Poplar Lake

Poplar Lake covers about 764 acres in Cook County, strung along the Gunflint Trail roughly 30 road miles from Grand Marais. It falls within the Gunflint district, but the lake itself sits outside the wilderness boundary rather than inside it. Paddlers headed for entry points like Lizz and Swamp, Meeds, or Skipper and Portage Lakes cross Poplar first, then hit a portage on its far shore that actually leads into the Boundary Waters.

The shoreline runs long and broken, more than 23 miles of it folded around bays and points, and the lake drops to 73 feet at its deepest. A little over a third of it is shallow enough to hold weeds, with the rest open water. Clarity has slipped in recent years, down to around 6 feet on the most recent reading after averaging closer to 10.

Five resorts and roughly a hundred homes and cabins line the shore, and a paved public landing with room for many vehicles sits at the lake's west end off the Gunflint Trail. Motors are common on Poplar, and there's no wilderness campsite system mapped on the lake itself.

Walleye have stayed chronically low here despite decades of stocking, well short of what the state aims for. Northern pike, smallmouth bass, and black crappie fill out the rest of the fishery, along with lake whitefish that support a small commercial netting operation rather than typical rod-and-reel fishing. Spiny waterflea, an invasive species, is established in the lake, so boaters should clean gear before moving to another lake.

Poplar Lake suits paddlers staging a trip toward the Gunflint Trail's entry points, or anglers working out of one of its resorts, more than anyone looking for wilderness camping. That's found on the lakes across its portages, not on Poplar itself.