Camping

Your Voyageurs [1] experience will be excellent during the day, but it isn’t complete without a night under the stars. All of the over 200 campsites are accessible only by boat, and most are equipped with a fire ring, picnic table, privy, tent pad, and bear-proof food locker.

The first-come, first-served sites are only intended for use by a single party and can accommodate two tents (some larger ones can handle four). A fully accessible campsite on Namakan Lake can be reserved through the Kabetogama Lake Visitor Center.

You are also allowed to pitch a tent at undeveloped sites elsewhere in the park as long as you stay 200 yards from any official campsites and a quarter mile from any other developed site.

Camping is free, though each party must fill out a self-registration overnight permit. While it should be standard practice anywhere in Minnesota’s Northwoods, it is especially important to keep a clean camp at Voyageurs so as not to attract bears—if no food locker is available be sure to properly hang all food-scented items in a tree (ten feet up and four feet from the trunk).

If you are staying on the mainland, many area resorts have RV parking, though the pair of state forest campgrounds are your best bet. The beautiful and popular Woodenfrog Campground (Co. Rd. 122, 218/365-7229, $12) has 61 widely spaced sites on Lake Kabetogama. Also on-site are a swimming beach, two-mile nature trail, and picnic ground.

The Ash River Campground (Co. Rd. 129, 218/365-7229, $12) has nine far less scenic sites.