Disappointment Lake

Disappointment Lake is an 894-acre lake in the Kawishiwi district. It sits inland from Snowbank Lake on the way toward the Numbered Lakes and Lake Insula country. Portages reach it from three directions, a rough half-mile carry from Snowbank Lake plus shorter carries in from Parent Lake and Ahsub Lake, which makes it a junction for paddlers working through this stretch of wilderness rather than a dead-end lake.

The lake runs deep for its size, dropping to 54 feet in its main basin while a bit under half of it stays shallow enough to fish from the surface down. The water is unusually clear for this part of the wilderness, clear enough to see well down past the surface even over the deeper water. Twenty miles of shoreline fold that acreage into bays and points rather than one open sweep.

Walleye here tend to run older and larger than typical for lakes in this area. The deep, cold basin also holds tullibee, a coldwater fish that needs exactly the kind of oxygenated depth Disappointment has, and largemouth bass turn up in good numbers and good size, an unusual find this far into the wilderness. Northern pike round out the lake's main species.

Eleven campsites are spread around the lake, with enough shoreline between them that groups don't often end up stacked on top of each other.

Disappointment Lake suits paddlers moving through the Snowbank corridor toward the interior more than those looking for a quiet dead-end stop, since its portages leave it three ways rather than one.