Wood Lake to Basswood Lake

Overview

Entry Point 26 puts the hardest work of the trip first. A long carry drops from the Fernberg Road to Wood Lake before a paddle touches water, and from there the route runs north through Hula and Good to Basswood, then turns and comes back the same way. Only two overnight permits go out for Wood Lake each day, and the three lakes below Basswood stay quiet because of it.

Wood Lake is shallow from one end to the other, weedy enough that walleye and northern pike work its edges. The landing sits on a marshy south arm, and the lake does not open up until you have paddled clear of it. Hula holds no campsites and passes underfoot rather than inviting a stop. Good Lake drops off harder than either one. Then Basswood opens out, close to 26,000 acres running north into Quetico, with a shoreline the 1999 windstorm rewrote into young growth around the pines and cedars that lived through it. Motorboats work the bays this route reaches and stop at the narrows above them.

The trip suits paddlers who will trade one punishing carry for a short, direct line to big water. It suits anglers twice over, since the shallow weed edges at the start and Basswood's deep structure at the far end fish nothing alike. Camping runs opposite to the travel: Wood and Good hold a handful of sites between them, while Basswood has well over a hundred.

Route Highlights

• Basswood produced Minnesota's record northern pike in 1929, a fish just under 46 pounds that still stands as the largest taken in the state
• Pockets of old pine and cedar that survived the 1999 windstorm still hold the Basswood shoreline, including a cedar believed to be more than a thousand years old
• Good Lake drops to around fifty feet, deep enough to hold whitefish and cisco under the walleye and smallmouth
• The carry between Back Bay and Pipestone Bay is one of only two portages in the wilderness where wheels are permitted, which matters on a trip that opens and closes with a long road portage