Damn. Your killing me with these great reports. Wish I could get up there but no chance with my schedule right now.

I don’t like the reservation system. But since its here, I’d like for the park to find a way to make sure that people don’t reserve sites and then pull a no-show and ruin for everyone else. And I bet it will happen. I’ve never had a problem finding a campsite on Rainy in the 10+ years I’ve been doing it. I like the first come first serve system. Why do we always make things so complicated?

I believe that is a mining company doing wide sweeps of land looking for signs of metals. I think that is a magnetometer that can detect ore deposits. There was a mining company drilling near our land in Michigan and those were flying all over the area. We visited the crew and they told us that it was a high tech and sensitive device that they use to try and identify areas of interest.

My E-TEC has been 6 years of flawless performance….including the original plugs. Love the motors, and truly believe they will go down in history as one of the best line of motors ever to run the waters of this earth. And to be honest, those videos of the tug of war…I fully believe to be 100% true. I have been in many boats with many different motors….and the E-TEC has way more torque than ay 4 stroke. I want to see the tug-o-war with the Merc Opti though! We don’t see that one, do we??!!! Any 2 stroke will out “grunt” a 4 stroke given similar displacement, etc. Its physics. The Merc Opti would out pull all those 4 strokes as well.

Does this mean that other motors are not great as well? Now way! Did you ever notice that Evinrude never runs a sound (dB) head-to-head test with the 4 strokes? Man…I love how quiet the 4 strokes can idle. No oil consumption…awesome!

Anyway….bottom line here is that this marketing from Evinrude isn’t deceptive or lying…..its true, and its smart. The E TEC will take any similar rated 4 stroke out of the hole, and we all know it. Not sure why the others don’t market their benefits. Maybe because performance is truly the #1 thing we care about???

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Only a portion of campsites at Cross Lake can be reserved. I like this since it is a long way to go just to be turned away. Hopefully VNP will have a similar system. My big concern from Cross, is that sometimes the reserved sites are sitting empty because someone didn’t show up and didn’t cancel. Will they have a waitlist for last minute cancellations or a process to occupy sites if people pull out early?

Dad, took me on first camping trip to Namakan in 1955, when I was six. We went every year, He and Mom then summered in a trailer at Sunset Bay when they retired. Mom fancied herself as the Queen of big Pike.

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This is exactly the problem that will happen on Rainy. There will be empty sites sitting everywhere. IF they do this reservation system (and I still hope they do not)…then they need to find a fool proof way of dealing with no-shows.

Maybe rather than charging people to reserve the campsite…they charge the people who do not show some sort of a stiff penalty…$100, $200, or whatever amount finally leads to people respecting the reservation system.

I struggle to imagine that the park can come up with a process and system that beats the good old “first come, first serve” policy that serves us well today.

A park ranger that stopped by our site a couple years ago and told me about it. I just checked out the official Voyaguers Park website and they have it there that they are still considering it and soliciting feedback on it.

My primary concern is that people will get online and gobble up all the reservations just in case they want to go on a given weekend. I agree there will likely be a bunch of cancellations…but what do people do then? Head up there with a hope and prayer that someone will cancel? As it stands now…I can take a look at the weather, and make a decision if I want to go up for the weekend. The flexibility of it is nice just the way it is.

And yes, I do not like all the control that is exerted everywhere by the government. That is my idealogical problem with this. My practical problem is as explained above.

All of this is a bit aside from my original questions…I still would like to know if any of the locals have any rumor about where this proposal stands?

I’ve stayed there many, many times. Its fantastic. One of the very best places in my opinion. Right there by the entrance to the park. Great bar. Cabins have that old fish camp feel. I simply love the IVL. The only thing I would say, is that the cabins are a little rough if you have a picky wife and plan to take her. I say this with all the love for picky wives, because I have one. She loves the IVL too, and has stayed there many times….but the cabins are a bit rough for her taste. The Thunderbird has a bit nicer cabins….good place too. But I personally love the IVL.