Newton Lake

Newton Lake covers 516 acres in the Kawishiwi district of the Boundary Waters, in Lake County near Ely. It's less a destination than a passage: the Kawishiwi River runs straight through it, connecting Fall Lake on one end to Basswood Lake's Pipestone Bay on the other by way of a short portage at each end. Most parties crossing it are headed somewhere else.

That current gives Newton a different feel than the still water around it. The basin runs narrow and serpentine rather than open, and because the river keeps moving through it, the lake doesn't stratify the way most lakes its depth do: oxygen stays high from top to bottom even in summer. It drops to 47 feet in its deepest stretch, though much of it is shallow enough for weeds to take hold, and the shoreline runs rocky.

Unlike most of the wilderness around it, Newton Lake allows motors up to 25 horsepower, part of the route that lets boats run from Fall Lake toward Basswood. Paddlers crossing it should expect company and the occasional wake.

Walleye and northern pike are what most anglers come here for, with yellow perch thick enough to keep them fed. Rock bass and smallmouth bass round out a mixed fishery typical of the river lakes in this stretch of the Kawishiwi.

Only two campsites sit on Newton Lake, which fits its role as water people cross rather than camp on. With Fall Lake's landing at one end and Basswood a short carry away at the other, it works better as a link between bigger lakes than as a stop of its own.