Voyageurs National Park: Cranberry Bay and Oveson's Fish Camp Snowshoe

Happy President's Day! I spent my afternoon with an adventure out on Rainy Lake. I drove the Rainy Lake Ice Road to it's eastern end at Cranberry Bay, parked the car and then set off on snowshoes to do some exploring.

I wanted to check out 2 things: the large glacial erratic on Cranberry Bay and Harry Oveson's Fish Camp in winter. I was successful on both counts.

I set off, immediately heading south past some fish houses to the distant shoreline. I carried my ice picks for the first time,

though there was little chance of breaking through the ice. It was interesting to look back at my route and see the path I had chosen laid out in snowshoe tracks on the snow.

The snow was quite windblown and packed, so I did not sink very far as I traveled. I soon found myself at the glacial erratic boulder and was finally able to get a sense for just how large it really is.

I took my photo with it and then noticed some faint otter tracks and slide marks in the snow.

Then I traveled east through scattered islands to the site of the fish camp.

The site looks a little bit different in the winter than it does in the summer.

I could get a real sense of what it must have been like for Harry Oveson and his friends to harvest ice from the lake in the winter. I inspected the buildings a bit

before deciding it was time to head west, back to the car. I passed a few small, but photographic islands along the way

and then made a short side trip to check out two islands that were connected by a bridge. I had noticed the site many times on the Grand Tour boat tour and was curious about it. I assume it's private property, so I didn't trespass. I did, however, get a closer look at an old boat,

now covered with snow, and the bridge itself.

There doesn't appear to be any building on the westernmost of the 2 islands. Perhaps there was at one time.

My last stop was an island where I knew there was a large bald eagle's nest.

We had seen eagles commonly at this site during the past summer. It made me wonder if eagles will return in a few weeks to establish the nest again.