It's a two-hour trip via boat from the Kabatogama visitor center to Kettle Falls. Our ranger hostess used much of that time to teach us about the eagles we saw around the lake. For example, we know that this is a juvenile because the feathers on the head and tail are still brown.
Some of these young birds were still hanging out around their nests. Reused for many years, these nests can be be 4-5 feet in diameter. Hosting this boat ride several times each week, our captain and ranger knew just where to take us to get the best views of these nests high in the giant pine trees.
The mature eagles are easier to spot in the trees. Their iconic white heads and tail feathers grow in when the eagles are about four years old.
We really appreciated how easy an adult eagle is to spot when they perch on a dead branch with that pretty blue sky background. We would spot 13 of these majestic birds during our cruise.
Meanwhile, our ranger is educating us on the physical attributes of these powerful hunters. Talons like this help them to catch fish as they swoop out of those tall trees into the lake.
An eagle skeleton illustrates the big eye sockets in that bird head. Those big eyes make fishing from the tops of trees possible.
Our ranger also passed around a model of an eagle egg--just a little bigger than a large chicken egg.
Besides all that education, we also enjoyed beautiful views of Kabetogama and Namakan lakes as the miles flew by.
After two hours on the boat, we were glad to stretch our legs on the quarter-mile walk from the dock to the Kettle Falls Lodge.
The lodge was built as a hotel in 1913, but changed hands in 1918 for the interesting price of $1,000 and four barrels of whiskey. It was acquired by the national park service when Voyageur National Park came into existence in 1976. We're not sure how much whiskey was involved in that transaction.
The restaurant is open, and we ordered the signature dish of the lakes--walleye fish. We took a tour of the lodge, including the bar. That was certainly interesting! We tried to take a picture, but we'll just have to tell you that you'll have to visit to see it for yourself. We relaxed on the covered porch, much like people have done for over 100 years.
Just to prove that Connie and Steven were with us, we posed for a picture at the front of the hotel after lunch.
Our tour also included a trip down to the falls of Kettle Falls. We are standing on this beach in the United States. If we turned around, we could look SOUTH into Canada. That's not a typo! If you look at a map, you can see this odd little notch near Kettle Falls where the United States is north of Canada.
We were a little disappointed to find that the falls were commercialized into a dam many years ago. The white water to the right of the picture is the water coming through the dam. It's a beautiful view from the top of the dam down the river.
Under the viewpoint at the top of the dam, we see the U.S. border marker. The international border is actually in the middle of the dam, and the middle of the lake we've been boating on. We had a two-country trip today without even taking our passports.
On our return cruise, we had another two hours to hunt for eagles. This big nest is home to two juveniles--one on the branch to the left and the second almost hidden by the tree trunk on the right.
Voyageurs National Park is a relatively young park, established in 1976. At that time, there were many privately-owned cabins on the islands throughout the lakes. The ranger told us stories about the people that lived here, and pointed out what was left of some of the old cabins.
It was a nice cruise, with a fun ranger and good friends. More importantly, it allowed us to wander through some more of God's wonders here at Voyageurs National Park.
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