October 8, 2025

Known to some as the “Freshwater Everest,” if you want to explore this mountain, you don’t go up, you go down.
In the middle of Lake Superior, near the boundary between Canadian and U.S. waters, sits the Superior Shoal, a mountain that’s completely underwater. The shoal is about 4 square miles of volcanic rock that rises up from the bottom of the lake to a height nearly three times that of the Statue of Liberty.

Minnesota is home to five National Park Service-managed properties: Voyageurs National Park, the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Grand Portage National Monument, Pipestone National Monument, and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.
Each destination is offering limited services to visitors during the federal government shutdown, but there is no park-specific information on which services are available, as 68% of the workforce has been furloughed.