Voyageurs National Park by Houseboat? Yes We Did!

A new adventure! Voyageurs National Park by houseboat.

We had just one more stop on the shores of Lake Superior. Little Girl’s Point is known as a great place to hunt for agates and Carole and I were thrilled. We arrived on Friday, 7/17, (Happy Birthday, Randi!!) and Carole and I made a beeline for the beach as soon as we were set up. The water was so clear and the rocks were so colorful – we had a total blast. You really didn’t need to walk the beach, although I did, you could just sit and sift through the rocks within reach and find wonderful treasures. I certainly added a few pounds to my Lake Superior stash. Did we find agates? Honestly, I don’t know. But I have over 20 pounds of Lake Superior stones and I bet there are some in there. Lol.

We were perched on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior.

The water, the rocks, the weather - everything was perfect!

Carole and I had so much fun rockhounding along the shore.

Evening light was lovely.

Here's a quick peek at my box of Lake Superior rocks.
(Hunches over box protectively, "My preciousss!")

On Saturday, 7/18, we moved to Indian Point Campground for one night. The whole reason we picked this place is because it was close to Wild State Cider. Bob and Carole (and me too!) are cider fans, while Rog is a die-hard craft beer guy. We visited Wild State and enjoyed sampling several of the ciders. Then Rog said he wanted to pop into Ursa Minor Brewery just down the street. He really liked one of their brews and wanted to pick some up to go. We walked in and they had a sour called Agate Hunter, with boysenberry, cherry, and vanilla. Was this not made for me? I got a sample and was in love. Then we saw that they had the Agate Hunter as a slushie! Carole and I turned puppy dog eyes on the boys and they caved, waiting patiently while we listened to the live band and enjoyed our slushies. And yes, a 4-pack came home with me, just wishing I’d have picked up two. Lol.

Wild State was fun, but I have a new favorite Sour!

Try pronouncing this one!
A park was just down the street from our campground. 

Indian Point Campground turned out to be perfect for another reason, it was just 10 minutes from Costco and a grocery store, and we needed to stock up for our next stop. Yep, we had a super exciting mini adventure planned! We rented a houseboat with Bob and Carole for four nights to tour Voyageurs National Park!

About 40% of Voyageurs National Park is water, approximately 84,000 acres are covered by its four major lakes—Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, and Sand Point along with dozens of smaller interior lakes. This is our final national park in the continental US. Hurray! Don’t worry, we’re not done yet. We still have 12 parks to go, but we’ll need to travel to Alaska, Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands and Samoa. Of those, the options are limited for the Short Bus. Lol. (Although Alaska by RV is a bucket list trip.)

Voyageurs 84,000 acres of water contains over 500 islands!

We had chosen Ebel’s Voyageur Houseboats in Ash River, MN. Before arriving on Sunday, 7/19, we stopped at the nearby Voyageurs National Park Ash River Visitor’s Center. The check in time for Ebel’s was 1pm and the office does not open a minute early. Lol. In all fairness, they have boats coming in that need to be unloaded, cleaned, and prepped for departure. Check in for houseboats is 9am, so to have them ready to go at 1pm, it’s a pretty quick turnaround. We pulled up in our rigs a little before 1pm and waited in line to complete the rental paperwork.

Ash River is one of three Visitor Centers in Voyageurs.

Ebel's Voyageur Houseboats. Highly recommended!

We’re in a 50ft houseboat that sleeps 8. It has a full kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms (plus additional bunks), a common area with a dining table, small couch, and the captain’s controls. Plus a large screen room on the front and smaller back patio with a Weber grill and a ladder to the top deck with a second set of controls to drive the boat and a *drumroll* slide! It’s like a large floating RV, so we should feel right at home. Unfortunately, our boat (#15) was still being cleaned, so we got a little bit of a late start. After we got everything loaded (and could someone please explain why we need ten tons of stuff for four days, lol) one of the Ebel’s staff did a walk through and quick tutorial on how to manage the boat systems, drive the boat, and navigate using the electronics and paper maps.

