Facing roughly east from the western end of this lake. It's a somewhat popular destination with a collection of campsites.

East Bearskin

Alice

Malberg

Looks like Horseshoe

Long Island

Caribou. the one off of Clearwater

Fourtown

Little Sag

Duncan

Looks like Fishdance, but I'm not sure if that meets the criteria for "collection of campsites".

YetiJedi: "Looks like Fishdance, but I'm not sure if that meets the criteria for "collection of campsites"."

Wow, nice pull! My next clue was going to be a tricky one that the shoreline burned in fires in 1864, 1875, and 1894 and one of the portages has some really neat old red and white pines that have some gnarly scars from the 1894 fire.

Anyways... you got it. Next up. And yes, "collection" is a bit loose. The lake does have five fire grates yet, and one former site that one can still find the latrine hole. I love how quiet that far west end of the lake feels...and all the steep ridges. There's just so much history and unique geology and hydrology around Fishdance. I can hardly imagine the old route portaging south to Screamer. It couldn't have drawn much traffic! Now with the route just going through from Alice to River, that far end sees even less.

TreeBear: "

YetiJedi: "Looks like Fishdance, but I'm not sure if that meets the criteria for "collection of campsites"."

Wow, nice pull! My next clue was going to be a tricky one that the shoreline burned in fires in 1864, 1875, and 1894 and one of the portages has some really neat old red and white pines that have some gnarly scars from the 1894 fire.


Anyways... you got it. Next up. And yes, "collection" is a bit loose. The lake does have five fire grates yet, and one former site that one can still find the latrine hole. I love how quiet that far west end of the lake feels...and all the steep ridges. There's just so much history and unique geology and hydrology around Fishdance. I can hardly imagine the old route portaging south to Screamer. It couldn't have drawn much traffic! Now with the route just going through from Alice to River, that far end sees even less. "

Thanks for sharing that history, TreeBear. I didn't realize there were that many campgrounds in the area nor the info about the fires and old trails. Cool to know!

That area is a neat place. The first time I went I just couldn't shake an odd feeling...probably all in my head. But the second time I was there alone and stayed back on the island and nobody was around. Really enjoyed paddling around the shoreline of the small coves and whatnot. Quieter. More peaceful area, for me, anyway.

It is interesting how many people have an odd feeling while there. It's pretty widely reported phenomena online. I've never felt it in my couple trips there. I visited first in 2019 and spent the night on the site across from the pictographs with a guided group. It quickly became one of my favorite lakes. I stayed down in one of the far western sites this year and grew to like the place even more. One of my side hobbies is searching for old campsites and benchmarks on canoe trips. The old campsites are cool because they're usually a great case study into nature reclaiming its own. Sometimes though, old sites are just ones someone stopped marking! Fishdance, for some reason, is a lake where no map company marks every campsite it seems, and it's strange for sure. The benchmarks are on the DNR lake maps and are fun to follow the descriptions for. Fishdance's was a painted "x" on a rock so I figured it would be long gone, but then, sure enough, yellow paint on top of a rock right where it was supposed to be. Very cool.

TreeBear: "It is interesting how many people have an odd feeling while there. It's pretty widely reported phenomena online. I've never felt it in my couple trips there. I visited first in 2019 and spent the night on the site across from the pictographs with a guided group. It quickly became one of my favorite lakes. I stayed down in one of the far western sites this year and grew to like the place even more. One of my side hobbies is searching for old campsites and benchmarks on canoe trips. The old campsites are cool because they're usually a great case study into nature reclaiming its own. Sometimes though, old sites are just ones someone stopped marking! Fishdance, for some reason, is a lake where no map company marks every campsite it seems, and it's strange for sure. The benchmarks are on the DNR lake maps and are fun to follow the descriptions for. Fishdance's was a painted "x" on a rock so I figured it would be long gone, but then, sure enough, yellow paint on top of a rock right where it was supposed to be. Very cool. "

Used to be able to drive to southwest shore of Fishdance - I remember driving there with my dad. Road went down along hill behind large island. My great Aunt Tress told me the biggest northern she ever saw was caught by someone from Chicago under the Fishdance rapids and she packed it on ice for the train ride back. Tress operated a cook shack/tents for the Tomahawk Timber company throughout the roadless area back in the day. She also told me one of the loggers drowned in that rapids while fishing from shore - waded in to retrieve his snagged spoon and got tangled in a mess of old fishing line that was snagged/stuck the rapids.