Kettle Lake
Have not yet visited this Primitive Management Area lake. The information displayed on this page are notes used for planning a future trip to this area. Use the information on this page at your own risk.
The name Kettle Lake is likely derived from a geologic formation known as a kettle hole. Kettle holes are deep depressions which were created by glaciation processes. Many kettle holes fill with water and become lakes.
Kettle Lake and Spider Lake to its west were heavily impacted by the 1999 Windstorm that occurred on Independence Day that year. Because of this, expect the formerly maintained portages into Kettle Lake and Spider Lake to be rough. In fact, as of 2003, the first portage from Pickle Lake to Kettle Lake could not even be located (Pauly, 2005). The easiest way to now reach Kettle Lake is probably just to follow the creek that flows from Kettle Lake to Pickle Lake. This creek flows through a bog, so it probably was only minimally impacted by the blowdown. The portage from Kettle Lake to Spider Lake was only 9 rods long. So regardless of the amount of damage it sustained, a determined group might be able to make their way across it in one manner or another.
Each of these lakes also used to have one maintained campsite (shown on older maps of this part of the BWCA), but the blowdown may have severely damaged both those locations too.
References:
Pauly, Daniel, Exploring the Boundary Waters (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005), 175, 350.
Approach to Kettle Lake
Look for the remains of an old portage trail on the very west end of Pickle Lake where the creek flows in from Kettle Lake.
Bushwhack to Kettle Lake
There used to be a 45 rod maintained portage that connected the west end of Pickle Lake to the east end of Kettle Lake. The 1999 Independence Day Blowdown may have damaged that portage. This portage is no longer maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, so wasn't cleared after the wind damage occurred. There is also a creek that connects Pickle Lake and Kettle Lake. Much of this creek is navigable. If you cannot find the old portage or if it is in too rough of shape, consider just paddling the creek and bushwhacking around the obstacles into Kettle Lake. The creek runs through a peat bog away from the treeline, so it should have been minimally impacted by the blowdown.
Exploring Kettle Lake
A single campsite used to exist on the east end of the lake near where the creek flows out and the old portage used to be. The blowdown may have damaged this campsite or lack of use may have allowed the forest to reabsorb it.
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