Nearest Ranger Station: Gunflint Ranger Station, Grand Marais, MN along Hwy. 61 on the North Shore
Portage Length from Parking Lot: None
Restroom at Entry Point: Yes
Entry Point 49 - Skipper Lake and Portage Lake
Gunflint Ranger District
From Grand Marais, follow the Gunflint Trail (County Road 12) inland for about 32.5 miles until you reach Old Gunflint Trail Road (County Road 92). This is about 3 miles past Trail Center. Just follow the signs for about one mile to get to the entry point landing.
If you are debating either the Skipper Lake entry point or the Meeds Lake entry point based on the difficulty of that first portage, most folks would consider the Poplar Lake to Skipper Lake portage to be a little easier. Even though the Skipper Lake portage (317 rods) is slightly longer than the Meeds Lake portage (290 rods), the Meeds Lake portage is more rugged with frequent elevation changes and several very rocky sections.
The landings at each end of the long portage between Poplar Lake and Skipper Lake aren't too bad.
The route via Portage Lake is for those folks coming from Iron Lake. This route is most often used by groups who are planning to stay at the Iron Lake Campground. This is probably a more difficult route as you will have to travel all the way east down Iron Lake (assuming you are starting from the campground) to portage about 40 rods into Portage Lake. Once across Portage Lake (which isn't a small lake), you have a 135 rod portage to One Island Lake and then a final 63 rod portage to Rush Lake (about 238 rods total). To get to Rush Lake from Poplar Lake through Skipper Lake requires the same number of portages (about 370 rods total) , but less paddling.
The portage between Poplar Lake and Skipper Lake is intersected by a spur trail that connects to the Blandin Trail.
Exploring the Entry Point
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Sign along Old Gunflint Trail road. This is also known as County Road 92.
The parking lot is on top of a hill connected by a fairly long staircase to the boat landing on Poplar Lake.
Looking up the access road. The boat landing is directly behind you from this vantage point.
Boat ramp at the Poplar Lake public landing. This landing is on the very west end of the lake. There is no long term parking down by the lake, just an unloading zone. You must park at the top of the hill and take the steps down to the lake.
Poplar Lake serves BWCA Entry Points #47, #48 and #49.
A tour of this rather expansive boat landing.
Large parking lot on top of the hill.
This little restroom is next to the parking lot. There isn't a restroom down by the lake.
The steps from the parking lot leading down to the boat landing.
The Skipper Lake portage is about 1/2 mile from the boat landing (less than 10 minutes of paddling). The portage from Poplar Lake to Skipper Lake is just shy of one-mile in length (317 rods). One rod = 16 1/2 feet. The portage is of average difficulty.
Now that you've reached the shore of the lake, visit:SKIPPER LAKE
