Direction: From Grand Marais, Minnesota, follow the Gunflint Trail. At around the 17 mile point, you will pass South Brule Lake Road, on your left. Keep going 4 miles past this road until you reach the left turn for Forest Road 152. This road sign is hard to see, so just know it is 4 miles after passing South Brule Lake Road. Follow Forest Road 152 for 2.4 miles until you come to an intersection with a stop sign. Turn right onto Forest Road 315 (also known as the Lima Grade). This road is a bit rougher, but any vehicle should find it passable. Just watch out for big rocks and avoid the larger potholes. Follow the Lima Grade for 2.1 miles to the Morgan Lake parking lot (on the left). There is room for three cars in the small parking lot. There are a couple spots another couple hundred feet down the road (better for high clearance). Otherwise, you can park along the side of the road if all three spots are filled.
There is a long portage from the parking lot to the lake. This portage has a couple decent hills and a lot of rolling topography. If it has rained recently, there will be a few mudholes to trudge through too. The hardest thing about this portage though is the length. 370 rods (about 1.15 miles). When you finally make it to Morgan Lake, the canoe landing is sandy beach. Not all bad.
There are four lakes near the entry point: Carl Lake, Jake Lake, Lux Lake and Morgan Lake. There are usually few other paddlers on these lakes. All of these lakes contain northern pike. Morgan Lake may be the best of these four lakes for catching dinner. Jake Lake (referred to as Jackal Lake on Minnesota DNR website) and Morgan Lake used to be managed for stream trout, but no longer. Carl Lake and Lux Lake each have one mediocre campsite.
You must paddle and portage to Vista Lake before additional route options open up. Vista Lake is where you will start to run into traffic coming from other entry points. There is usually a lot of competition on this lake for campsites. The south most campsite on the point (nearest the Misquah Lake portage) is a good one. From Vista Lake you can head south to Misquah Lake and Little Trout Lake. Note that the portage from Misquah Lake to Little Trout Lake is one of the most difficult in the BWCA. If you are looking for a challenging route that can be done in a day or two, travel from BWCA Entry Point 44 (Ram Lake) to BWCA Entry Point 45 (Morgan Lake) or vice versa. Heading north from Vista Lake brings you to Horseshoe Lake. You have a fair chance (still low) of seeing a moose on this lake as it is good habitat for them. All these lakes are very popular. The Brule River has its headwaters at Vista Lake, starting next to the portage to Horseshoe Lake.
The entire area is at high elevation (for Minnesota) as it lies among the Misquah Hills. These hills are the highest in the state.
Exploring the Entry Point
Three car parking lot. You'll have to park along the road if it's full.
The bulletin board. If you need a day permit, they are in the box hanging on the left side of the board. You can see the portage starting off with a boardwalk leading into the woods on the left.
It's quite a haul to the lake from the parking lot. The portage is in good shape overall. There are a few small hills, including one fairly steady climb up from the creek crossing. Not a lot of mud, but a few patches to suck the boots off the unwary. The rest of the trail is rolling topography.
The canoe landing at Morgan Lake.
A very smooth Morgan Lake as seen from the end of the long portage.
Now that you've reached the shore of the lake, visit:MORGAN LAKE
