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Listening Point - General Discussion

Best Tasting Lake

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Last Visit: 05/23/2013 11:46PM
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millerb

08/15/2012 06:22PM

Just returned from EP 47. I have to say that Winchell Lake was the best tasting lake I have drank from in my 18 years of tripping. Then again, I did just buy a Katadyn Hiker Pro pump filter.....I'm curious, what do you think are the best tasting lakes?

"If I was told I was going to die tomorrow, I would be loading my canoe today"

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RainGearRight

08/15/2012 06:48PM

Alton's gin clear water is the best I've tasted so far. Filtering water won't change the taste.

There's always money in the banana stand.

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kanoes

08/15/2012 06:53PM

quote RainGearRight: "Alton's gin clear water is the best I've tasted so far. Filtering water won't change the taste. "
purifying will though.

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

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Beaverjack

08/15/2012 07:08PM

Depends on how thirsty I am. Honestly, the best water is in deep mountain lakes above treeline, and I've drank from dozens of those. Nothing in the BW compares. Too many bugs, I 'spect.

Tony

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mooseplums

08/15/2012 07:15PM

Cone in the Quetico

"I am haunted by waters"~Norman Maclean "A River Runs Through It"

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walllee

08/15/2012 07:23PM

Dubwant Lake Canadian tundra

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mr.barley

08/15/2012 07:37PM

I also vote Cone. With Argo coming a close second.

Because I'm wearing one and I just did....

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Soledad

08/15/2012 09:03PM

Pretty much any bwca lake in April or early May.

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Minnesotian

08/15/2012 09:55PM

quote Beaverjack: "Depends on how thirsty I am. Honestly, the best water is in deep mountain lakes above treeline, and I've drank from dozens of those. Nothing in the BW compares. Too many bugs, I 'spect."

Beaverjack, for once I agree with you. Drinking from a mountain spring...nothing compares.

However, I do keep a Nalgene full of water from the last site we camped at for at home. There I bottle it and whenever I am having a scotch on an evening, will blend in a bit of water from where ever I have been.
As of right now, I have bottles of water from Wine, Mesaba, Topper, and Ram from the BWCA. I also have a bottle of water from an unnamed mountain creek in Colorado.
Besides the Colorado water, I would have to say Cherokee Lake really sticks in my mind as being good tasting.

"We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return - prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdom." - Thoreau

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rharjes

08/15/2012 10:06PM

I'd have to agree on Cherokee Lake. I was there last week, and it was fine tasting water!

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gutmon

08/15/2012 10:15PM

Not a lake, but I always stop at the Spire Valley trout hatchery on Hwy 6 north of Outing, MN. They have a pipe with always-flowing spring water that is some of the best water I have ever drank. I usually have a bourbon and water from whatever BWCA lake I was on when I get home like MNsotian.

"The trouble with the world isn't that people know too little, but that they know so much that just ain't so." Mark Twain

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Banksiana

08/16/2012 12:34AM

Best-
Marj
then Louisa
then Argo/Sarah/Ted/Mcintyre

Steal a little and they throw you in jail. Steal a lot and they make you king.

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schweady

08/26/2012 08:00PM

I was very pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the water in Horse Lake this past month. I had a 1/2 bottle of filtered water left over from there after getting home. Compared quite favorably to water from the kitchen tap.

"You can observe a lot by watching." -- Yogi Berra

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LuvMyBell

08/26/2012 08:09PM

I've been on many different lakes and to be honest, after running the water through the filters, I can't say that I've noticed any taste differences. Some color differences but not taste.

Paddle Faster....I hear banjo music

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nofish

08/26/2012 09:05PM

Winchell does produce a fine glass of water.

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MrBreeze

08/27/2012 02:43PM

In the BW, I would agree with Alton. In the Q, It would have to be either Sturgeon or Argo.

I wish I were, I wish I might, I wish I was in the BWCA tonite!

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Kiporby

08/27/2012 03:55PM

Bock Lake! Tastes like beer! MMMMmmm.

There is a light and it never goes out. Morrissey

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Merganser

08/28/2012 09:28AM

Mesaba

"That sort of thing is my bag baby."

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Whitepine

08/28/2012 09:34AM

Burt
Argo
Cone
Ted
Sarah

All taste tests done with no filtering/purifying. Right from lake in late May!

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bapabear

08/28/2012 09:23PM

Man, I don't think I could pick a best tasting lake. I will say the water we got from the artesian well at Temperance River State Park was the best water I could have hoped to taste. Will have to pay more attention I guess. Funny, my early years I would mix a powder orange drink with the water and the last 3 or 4 I prefer to drink it "straight".

May waters rise to meet you. May wind and current be always at your back. May the Good Lord paddle with you, And may yours be the lightest pack.

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Stumpy

08/29/2012 12:37AM

Veronica

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly

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ryebread26

08/30/2012 12:33PM

oyster for me!

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MrBreeze

08/30/2012 03:02PM

quote ryebread26: "oyster for me!"

Oyster kind of tastes fishy, don't ya think.

OK, my bad Ha Ha Ha

I wish I were, I wish I might, I wish I was in the BWCA tonite!

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IBFLY

08/30/2012 07:42PM

I was on Alder last week. It was quite clear, and quite good.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

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IBFLY

08/30/2012 07:43PM

quote kanoes: "quote RainGearRight: "Alton's gin clear water is the best I've tasted so far. Filtering water won't change the taste. "
purifying will though."
so does adding tea or coffee or gatorade or crystal light, etc.

I only purify when absolutely necessary. I've not had a problem.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

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BuckFlicks

08/30/2012 08:45PM

I like Winchell too, and Fishdance & Mallberg for BWCA.

The best wilderness water I've had is bar none from Navajo Basin in Colorado. It's at 12,000 feet in a basin between a couple 14ers. The creek feeding the lake was snowmelt just minutes before, there is very little in the way of vegetation and wildlife, and the water is freezing cold and delicious. This is also my favorite non-BWCA campsite in all the places I've been to.

Best city tap water: Estes Park, Colorado.

Worst city tap water: Midland, TX (it's slippery, and tastes like petroleum and fish.)

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Beaverjack

08/31/2012 09:03PM

quote MrBreeze: "quote ryebread26: "oyster for me!"

Oyster kind of tastes fishy, don't ya think.

OK, my bad Ha Ha Ha"

I agree, but it does enhance amorous notions if you have the proper partner along.

Tony

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PINETREE

08/31/2012 09:23PM

I don't know which is best,but I always comment this water is better than any well water for taste.

Sig: All of us our Dreamers. Dreams are what started everything. We our asking ourselves a great question? all of us interested in wilderness preservation are asking...What kind of world do we want.?

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Ho Ho

08/31/2012 10:25PM

quote Banksiana: "Best-
Marj
then Louisa
then Argo/Sarah/Ted/Mcintyre"

I knew you would weigh in on this one!

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tobiedog

09/01/2012 11:58AM

I've not thought about this question but I have friends who are always on the lookout for creeks and streams that might be spring fed running into bwca lakes and fill their jugs from them and drink without purification.

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PINETREE

09/01/2012 02:04PM

quote tobiedog: "I've not thought about this question but I have friends who are always on the lookout for creeks and streams that might be spring fed running into bwca lakes and fill their jugs from them and drink without purification. "

A spring fed stream does not mean clean water. Sounds like a giardi potential. That said it is nice to get that cold water.

Sig: All of us our Dreamers. Dreams are what started everything. We our asking ourselves a great question? all of us interested in wilderness preservation are asking...What kind of world do we want.?

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