Our happy home for the next four days.

A floating RV! Lol.

The staff drove the houseboat down the Ash River to Kabetogama Lake in the park before getting picked up in a skiff. He stayed with us for about a half hour until he was confident we, and by that I mean Bob, had a handle on all the operations. Bob has had a boat of one kind or another since he was 19, so he was drafted as Captain and Rog was designated First Mate. As we navigated from Kabetogama Lake to Namakan Lake, we quickly learned Voyageurs is a veritable maze of waterways and islands. We had an electronic navigation system (Garmin Navionics) and two sets of maps and it was still a challenge!

We waved good-bye to the Short Bus as we left the dock.

Motoring down Ash River to Kabetogama Lake.

Captain Bob takes the wheel!

The temps on Sunday were in the mid 90’s and it was a slow, hot crawl as we learned the quirks of the boat and how to navigate. The boys dubbed it the Garbage Scow because it was so slow and cumbersome. Navigation was tricky, going upstream, stay to the left-hand side of the red buoys and to right-hand side of the green buoys. Going downstream, it’s the opposite. The electronic navigation system does not have a depth finder so you can’t actually rely on it. Use the maps! Easier said than done. Arrrrgh!

There are developed sites that are designated for houseboats that are signed and have a firepit and tie outs for the boat, as well as undeveloped sites that are considered safe, but unsigned and have no amenities. It’s all first come/first served, so given our late start the sites closer to Ebel’s were occupied and we had to go a little further on launch day than we wanted. It was hot and the pups were ready for a break before we finally found an open spot. It turned out great however, because we got a fabulous site, Wigwam Island East, in a sheltered cove with a sandy beach for the dogs. The water is stained by tannins, making it a light brown color, a nearby waterfall is even named Rootbeer Falls. Lol.

We are safely moored at our first site!

It doesn't get much better than this!

What a peaceful, lovely evening.

Yeah, I could get used to this. Lol.

Sunset our first night on the boat.

Speaking of the dogs, getting them on/off the houseboat was one of the things I was most worried about. I know how cautious, spooky, and stubborn they can be. If my big chickens decide it’s too scary, they will dig in their heels, and I can’t just pick them up and carry them onboard. Lol. And true to form, Raney balked. When we were loading, the houseboat was pulled up to the dock and there was a step down to the metal mesh catwalk on the back of the boat. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. We finally pulled their ramp out of the pupwagon, put that down and she pranced right on board. Lol. Riley also had no trouble once the ramp was in place. Once we were moored, there was a wooden ramp that pulled out and it took a little while, but they both finally decided it wouldn’t kill them to use it.

Ruby had no problems, the big kids needed a little coaxing. Lol.

It’s a good thing we loved our first mooring site, because we ended up staying there two nights. The weather turned and we had thunderstorms, high winds and rough water. A motorized tow-behind is required by the Coast Guard, so we had a 14-foot aluminum skiff with an outboard. Rog and Bob took the small boat out on Monday, 7/20, with the intention of scouting our next site and doing some fishing. Once they got out of the sheltered cove and hit open water the wind and waves made for a very wild ride. They checked out a few potential spots, but when they turned around against the wind things got really interesting. The waves were two feet high and they took a beating. Thoughts of fishing abandoned, they made it back to the houseboat where they tightened up the mooring lines and decided we’d be staying put for a second night.

The boys are off to scout our next moorage.
They had more of an adventure than they expected.

We were happy to stay and explore.

