We finish up our discussion about Clearwater Lake, hiking the Palisades Trail, the Mountain Lake Overlook, and the Border Route Trail. Also covered is the fishing report from the MNDNR and our personal experiences with fishing the lake. We conclude our two part episode with cliff jumping and our love of swimming in Clearwater Lake. […]
The post Tumblehome: A Boundary Waters Podcast – Episode 004 Clearwater Lake Part II appeared first on Clearwater Outfitters.
Episode Transcript
[0:00:32 – 0:00:33] Adam: All right.
[0:00:34 – 0:00:38] Adam: We are here for episode 004 of Tumble Home.
[0:00:39 – 0:00:40] Adam: My name is Eric.
[0:00:40 – 0:00:43] Adam: I’m here with my co-host as always, Eric.
[0:00:44 – 0:00:45] Erik: Hi, I’m Eric.
[0:00:45 – 0:00:46] Erik: Thanks for joining us.
[0:00:47 – 0:00:50] Erik: And we’re brought to you by Clearwater Historic Lodge.
[0:00:51 – 0:00:51] Erik: And what do you know?
[0:00:51 – 0:00:54] Erik: We’re talking about Clearwater Lake today.
[0:00:55 – 0:00:56] Adam: Part two, Clearwater Lake.
[0:00:57 – 0:01:01] Adam: We’re going to get to the Palisades Trail, the Border Route Trail.
[0:01:02 – 0:01:05] Adam: There are some cliff jumping opportunities.
[0:01:05 – 0:01:09] Adam: And we also, of course, have to dig into the fishing numbers.
[0:01:09 – 0:01:10] Adam: Yes.
[0:01:10 – 0:01:13] Adam: courtesy of MNLakeFinder.com.
[0:01:13 – 0:01:24] Erik: Yeah, I thought we were going to be able to get it all in in one episode last time, but, man, we really talked about campsites for longer than I thought we were going to.
[0:01:24 – 0:01:26] Adam: I’m pretty enthusiastic about the campsites.
[0:01:27 – 0:01:28] Erik: Very enthusiastic.
[0:01:29 – 0:01:36] Erik: But there is so much more to talk about on Clearwater Lake, starting with the trail to the top of the Palisades.
[0:01:37 – 0:01:39] Erik: If you haven’t hiked this trail, you haven’t lived.
[0:01:41 – 0:01:41] Erik: Pretty much.
[0:01:41 – 0:01:43] Erik: And it’s hard to find a little bit.
[0:01:44 – 0:01:47] Erik: That is what I think we’re going to talk about.
[0:01:47 – 0:01:50] Adam: Yeah, it’s part of what makes it such a great trail.
[0:01:50 – 0:01:52] Adam: It’s a little bit of a mystery.
[0:01:52 – 0:01:55] Adam: And it’s not… Kind of in that bay.
[0:01:56 – 0:01:59] Erik: A designated trail.
[0:01:59 – 0:01:59] Erik: Yeah.
[0:02:00 – 0:02:02] Erik: U.S. Forest Service doesn’t clear it.
[0:02:02 – 0:02:03] Erik: It’s not marked.
[0:02:03 – 0:02:04] Erik: It’s not cleared.
[0:02:05 – 0:02:11] Erik: It’s maintained by volunteers and like-minded individuals who appreciate the palisade view.
[0:02:12 – 0:02:21] Erik: Yeah, so essentially the palisades, if you were like me when I came up here, when somebody said palisades to me, I’m like, what are those?
[0:02:22 – 0:02:23] Erik: What is a palisade?
[0:02:24 – 0:02:33] Erik: It seems like it’s kind of an antiquated term, but at this point I’ve come, I’m so familiar with them, I just use it like fluently when I’m talking about it.
[0:02:34 – 0:02:58] Erik: yes i think i think it’s like but like two like like cliffs right palisades like a big steep drop i mean that’s what it is i mean yeah i also had not heard the term before i moved up here yeah it’s a unique term i think right there’s that one old-fashioned song from the 50s palisade park i’d heard that but i was like well that’s just that’s just the name of the theme park
[0:03:00 – 0:03:05] Erik: So, yeah, we say, go take the Palisades Trail up to the top of the cliff.
