Voyageurs National Park, Rainy Lake, Kabetogama

[Jammer]

There is an extensive chain of lakes spanning the Minnesota-Ontario border east of International Falls/Fort Francis. The area as a whole is only about 50 miles across but is full of peninsulas, islands, and bays so that there are hundreds of miles of shoreline. While Rainy Lake drains through the Rainy River to Lake of the Woods, there are rapids and the fixed bridge and dam (without a lock) spanning the international border between International Falls and Fort Francis. The lakes adjoin the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), which is to the east.



Most of the shoreline is public land. A good deal of it is part of Voyageurs National Park. There are developed campsites. Most visitors travel in smaller power boats and camp on shore every night. Some rent houseboats and use established beaching sites maintained by the park service. There are also tour operators and water taxi services on the lakes.



Some google searches bring up isolated stories of people sailing there but not much useful information. Anyone familiar with the area?


Specific questions:

• Wind. Is there enough to sail? Best times of year? How much motoring is necessary in practice?
• Anchoring. Few boats anchor overnight in this area. NPS purports to require permits for overnight stays for all boats, which require paying a fee and are subject to capacity controls, but it isn't clear to me how they could have jurisdiction over anything but the land areas.
• Bears. Bears are common and there are warnings that they will board unattended boats that are beached (or anchored within a few dozen feet of shore) to look for food. Are they a serious problem while anchoring overnight at greater distances from shore?
• Charts. There are no NOAA charts of the area. The best sources I have been able to find are Navionics and the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map.
• Marinas and boat launches. With the Hunter 260 we're capable of self-sufficient launch and step and don't need a particularly deep ramp, but would still prefer to have a sail-oriented (or at least sail-aware) marina to work with.

Any insight welcome.

[Mike OReilly]

I don't have any specifics about sailing that area. I have canoed in Quetico east of this area. Can certainly get windy on the bigger lakes, so I imagine Kabetogama and Rainy Lake (which are even larger) will be even more so. Of course inland winds are notoriously confusing and erratic, but I'm sure you know that.

Bears swim quite well. If they have a compelling reason to swim out to your boat, they certainly could. As with any camping, don't give them a reason and they'll ignore you. Most bears aren't a problem anyway. It's (mainly) when they become habituated to easy food from lazy campers that they become dangerous.

There does appear to be NOAA charts for those lakes. At least they show up here: https://www.waterwayguide.com/explor...11&mode=marina


Canada also has detailed charts for those areas. Of course, being CHS, they aren't free. Here's one source: https://www.nauticalchartsonline.com/charts/CHS/All


It seems clear your little sailboat would be the same as a "houseboat." They explicitly require a fee. Not sure how you'd get around that. Most inland parks in Canada do have jurisdiction over the enclosed waterways. From the website it seems clear the same applies here.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I don't have any specifics about sailing that area. I have canoed in Quetico east of this area. Can certainly get windy on the bigger lakes, so I imagine Kabetogama and Rainy Lake (which are even larger) will be even more so. Of course inland winds are notoriously confusing and erratic, but I'm sure you know that.

Thanks. I've been on Lake of the Woods and Lake Vermilion extensively, and they are in the same area and have similar surrounding topography.

There does appear to be NOAA charts for those lakes. At least they show up here: https://www.waterwayguide.com/explor...11&mode=marina

I finally found them at https://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/ - no RNCs or ENCs, just .jpg files, even though they have been updated through 2018. Like many NOAA charts for inland areas, there isn't much detail. Navionics is considerably better.

[Tayana42]

It’s been a long long time but I used to canoe/camp in the Boundary Waters (late spring/before the mosquitos were at their worst) and rented a cabin on Lake Vermillion (early June) to which we took our 16’ sailboat. On Vermillion we didn’t find much wind. When canoeing the Boundary Waters we found too much wind and always on the nose.

On Vermillion we always found bear scat and claw marks on trees in the morning. We were very careful to never leave food or anything that smelled like food were it would attract bears.

Such beautiful areas. We enjoyed them with great appreciation for the preserved natural environment and stillness. Please let us know about your adventure.