GOOD LAKE CAMPSITES: Campsite 1: (#2048) - Located near the portage to Indiana Lake
Campsite 2: (#2049) - This campsite is on the south side of the mid-lake narrows
The lake 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. Good Creek flows into Hoist Bay on Basswood Lake. Hoist Bay hosts the northern end of the Four Mile Portage.
There are three portages out of this small lake. There used to be a fourth portage that was very short into Good Creek, but that is gone now. You can just paddle into Good Creek now and float down to Hoist Bay on Basswood Lake. 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 too many surprises, but it can be muddy and is often very buggy in the summer. The portage to Indiana Lake is kind of long and not heavily utilized so can become a bit brushy. The portage to Hula Lake is straightforward.
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 named for G. H. Good. Good ran the sawmill operations in the town of Winton until 1922 (Heinselman). 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).
