Loon Lake

Loon Lake sits well back from every entry point on the eastern stretch of the Gunflint Trail, in the Gunflint Ranger District of Cook County. At around 1,095 acres, it's four to seven miles by straight line from the nearest landings, so reaching it means real travel rather than a short paddle in.

More than 14 miles of shoreline fold around a lake barely two square miles in surface area, which means Loon Lake feels bigger and more broken up, bays and points everywhere, than its acreage alone suggests. It also runs deep: the bottom drops to 202 feet, and only about an eighth of the lake's surface area is shallow enough to count as littoral water.

That combination of depth and cold water makes Loon Lake a lake trout lake first. Walleye and smallmouth bass work the rockier stretches too, and bluegill and rock bass turn up in the smaller pockets of shallow water near shore.

Only one campsite sits on Loon Lake, so whoever claims it effectively has the lake to themselves. That, combined with the distance from the nearest entry points, makes it a lake for paddlers willing to go several lakes deep for solitude and a real shot at lake trout.