Voyageurs National Park is an American national park in northern Minnesota near the city of International Falls established in 1975. The park's name commemorates the voyageurs—French-Canadian fur traders who were the first European settlers to frequently travel through the area. Notable for its outstanding water resources, the park is popular with canoeists, kayakers, other boaters, and fishermen. The Kabetogama Peninsula, which lies entirely within the park and makes up most of its land area, is accessible only by boat. To the east of the park lies the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The Driftless Area, also known as Bluff Country, the Blufflands, the Paleozoic Plateau, and the Coulee Region, is a topographical and cultural region in the Midwestern United States that comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. The Driftless Area is a USDA Level III Ecoregion: Ecoregion 52. The Driftless Area takes up a large portion of the Upper Midwest forest–savanna transition.
Savanna Portage State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, established in 1961 to preserve the historic Savanna Portage, a difficult 6-mile (9.7 km) trail connecting the watersheds of the Mississippi River and Lake Superior. The portage trail crosses a drainage divide separating the West Savanna River, which drains to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, from the East Savanna River, which flows in an opposite direction to the Saint Louis River, Lake Superior and the Great Lakes, and the Saint Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean.
Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritage. The area became one of the British Empire's four main fur trading centers in North America, along with Fort Niagara, Fort Detroit, and Michilimackinac.
Interstate Park comprises two adjacent state parks on the Minnesota–Wisconsin border, both named Interstate State Park. They straddle the Dalles of the St. Croix River, a deep basalt gorge with glacial potholes and other rock formations. The Wisconsin park is 1,330 acres (538 ha) and the Minnesota park is 298 acres (121 ha). The towns of Taylors Falls, Minnesota and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin are adjacent to the park. Interstate Park is within the Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway and the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. The western terminus of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail is on the Wisconsin side. On the Minnesota side, two areas contain National Park Service rustic style buildings and structures that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Grand Portage State Park is a state park at the northeastern tip of the U.S. state of Minnesota, on the Canada–United States border. It contains a 120-foot (37 m) waterfall, the tallest in the state, on the Pigeon River. The High Falls and other waterfalls and rapids upstream necessitated a historically important portage on a fur trade route between the Great Lakes and inland Canada. This 8.5-mile (13.7 km) path as well as the sites of historic forts at either end are preserved in nearby Grand Portage National Monument.
Rice Lake State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, just east of Owatonna. Park lands entirely surround Rice Lake, an important stopping point for migrating waterfowl. The lake covers 750 acres (300 ha) with an average depth of three feet (1 m).
Jay Cooke State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, protecting the lower reaches of the Saint Louis River. The park is located about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Duluth and is one of the ten most visited state parks in Minnesota. The western half of the park contains part of a rocky, 13-mile (21 km) gorge. This was a major barrier to Native Americans and early Europeans traveling by canoe, which they bypassed with the challenging Grand Portage of the St. Louis River. The river was a vital link connecting the Mississippi waterways to the west with the Great Lakes to the east.
Lake Shetek is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota, United States, and the headwaters of the Des Moines River. It is located in The Lakes, an unincorporated community in Murray County a few miles north-northwest of Currie. The name Shetek is derived from "pelican" in the Ojibwe language.
Judge C. R. Magney State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Minnesota, on the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was named for Clarence R. Magney, a former mayor of Duluth and justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, who was instrumental in getting 11 state parks and scenic waysides established along the North Shore. The park is best known for the Devil's Kettle, an unusual waterfall and rock formation in which half of the Brule River disappears into a pothole.
Lake Shetek State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, on Lake Shetek, which is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota and the headwaters of the Des Moines River. It is most popular for water recreation and camping. However the park also contains historical resources related to the Dakota War of 1862, including an original log cabin and a monument to 15 white settlers killed there and at nearby Slaughter Slough on August 20, 1862.
The Whitewater River is a 16.6-mile-long (26.7 km) tributary of the Upper Mississippi River which flows through the Driftless Area of Minnesota, reaching its mouth in Wabasha County at the community of Weaver opposite Buffalo, Wisconsin. The nearest towns are Altura, Saint Charles, and Elba. The region hosts endangered native dry oak savannas, semiforested areas that seem to have been dependent on fire for their well-being.
The Temperance River is a 39.2-mile-long (63.1 km) river in northern Minnesota. It drains into Lake Superior along its north shore just south of Tofte. It flows out of Brule Lake in Cook County generally south towards its mouth within Temperance River State Park. Its name is supposedly a pun on its lack of a sand bar.
The East Savanna River is a small yet historic stream in Aitkin and Saint Louis counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. With a total length of 15.3 miles (24.6 km), the river rises in Wolf Lake, a small body of water within a spruce bog in Savanna Portage State Park, and flows northeasterly to the Saint Louis River at Floodwood, whence its waters flow to Lake Superior through the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. A few thousand years ago the East Savanna was part of the Mississippi River itself, originating in northeast Minnesota and flowing southwesterly to Big Sandy Lake, from which the great river drained down its present valley to the Gulf of Mexico.
There are three Manistique Lakes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The lakes include North Manistique Lake, Big Manistique Lake, and South Manistique Lake. The towns surrounding the lakes are Curtis, Germfask, and Helmer. The lakes are known for vacationing and fishing. They are also in close proximity to other natural sights such as the Great Lakes, rivers, and smaller lakes as well as tourist attractions including the Canada–US border, the Soo Locks, Mackinac Island, parks, and museums.
Rose Lake is a lake on the border between Cook County, Minnesota and Ontario.
Manymoon Lake is a 24-acre lake in Cook County, Minnesota belonging to the Poplar River watershed. At its deepest point it measures only 6.5 feet deep and has abundant aquatic plant life to a depth of 2.5 feet. Water clarity as of 2008 measured 1.41 meters. The substrate consists of muck and stones of no uniform size. Manymoon lake has neither inlet nor permanent outlet, although an intermittent stream feeds a wetland on the end of the southeastern bay. Nonetheless, Manymoon is located in the sub-watershed dominated by Rice Lake to the north, and water from Manymoon enters into lower portions of the Poplar River through Rice Lake's outflow. Manymoon is accessible through a portage off Rice Lake Road.
Bulge Lake is a 12-acre lake in Cook County, Minnesota which is a tributary to the Poplar River. Bulge Lake reaches a maximum depth of 19 feet in a sudden depression just west of the mouth of the stream leading to Dogtrot Lake. Bulge lake is accessible through portages to Silver Lake and Dogtrot Lake. A fisheries survey turned up populations of walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, and white suckers.
Dogtrot Lake is a 15-acre lake in Cook County, Minnesota which is a tributary to the Poplar River. Dogtrot Lake reaches a maximum depth of 24 feet in a depression just south of the mouth of the stream leading to Slip Lake. Dogtrot lake is accessible through portages to Bulge Lake and Slip Lake. A fisheries survey turned up populations of walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, and white suckers.
Slip Lake is a 22-acre lake in Cook County, Minnesota which is a tributary to the Poplar River. Slip Lake reaches a maximum depth of 18 feet in a depression just south of the mouth of the stream leading to Fleck Lake. Slip Lake is accessible through portages to Dogtrot Lake and Fleck Lake. A fisheries survey turned up populations of walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, and white suckers.
