NEWFOUND LAKE CAMPSITES: Campsite 1 (#1305): Southwest of Skull Lake portage on east shoreline Campsite 2 (#1311): West shore and southwest down shoreline from Found Lake portage Campsite 3 (#1320): On point just east of the Found Lake portage Campsite 4 (#1303): Near middle of the north shore of Horseshoe Island Campsite 5 (#1302): Near the southeast point of Horseshoe Island
You won't have a lot of peace and quite on Newfound Lake. Moose Lake, Newfound Lake and Sucker Lake form a sort of highway between the outfitters all located on Moose Lake and Prairie Portage. Moose Lake, BWCA Entry Point 25, is the busiest entry point in the BWCA. You need to get at least a couple portages past Newfound Lake before you start losing the crowds during the busiest parts of the season in the BWCA.
Water flowage is toward the north through Newfound Lake. The water from Moose Lake is flowing north into the south end of Newfound Lake. Skull Lake feeds Newfound Lake via a small creek. A creek between Splash Lake and Newfound Lake brings water in from that direction. Newfound Lake itself flows northward into Sucker Lake, which in turn flows into expansive Basswood Lake along the Canadian Border at Prairie Portage.
Newfound Lake has decent fishing for northern pike, walleye and smallmouth bass. There are at least thirteen campsites on the lake. Motorboats with limited horsepower are allowed on Newfound Lake. You will frequently see motorboats ferrying paddlers from Moose Lake up to Prairie Portage as you paddle through here. Both Skull Lake and Found Lake are easily accessible from Newfound Lake and offer stream trout fishing courtesy of the Minnesota DNR fish stocking program. There is a campsite on Found Lake.
Newfound Lake was an important transport route during the logging era. Most of the heavy logging occurred during the first couple decades of the 1900's on this lake. Swallow and Hopkins Logging Camp #25 was locate on Newfound Lake. It was roughly 0.5 miles southwest of the Splash Lake portage. It was gone by 1920 or so. There used to be a dam between Newfound Lake and Splash Lake that was used to raise the water level to accommodate log rafts. The dam at Prairie Portage, which was originally built in 1902 and then rebuilt in 1975 (after washing out in 1968) artifically keeps the water levels of Sucker Lake, Birch Lake, Moose Lake and Newfound Lake higher than the otherwise would be (about 5 to 8 feet). The motor portage on the American side of Prairie Portage was also rebuilt at this time. Most of these log dams were constructed by the Swallow and Hopkins Company and/or the St. Croix Company (Heinselman, 1999).
Several gabions, which are wirework containers filled with rocks, were temporarily installed in the narrows between Moose Lake and Newfound Lake to maintain water levels in Moose Lake and lower water levels downstream to help facilitate the dam construction at Prairie Portage (Ely Echo, November 5, 1975).
References:
Beymer, Robert, Boundary Waters Canoe Area – Volume 1 – Western Region (Berkeley: Wilderness Press, 2006), 155, 158, 159, 162.
Heinselman, Miron, The Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), 102, 103.
Pauly, Daniel, Exploring the Boundary Waters (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005), 160, 161.
From the Moose Lake/Newfound Lake channel, paddle northward to the campsite located on the northwest shoreline of Newfound Lake. Visit BWCA Campsite 1311 -or- Explore Another Route ***********************************************END OF ROUTE***********************************************
PADDLING FROM BWCA CAMPSITE 1311 TO THE FOUND LAKE PORTAGE
From the campsite, continue northeast along the northwest shore of Newfound Lake until reaching the portage to Found Lake. Portage to Found Lake -or- Explore Another Route ***********************************************END OF ROUTE***********************************************
PADDLING FROM MOOSE LAKE TO THE FOUND LAKE PORTAGE
Beginning from the channel where Moose Lake and Newfound Lake connect, paddle north until reaching the northwest shoreline of Newfound Lake. Briefly stop at a campsite there. From the campsite, continue northeast along the shoreline until reaching the portage to Found Lake.
PADDLING FROM THE FOUND LAKE PORTAGE TO BWCA CAMPSITE 1320
After pulling away from the Found Lake portage, proceed northeast a short ways to the campsite on the point. The landing is somewhat hidden in the brush to the left of the rock shelf. Visit BWCA Campsite 1320 -or- Explore Another Route ***********************************************END OF ROUTE***********************************************
Newfound Lake as seen from the campsite southwest down the shore from the Found Lake portage. Portage to Found Lake -or- Explore Another Route ***********************************************END OF ROUTE***********************************************
PADDLING FROM THE FOUND LAKE PORTAGE TO THE SKULL LAKE PORTAGE
Photo is from the Found Lake portage. Looking generally to the south.
This route begins at the Found Lake portage on Newfound Lake. From that portage, make short stops at three campsites along the way, while paddling over to the Skull Lake portage. The first campsite visited is the one on the point near the Found Lake portage. The other two campsites in order, are the sites on the north side of Horseshoe Island and the campsite near the southeast corner of Horseshoe Island. After leaving the last campsite, paddle to the southeast and come to the Skull Lake portage.
This view is from the campsite on the north shore of Horseshoe Island. Gaze is off to the northeast.
Peering east from the campsite located on the east side of Horseshoe Island. Portage to Skull Lake -or- Explore Another Route ***********************************************END OF ROUTE***********************************************
PADDLING FROM THE SKULL LAKE PORTAGE TO MOOSE LAKE
View of Newfound Lake from the Skull Lake portage.
Paddling from the Skull Lake portage southwest down the east shoreline of Newfound Lake. Make a short stop at one campsite. Continue along the route until entering the north end of Moose Lake.
Here we're looking southwest from the campsite on the east shore of Newfound Lake. This campsite is south of the Skull Lake portage. Paddle Moose Lake -or- Explore Another Route ***********************************************END OF ROUTE***********************************************
Route Connections for Newfound Lake
From Newfound Lake, you can portage paddle into Moose Lake and Sucker Lake. You can also portage from Newfound Lake into Found Lake, Skull Lake and Splash Lake.
