Pierz Lake
Gunflint Ranger District
PIERZ LAKE CAMPSITES:
Campsite 1 (#709):
Campsite 2 (#710):
Campsite 3 (#736):
Once upon a time, Pierz Lake was known as Beaver Lake. The lake was officially renamed to Pierz Lake sometime after 1964. Also, there used to be a portage from the north shore near the eastern end of the Pierz Lake to Crystal Lake. The lake possibly gets its name from Francis Xavier Pierz, a missionary in this area back in the mid-1800's.
Pierz Lake is a dead end lake. There once was a portage to Crystal Lake that existed at least into the 1960's, but it is no longer maintained. The portage is not shown on a 1970 Crystal Lake map, so it probably had fallen into disuse by that time. One of the primary attractions for visiting this lake is that it contains splake, a hybrid cross between a male brook trout and a female lake trout. Note that splake, brook trout and lake trout are not trout at all, they are char. The Minnesota DNR restocks the lake every year or two with a few thousand fingerlings.
There are three campsites on this lake, all along the north shoreline. You can often find one or more of them available. So if all the sites on Alder Lake are taken, make the short portage into Pierz Lake to find a place to camp for the night.
A steep escarpment runs east-west along the south shore of the lake, rising nearly 200 feet.
Pierz Lake is fed by springs and a wetland area on the eastern end of the lake. Water from Pierz Lake flows into Alder Lake.
References:
Beymer, Robert, Boundary Waters Canoe Area – Volume 2 – Eastern Region (Berkeley: Wilderness Press, 2006), 236, 242.
Pauly, Daniel, Exploring the Boundary Waters (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005), 389.
Exploring Pierz Lake
Routes to locations on Pierz Lake are shown below:
No routes defined yet for Pierz Lake.
Click on the photos below to see the full resolution image - Use your browsers back button to close photo and return to this page.
The western end of Pierz Lake as seen from the Crystal Lake portage.
This is looking east down Pierz Lake from the portage. The high ridge that runs along the south side of this lake is visible in the distance.
Route Connections for Pierz Lake
From Pierz Lake you can portage to Alder Lake.
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