Pine Lake

Pine Lake covers about 2,122 acres in the far northeastern corner of the Boundary Waters, in the Gunflint district above Hovland and close enough to the Canadian border to be among the easternmost water in the wilderness system. A short, nearly flat portage off McFarland Lake reaches it from the east, while the lakes feeding it from the west, Canoe Lake and the Pike lakes, connect to Pine by some of the longest, hardest carries on this side of the wilderness.

The lake drops to 113 feet, one of the deeper basins in the Gunflint district, and only a narrow band around the shore is shallow enough to hold weeds before the bottom falls away. The water runs clear enough to watch that drop-off from well above it, and that clarity is part of what keeps the lake cold enough to hold trout.

Walleye and lake trout share the lake, an unusual pairing for water this size, with walleye running a solid average size and lake trout now reproducing on their own in the cold depths below. Northern pike are scarce here but grow big when you find one, and lake whitefish fill out the deep water as forage. Smallmouth bass round out the rockier shallows.

Eleven campsites are spread around Pine Lake, enough that it doesn't feel crowded even with four different routes running through it. Most groups reach the lake from the McFarland side rather than fighting the long portages in from the west, which keeps the harder-won interior lakes quieter by comparison.

A hiking trail off the lake's western end climbs to Johnson Falls, a two-tiered waterfall you can also reach by a spur trail off the long switchback portage between Pine and Canoe Lake.

Pine Lake suits a group that wants big, cold, clear water and a real shot at both walleye and lake trout without pushing far into the wilderness's interior lakes. Reaching it from the east is easy. Reaching it from the west means working for it.