Dugout Lake
Making Connections
- Bushwhack East, 250 rods, to Chad
- Bushwhack South, 160 rods, to Pine Creek
Maps
- Fisher
F-8, Vermilion,
Trout Lake, Vermilion River, Bootleg Lake
- McKenzie
No. 15, Trout Lake
Links
- DNR Lake No. 690451
- Lake Map No.
N/A
- Lake Table No. 1
- MDH Fish Consumption
Advisory - N/A
- MPCA Water Quality
- N/A
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Scale 1:21420
Full image approximately 2
miles square |
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Description
Dugout is a small, relatively shallow
lake, 22½ miles SSE of Crane Lake and 20 miles WNW of Ely.
Just over ½ mile long and under a ¼ mile wide, Dugout has
no apparent surface water inlet or outlet. Nor does have maintained
portage access.
The Independence Day windstorms of 1999 did hit the Dugout area, with
tree loss estimates for the area surrounding the lake pegged at 34% to
66%. The single campsite remains open, though the forest behind
it, and north along the shore, was hit hard by the blowdown..
Campsites
Dugout supports a single established
campsite, on its northwestern shore, which has been declared usable by the
Forest Service in the aftermath of the blowdowns.
Planning Considerations
Dugout is on the way to nowhere, and unlikely
to be a destination in its own right, unless you're camped at Chad
and looking for a vigorous afternoon clamber over toppled trees. The
same maps which show the Dugout campsite also, significantly, show no indications
of an "official" portage. In the aftermath of the storm, any unmaintained
portages in the area are likely to have, for all intents and purposes, disappeared.
(Until the blowndown timber rots or, more likely, burns, one should give
some consideration for the safety of camping in the midst of such a great
expanse of firewood).
Wildlife
The 1999 blowdowns took out much, if not
most, of the standing timber in a broad area surrounding Dugout. Look
for increased numbers of the beneficiaries of such newly opened space -
deer, moose, and especially woodpeckers. The huge increase in dead
wood brings with it a commensurate increase in insects, particularly beetles,
which in turn attract the woodpeckers.
Notes and Comments
If you do get in to Dugout send us a photo.
We'll publish it here. (It's the only way most BWCA paddlers will
get to see this lake, especially after the blowdowns.) |
Last updated on
11 April, 2004
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