As national park junkies, we definitely wanted to visit this place. However, we couldn't find anyone in the Twin Cities who had been there although it's only 4.5-5 hours. It was clear that most of the park is only accessible by water. Truthfully, we probably would have been better off doing a houseboat or canoe trip. However, we went over MEA break, right when things were starting to shut down. It was still beautiful colors and we could do enough! We stayed at Thunderbird Lodge on Rainy Lake and did a boat tour from Voyageurs Outfitters (highly recommend). We got some hikes in (5 or so) but it was hard to find hiking trails that were accessible by land. The views were beautiful and it is a unique place. It was a bummer that almost all visitor centers were closed...I wanted my national park stickers! Luckily, they left out a stamp at the Ash River Center so I was able to get that at least!