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ROUTES/PORTAGES FROM BRIDGE LAKE:
To Lake Four: Walk the 37 rod portage
To Rifle Lake: Walk the 157 rod portage
To Drumstick Creek: Paddle In

Bridge Lake

Kawishiwi Ranger District

BRIDGE LAKE CAMPSITE:
None explored yet.

Bridge Lake is surrounded by a forest that was last burned in 1910. It is a long, skinny lake with its two halves connected by a very narrow channel. To get to Bridge Lake, you can either come from Lake Four, or you can travel over two portages from Lake Two. Bridge Lake is part of a nice loop from Lake Two, out to Lake Four and back to Lake Two.

The mouth of Drumstick Creek is located on the northeast shoreline of Bridge Lake. (Note: Drumstick Creek is mislabeled on most maps and is shown as having its mouth at the west end of Fire Lake. The mouth of Drumstick Creek is at Bridge Lake after it flows through Quartz Lake and Delta Lake.) The mouth is marked by several large rocks sticking out of the water.

If you are looking for some adventure, head up Drumstick Creek which is navigable. After about a mile following the creek, you will come to some rapids flowing down from Delta Lake. The portage is on the right. The landing is tricky as it is in deep water right below a set of small rapids. This is an uphill portage that is no longer maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, so expect some blowdown. It is otherwise short and sweet.

Delta Lake is at the entrance to the Drag Lake Primitive Management Area. A Primitive Management Area (or PMA) is an area of the BWCA that is not maintained by the U.S. Forest Service. Delta Lake is half within the PMA and half outside of it. There is one (or was one) unmaintained campsite on the north end of Delta Lake. It's status is unknown. It may no longer have an iron fire ring and may not be serviceable. The campsite is outside of the PMA, so you do not need a PMA permit to stay there. Note that PMA permits are available where you pick up your regular BWCA permit. You just have to ask for it.

There is little information on the fishing potential of Bridge Lake, so you will have to discover its virtues for yourself.

There is a single campsite on the lake of decent quality along the south shoreline, not far from the portage to Lake Four.

References:
Beymer, Robert, Boundary Waters Canoe Area – Volume 1 – Western Region (Berkeley: Wilderness Press, 2006), 201.

Exploring Bridge Lake

Routes to locations on Bridge Lake are shown below:
Paddling from the Rifle Lake portage to the mouth of Drumstick Creek
Paddling from the mouth of Drumstick Creek to the Rifle Lake portage

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PADDLING FROM THE RIFLE LAKE PORTAGE TO THE MOUTH OF DRUMSTICK CREEK

A look at much of the west end of Bridge Lake. The mouth of Drumstick Creek can be seen just left of center in the distance.

This view is from the Rifle Lake. Across the lake (just right of center), you can make out the mouth of Drumstick Creek. Drumstick Creek flows down from Delta Lake. To your right (out of view) is a narrow channel that leads toward the southeast end of Bridge Lake and Lake Four beyond.

Paddling from the Rifle Lake portage, across Bridge Lake, to the mouth of Drumstick Creek.
Paddle into Drumstick Creek -or- Explore Another Route
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PADDLING FROM THE MOUTH OF DRUMSTICK CREEK TO THE RIFLE LAKE PORTAGE

Paddling across Bridge Lake from the mouth of Drumstick Creek southward to the Rifle Lake portage.

As you paddle across Bridge Lake, you peer down the narrows that lead to the eastern part of the lake. The eastern end of the lake has a portage to Lake Four. There is a campsite just to the right on the south shore, after you pass through this slender part of the lake.

This big rock slab is the canoe landing for the start of the portage to Rifle Lake.
Portage to Rifle Lake -or- Explore Another Route
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Route Connections for Bridge Lake

From Bridge Lake, you can portage to Lake Four or Rifle Lake. You can also bushwhack into Drumstick Creek (and the Drag Lake Primitive Management Area beyond).

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