We didn’t get much sleep on our first night on the houseboat. It was still hot and we had all the windows open. Even with screens the mosquitos came in droves and nearly ate us alive. Raney also decided to join Rog and I in bed, something she never does at home. Can we just say that girlfriend is a world-class bed hog. Lol. Neither Rog nor I got much sleep, so we made adjustments the second night – no pups on the bed and run the Thermacells before bedtime to combat the mosquitos! However, our second night wasn’t much better with thunder, lightning, rain and howling winds rocking the houseboat. We also had some unhappy pups, especially Raney who demanded pets for several hours. Rog and I tag teamed her so we each got a little sleep. So much for no dogs in the bed, we were happy to have her snuggle in the morning if it meant a few more minutes of shut eye. Lol.

Let's just call it cozy. Lol. 

The temps had also dropped dramatically, and we went from shorts and tanks to long pants and fleece. The pups were still happy to play on the beach and get in the water, but we preferred to stay warm and dry. 

Ruby having a blast on the beach.

Riley was the boat inspector. Lol.

Time to break out the fleece

The waves had swamped the small skiff during the night and the guys had to bail it out in the morning. Finally, around lunchtime on Tuesday, 7/21, Rog and Bob took the small boat out again, it was still too windy to fish, but they did find another likely spot for the houseboat. We motored over and got set up in another lovely spot, McManus Island West. The dogs loved having a new beach and trails to explore.

The waves half filled the small boat. 

Before we could leave, we had to convince these three to get back onboard. Lol.

On the way to our next spot. Voyageurs is just stunning. 

Rog took the small boat in first and prepared to catch the mooring lines.

We are secured and ready to explore!

Our site on McManus Island is pup-approved. Lol. 

Another glorious sunset.

Our last full day on the houseboat was Wednesday, 7/22, and the weather gods finally smiled on us. We had blue skies and it was warm without being oppressively hot. Yay!! Rog and Bob finally got a chance to fish. Riley was very interested in the small boat but was not invited to join them. Lol. He followed them as far as he could go, and as they motored away, the look of concerned abandonment on his face was priceless.

But Daaaad, I wanna go too!

Let the fun begin!

Rog was hoping for a pike or walleye, but caught a small mouth bass and then realized neither one of them had a phone, so no pictures. They came back to the houseboat, grabbed their phones and headed out again. This time Rog got his pike! Bob hadn’t had any luck, so they went out again in the evening. Neither of them had any bites and they were reeling in their lines to call it day when Bob realized he had this monster on his line. 😊

Rog got his pike! Yay!

And here's Bob's big one! 😄

While the boys were fishing, Carole and I enjoyed a relaxing beach day. I took Raney on a short hike, but the trails quickly ended and we weren’t up for bushwacking very far through the wilderness.

Raney's Pride Rock moment. Lol.

 

Our happy home viewed from the trail.

What a beautiful day to be on the lake. 

We opted to stay a second night at McManus Island. We were about 2 ½ hours from Ebel’s and we were supposed to have the boat back at the dock by 9am. We thought about moving closer, but decided to just get up early in the morning for our return trip. We had one last fun activity. We really needed to try out that waterslide and we finally had a decent day to do it. Rog, Bob, and I all gave it try, some of us multiple times. Lol. Carole chose to be the cheering section and help document our derring-do.

Rog was the first to go...

 

...followed by Bob.

I want points for form. Lol.

Bob and Rog navigated back to Ebel’s and we pulled in at 9:01am, how’s that for perfect timing! Carole and I had everything prepped for departure and the staff helped unload. They were washing down the boat and getting it ready for the next guests before we were off the dock. Lol. We had a fantastic time. Had the weather been a bit more cooperative, we could have stayed at three or four different islands, but as it was, we had a wonderful time and I’d certainly do it again. Maybe schedule a whole week next time!

Rog takes the helm in the early morning light.

Carole has their undivided attention. Check out that laser focus. Lol.

Motoring back to Ash River.

Docked and unloading.

A successful trip and we're off to our next adventure!

We had a wonderful time and were sad to end our houseboat adventure, but we have more fun stuff on the horizon. Bob and Carole had never been to Theodore Rooseveldt National Park, so guess where we headed next. 😊