Gypo 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.
From Niki Lake, the easiest way to Crooked Lake is to go through north Chippewa Lake, Papoose Lake and down Papoose Creek into Friday Bay. However, it is possible to jump ahead a couple of days and take a route directly into Wednesday Bay farther to the east on Crooked Lake. Instead of heading to Chippewa Lake from Niki Lake, head up the creek flowing into the east end of the lake. This leads to Gypo Lake and starts you on your way to Crooked Lake; with some major bushwhack challenges of course.
A possible origin of the name Gypo comes from a similarly spelled word, 'gyppo'. According to the dictionary, gyppo is slang for "a logger who operates on a small budget and typically gleans the timberlands already cut by larger companies".
The fire history of this area includes the 1894 Chad Lake/Cummings Lake/Lac La Croix/Crooked Lake complex. This was one of two large fires that affected the western part of what is now known as the BWCA during that year.
Another fire affected this area way back in 1822. This burn is known as the Hook Lake/Hegman Lake/Crooked Lake complex.
Approach to Gypo Lake
The approach to Gypo Lake is to begin up a small creek that enters the eastern end of Chippewa Lake.
Bushwhack to Gypo Lake
The creek connecting Niki Lake to Gypo Lake is navigable for a good quarter mile until it hits the forest line. At this point, as the creek bends to the northeast. At this point you will want to look around for what is likely a faint trail. This trail is shown on maps as recent as the 2011 McKenzie #11 map. This was formerly a maintained portage trail and can be traced back to old BWCA maps for this area to at least 1967. It shows up as a 53 rod portage in the "A Paddler's Guide to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area" map book published by Fisher Maps in 1980. Other old maps show it at 60 rods. In any event, you do not follow the creek the entire way to Gypo Lake from Niki Lake but instead bushwhack this faint old portage trail. Note that taking the creek the entire way is certainly an option, but it is longer and afterall, the portage was probably established here for a reason...
Exploring Gypo Lake
A single trip report was found on the Internet and posted by someone who had reached this lake. It is almost certainly visited occasionally, but most traffic into the Tick Lake Primitive Management Area is focused on Jackfish Lake further east. Jackfish Lake is much more accessible from the north coming from Crooked Lake.
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