Voyageurs National Park is a mosaic of land and water, a place of interconnected waterways that flow west into the Rainy River, and eventually north as part of the arctic watershed of Hudson's Bay. It's a place of transition, between upland and aquatic ecosystems, southern boreal and northern hardwoods forest types, and both wild and developed areas. The park is named for the Voyageurs, French-Canadian canoe-men who traveled these waters in their birch-bark canoes from the Great Lakes to the interior of the western United States and Canada. Modern voyageurs continue to ply these waters. Voyageurs is a water-based park where you must leave your car and take to the water to fully experience the lakes, islands and shorelines of the park.