Lake Two

Lake Two covers 516 acres in the Kawishiwi district, the second lake in the well known Numbered Lakes chain that starts at Lake One's own entry point and continues on through Lake Three and Lake Four. Short portages link it toward Lake One and out to Rifle Lake, and it opens straight into Lake Three through a channel with no carry at all, which keeps most parties moving through this stretch rather than stopping to explore it.

The lake runs irregular rather than open, its 16 miles of shoreline folded into bays and points with no islands to break them up, and the bottom drops into deep water faster than most lakes this size. It reaches 35 feet at its deepest point, and that basin stratifies by midsummer, the oxygen thinning out below about 25 feet even while the surface stays warm enough to swim in. Boulder and ledgerock line most of the shore, and plant growth stays thin in the shallows.

Northern pike is what Lake Two is best known for, holding in strong numbers, with walleye working the drop-offs alongside them. Cisco and lake whitefish stay in the cooler band above the oxygen-starved bottom, and bluegill and rock bass fill out the shallower water.

Twelve campsites ring the lake, giving a chain this well traveled enough room that finding an open one rarely means backtracking toward Lake One.

Lake Two suits paddlers passing through the Numbered Lakes corridor on their way to Lake Three, Lake Four, or Insula beyond, more than it does anyone looking for a lake to spend a full day on.