around a bend to see a deer standing on the verge of the road. It momentarily hesitated, looked at us and then fortunately bounded back into the forest and not into our path!

We arrived at our destination of International Falls at 11:00am. A relatively short trip of around 3 hours riding time. International Falls is known as the 'Icebox of the Nation' as it has the reputation as the coldest place in the USA and is known as a playground for winter sports. It would have to be the coldest place we have been in so far - at a 'chilly' temperature of 71f high for the day (around 21c).

International Falls is right on the USA/Canadian border with the Rainy River separating the town from Fort Francis, Ontario. The two cities are connected by a bridge with USA and Canadian customs entry points on each side. Our reason for visiting here was Voyageurs National Park.

After dropping our pack in our motel room we jumped back on the bike and rode about 16km down Highway 11 East to the Rainy Park Visitor Centre (one of 3 entry centres to the Park). The National Park is a 218,000 acre (87,200 hectare) network of lakes, streams and ports originally used by French Canadian fur trappers (dating back to the 1600's) and Native Americans before that. The park is only accessible by boat and has 30 lakes. The territory is a sanctuary for the Grey Timber Wolf, Black Bear, Moose, Deer and the Bald Eagle as well as numerous species of fish.

Tracee and I visited both days we were in International Falls. The first day we booked a cruise on the National Park Tour Boat to visit the Bald Eagle breeding sites and day two was another boat tour that visited old mining and other historical sites. The highlight for us was on both days being able to see the large, magnificant Bald Eagle on numerous occasions nesting in pine trees and soaring low over the lake hunting for fish. There are about 30 breeding pairs in the National Park and we saw a number with their young fledglings. They were nearly hunted to extinction at one time and their breeding was affected by pesticides, but they have now recovered well since being protected. There are about 20,000 breeding pairs in the main 48 States in the USA mainland, 10,000 in Canada and 80,000 in Alaska alone! It was awesome to see them so close. It is hard to believe that at one time there was serious debate (in Thomas Jefferson's day I think?) that the Turkey would be a better national symbol than the Bald Eagle.....go figure.

We went to the small resort community of Ranier for dinner on our first night at a homestyle diner called 'Grandma's Pantry'. After we left there we walked down to the pier where a local Bed & Breakfast owner (Tara) introduced herself to us. She gave us a guided tour of her premises - a stunning property with her personal jetty, houseboat and stunning views across the lake to the Canadian shoreline.