A Day in Minnesota's Northwest Angle

Last night after work, Noelle, Sierra and I packed the car, ate dinner and then hit the road headed west to Zippel Bay State Park. We set up camp, slept in the tent and this morning awoke ready for an adventure in Minnesota's Northwest Angle. "The Angle" as it's know by its residents, is the part of Minnesota that sticks up into Canada along the northwestern shore of Lake of the Woods. Getting there required a drive to Warroad, a border crossing into Canada, a drive of about 60 miles in Canada, and then a border crossing back into the United States

with a check-in with customs via videophone.

One we had arrived in the Northwest Angle, we headed directly to the "town" of Angle Inlet. We then drove to the northernmost post office in the Contiguous United States

and the northernmost school in the Contiguous US (it's only 1 room).

At the school we played on what we presume to be the northernmost playground in the Contiguous US

and ate a picnic lunch. Then we headed over to Young's Bay Resort to check out the northernmost point monument

and put our canoe in the water for a paddle on Lake of the Woods to the reconstructed Fort St. Charles.

The forecast for the day called for light winds in the 3 to 5 mile per hour range and the lake was pretty calm as we made our way around Magnusons and Penasse Islands.

Before too long we could see the reconstructed wooden fort on the northern shore of Magnusons Island.

We found a dock and tied the canoe off

to explore the fort.

Fort St Charles was built by explorer and fur trader Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Verendrye in 1732.

On June 6, 1736 La Verendrye's son, a priest and 19 voyageurs had just left the fort and were heading to Fort Michilimackinac when they were attacked and killed by a party of Sioux. The bodies of those killed were returned to the fort for burial and a marker is in place at the burial site.

The fort was abandoned in 1849 and for years its location was forgotten.

In 1911 the site was rediscovered by a Jesuit archeological team. Eventually the Knights of Columbus raised money to buy the site and built a reconstruction of the fort which was completed in 1950. Today there is some reconstruction at the site again. A chapel within the fortification's walls is being rebuilt, its altar exposed to the elements.

We walked around and explored the site,

then headed back to the canoe for the paddle back to Young's Bay. For the return trip we opted to go around the south side of Magnusons Island. However, we were unable to find the passage between the island and the mainland and were forced to paddle back the way we had come.

As we made our way out of a narrow bay we found a very rough Lake of the Woods with whitecaps. Noelle and I nervously paddled the three-foot waves which sometimes crashed over the gunwales of the canoe. Sierra enjoyed what she called the "roller-coaster ride". As we paddled past some rock cliffs the waves got particularly intense and as we approached the shoreline, we opted to take a break among the aquatic vegetation.

We tried to formulate a plan, but without any information about whether the wind would die down or get worse we eventually opted to get back into the canoe and paddle back to Young's Bay. It was slow going paddling into the wind. But we were quite relieved to return to the boat ramp at the resort.

We loaded the canoe back onto the car and then made the long drive back through Canada and Zippel Bay. By this time it was raining, so instead of cooking dinner in the rain at our campsite, we opted for Dairy Queen.