June 26

Steve and Caroline met me when I entered the Ash River VC. They are seasonal staff volunteers, working in the park during the summer. I have met other volunteer couples at parks earlier in my Quest. Hats off to all these wonderful people. There would be a large gap in visitor experiences if these selfless individuals did not step forward to help the NPS. Steve explained to me some of the legalities involved with Voyageurs NP being on the border with Canada. Anyone can boat around on the waters without regard to the “official” boundary line. But if you step foot on land of the other country, you must proceed to find a CBP official. Basically, like going through one of the land border crossings (like at Blaine, WA), or across a bridge (like at Niagra Falls). Steve confirmed the comments I heard in the park movie, that most of the park can only be accessed by boats. He pointed out a couple of the islands visible from Ash River. At some point on our short roundtrip hike from the VC to the water’s edge, he picked up a hitchhiker; a tick. If you are not familiar with the Great Outdoors, ticks can be one of the most frustrating things to experience. Be on the alert when in forested areas. And aside from the 40% of park surface area which is made up of water, the rest is nearly all forest. My biggest complaint today were the swarms of horse flies, no matter where I exited my vehicle. They were they size of dimes. A lady in International Falls said this insect has been quite troublesome this year, many more than usual. Well, if I was a horse, I would want to be in Kentucky right now, not here. I did not see any mosquitoes, just the horse flies, along with plenty of dragon flies.

I commented about birch bark canoes and Voyageurs the other day when visiting Isle Royal NP. Voyageurs NP is named after that category of individual which helped shape this region. Any given summer, a Voyageur might paddle 3,000 miles, up to 16 hours a day, across Lake Superior and through the inland waterways. Can you imagine the arm strength needed to keep moving forward, day after day? And some places required portaging, opportunities for the local bugs to change diets.

In honor of those brave men, I did a bit of portaging myself, though in the luxury of a Toyota Rav4. I motored into Canada at the International Falls crossing. This was done to hunt for Coca-Cola cans. Many of you know I collect these aluminum containers of America’s most iconic soda. Coworkers at Goodyear would bring me cans from around the world during the travels to our international plants (I also found many varieties when I visited our South America, Mexico, Asia, and Europe facilities). My brother, Mike, has obtained a few from his work and vacations. I figured if I was going to be within a mile or two of the border with another country, why not cross it. Sadly, the convenience stores and the like are only interested in those 20-oz plastic bottles for single servings. I had to buy two 12-packs of cans; one regular and one Zero. The regular is made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. I think the U.S. might be the only country which has the corn syrup in its Coke recipe. Anyway, two objectives accomplished today. Tomorrow I will stop at the historic Paul Bunyan and Babe statues in Bemidji before going to Knife River Indian Villages NHS.