Good Lake
Kawishiwi Ranger District
GOOD LAKE CAMPSITES:
None visited yet.
The ake is divided into two basins separated by a short narrow channel. The eastern basin is by far the deepest. A small unnamed creek flows into the south side of the lakes western basin. This unnamed creek drains land found to the east of Ella Hall Lake. The wider and navigable Good Creek drains Good Lake. This creek starts on the west end of the lake and is accessible beyond a 2 rod portage. Good Creek flows into Hoist Bay on Basswood Lake. Hoist Bay hosts the northern end of the Four Mile Portage.
There are four portages out of this small lake. The portage on the west end of the lake into Good Creek is merely a liftover. Good Creek as mentioned above flows to Hoist Bay. Another option for reaching Hoist Bay is the portage out of the north end of the lake. This is about a 65 rod portage and doesn't offer any surprises. The portage to Indiana Lake is kind of long and not heavily utilized so can become a bit brushy. The 150 rod portage to Hula Lake can be seen here.
There are no 'bad' lakes in the BWCA. There are two other lakes in Minnesota that have 'Bad' in their names though: Bad Medicine Lake and Bad Axe Lake. Somewhat surprisingly there are no other lakes named 'Good' in Minnesota.
This lake is probably named for a G. H. Good. Good ran the sawmill operations in the town of Winton until 1922. This sawmill supported the milling of logs coming in from the Fall Lake - Basswood Lake area. Mention of this logging operation can be found in the book A Wonderful Country - The Quetico-Superior Stories of Bill Maggie by Dave Olesen (see page 10).
References:
Beymer, Robert, Boundary Waters Canoe Area – Volume 1 – Western Region (Berkeley: Wilderness Press, 2006), 164, 167, 169.
Olesen, David, A Wonderful Country (Ely: Raven Productions, Inc., 2005), 10.
Pauly, Daniel, Exploring the Boundary Waters (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005), 160.
Exploring Good 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.
This view from the end of the Hula Lake portage, is toward the campsite on the east end of the lake. That campsite is near the 100 rod portage to Indiana Lake. The canoe in the distance marks the location of the campsite.
This is the view from the end of the Hula Lake portage looking to the west across the eastern bay of Good Lake. The notch in the horizon just to the right of center, is the location of the portage to Hoist Bay which is part of Basswood Lake. Hoist Bay is named for the log hoist that used to place logs onto the rail cars that ran along the railway that is now the Four Mile Portage.
Route Connections for Good Lake
From Good Lake, you can portage to Hula Lake, Indiana Lake and also into Good Creek.
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