Story:
C losed to motor vehicles, motorized equipment, hang gliders and bicycles! The Forest Service posts this sign at the edge of the wilderness.
Wednesday we traveled south to the point where the logging road entered the wilderness. We then retraced our steps and traveled east past Meat Lake to Clark Lake.
Years ago I frequently fished in Meat Lake. I caught many stunted northern pike using barbless hooks. I realized when I arrived at the lake that I had traveled to it by way of the old Clark Lake Road not the Wolf Lake Road. This access was closed when the 1978 wilderness legislation moved the boundary further south.
The trail to Meat Lake was a surprise. Most of it does not seem to follow an old logging road. Aerial photos did not show this trail. We discovered it as we hiked. (Someone had carefully brushed the trail where it joined the Phantom-Battle portage.)
C losed to motor vehicles, motorized equipment, hang gliders and bicycles! The Forest Service posts this sign at the edge of the wilderness.
Wednesday we traveled south to the point where the logging road entered the wilderness. We then retraced our steps and traveled east past Meat Lake to Clark Lake.
Years ago I frequently fished in Meat Lake. I caught many stunted northern pike using barbless hooks. I realized when I arrived at the lake that I had traveled to it by way of the old Clark Lake Road not the Wolf Lake Road. This access was closed when the 1978 wilderness legislation moved the boundary further south.
The trail to Meat Lake was a surprise. Most of it does not seem to follow an old logging road. Aerial photos did not show this trail. We discovered it as we hiked. (Someone had carefully brushed the trail where it joined the Phantom-Battle portage.)
Tips:
We obtained an entry permit for Crab Lake from the Forest Service. We also designed this first day to avoid private property at the Tamarack Lake end of the Wolf Lake Road which has a gate. We bushwhacked 1.3 mile from a logging area just outside the gate to meet the old road.
We followed trails/old roads not officially designated for hiking. Therefore they are not particularly scenic nor challenging in change of elevation as other BWCA hiking trails might be. Finding designated campsites (a condition for entering this wilderness) requires some difficult bushwhacking.
We obtained an entry permit for Crab Lake from the Forest Service. We also designed this first day to avoid private property at the Tamarack Lake end of the Wolf Lake Road which has a gate. We bushwhacked 1.3 mile from a logging area just outside the gate to meet the old road.
We followed trails/old roads not officially designated for hiking. Therefore they are not particularly scenic nor challenging in change of elevation as other BWCA hiking trails might be. Finding designated campsites (a condition for entering this wilderness) requires some difficult bushwhacking.
Tags:
BWCA, Phantom Lake, Crab Lake, Wolf Lake Road, Minnesota, Ely, Clark Lake, Meat Lake
BWCA, Phantom Lake, Crab Lake, Wolf Lake Road, Minnesota, Ely, Clark Lake, Meat Lake
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