STAYING AFLOAT

CENTURIES AGO, FRENCH CANADIAN FUR TRAPPERS DRAGGED HEAVY CANOES OVER THE LAND AND LAKES OF PRESENT-DAY VOYAGEURS NATIONAL PARK. ON A FIRST-TIME HOUSEBOAT JOURNEY, THE MOST WE LUGGED WAS A COOLER BUT WE SNARED A WEALTH OF SOLITUDE, SUNSETS AND LAUGHS.

- JULIA SAYERS GOKHALE

A soft breeze rustles tall pines rooted in a slim isthmus; dappled sunshine warms my face. I stare, mesmerized, at dark water lapping at creamy white sand.

"Julia! Pull the rope tighter!" My husband's bellow echoes across the lake, snapping me out of my trance. The tangle of thick blue rope I've gathered in my arms has gone slack, sagging in the water. I yank it taut, nodding to my friend Jess on the opposite bank. Heave-ho! In unison we pull our respective ropes, guiding our 44-foot houseboat into the cove. We tie them off at a perfect angle, forming a V-shape leading to the boat, just as we were instructed. As the mother ship motors down, Jess' husband, Andrew, putters in on our tow-behind fishing boat, and my husband, Ojas, throws out the gangplank. Jess and I high-five: After two days in Voyageurs National Park, we might just be finding our sea legs-or rather, lakes-the-size-of-a-sea legs.

A day prior, we embarked on our journey into the sprawling expanse of this northern Minnesota park. Straddling the Canadian border, Voyageurs takes its name from the French Canadian fur trappers who traversed these waters in canoes crafted from the surrounding birch and cedar forests. They coexisted with the native Chippewa (Ojibwe) tribe, who supplied the voyageurs with boats and taught them the ways of their land.

Today, the park encompasses 350 square miles, 500 islands and four main lakes: Rainy, Namakan, Kabetogama and Sand Point. Since one-third of Voyageurs is water, houseboating is the transportation and lodging of choice-and an annual ritual for some Upper Midwesterners.