[0:03:05 – 0:03:15] Erik: Like, yeah, the Palisades are the two big cliffs that the way that they’re oriented, like, it almost doesn’t look like it should be real.
[0:03:16 – 0:03:28] Erik: Like, the way that you, like, that’s one of the best parts about any travel on Clearwater Lake, you get certain views and angles.
[0:03:28 – 0:03:28] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:28 – 0:03:53] Adam: at the palisades and every one of them is unique and different it’s amazing every time you go by them they look completely different yeah you get the same thing on the big lake too here in gichigami but the the clearwater palisades are on a more focused point like they’re above you yeah it’s interesting in that way that every time you go by them they’re looking at you differently
[0:03:53 – 0:03:57] Adam: as opposed to when you go by a big lake, you’re like, oh, the lake looks different.
[0:03:57 – 0:03:57] Adam: No.
[0:03:58 – 0:04:00] Adam: In this way, the lake looks at you.
[0:04:00 – 0:04:03] Adam: I think that’s what makes Clearwater different.
[0:04:04 – 0:04:12] Adam: It is incredible to paddle right underneath them or then in the winter to hike right underneath them.
[0:04:13 – 0:04:22] Adam: And then if you take this trail, you can be on top of these palisades looking down at the lake, which is all in itself incredible.
[0:04:24 – 0:04:33] Adam: So from the west end of the lake, though, they look really narrow, like these two tall cliffs.
[0:04:33 – 0:04:35] Adam: But this is the thing.
[0:04:35 – 0:04:39] Adam: Once you get up underneath them and start paddling near them, they look different.
[0:04:39 – 0:04:39] Adam: Don’t you agree?
[0:04:39 – 0:04:40] Adam: Yeah.
[0:04:40 – 0:04:41] Erik: Yes, I do agree.
[0:04:42 – 0:04:50] Erik: It’s one of those, almost an optical illusion where the farther away you are from them, the more 2D they look.
[0:04:51 – 0:04:55] Erik: And as you get closer to them, you actually notice that it’s not like too…
[0:04:56 – 0:05:17] Erik: cliff walls it’s actually like these elongated ridges that just the way that they happen to face you at the west end of the lake they look like two like back-to-back like teeth in the in like the ridge of a mountain range right but they’re not there it’s it’s it’s part of something much bigger
[0:05:17 – 0:05:20] Erik: Yes, part of the Logan intrusion.
[0:05:21 – 0:05:21] Erik: Yes.
[0:05:21 – 0:05:27] Erik: Stay tuned for Logan Talk with Tori Danielson, my wife, the geologist.
[0:05:27 – 0:05:28] Erik: Episode 177.
[0:05:28 – 0:05:33] Erik: Yeah, episode 290, when we get to the geology.
[0:05:33 – 0:05:38] Erik: But, yeah, no, so you see these things, like, they’re imposing.
[0:05:38 – 0:05:44] Erik: Basalt, 350-foot cliffs, the first thing you notice, like, the…
[0:05:45 – 0:05:50] Erik: 28-foot clarity lake, yes, that is amazing.
[0:05:50 – 0:05:52] Erik: But it’s not the first thing you notice on Clearwater Lake.
[0:05:52 – 0:05:54] Erik: It’s going to be the Palisades.
[0:05:55 – 0:06:00] Erik: And one of the coolest things about them is you can hike to the top of them.
[0:06:00 – 0:06:02] Erik: You can hike to the top of both of them.
[0:06:02 – 0:06:05] Erik: You can hike to the top of the first one on a trail.
[0:06:06 – 0:06:09] Erik: And you can kind of scramble your way up to the top of the second one, which…
[0:06:10 – 0:06:11] Erik: That’s a little harder.
[0:06:12 – 0:06:15] Erik: Probably borderline dangerous, but you can do it.
[0:06:15 – 0:06:15] Erik: I’ve done it.
[0:06:16 – 0:06:18] Adam: Basically, you have to crawl up some rocks.
[0:06:19 – 0:06:20] Adam: No big deal.
[0:06:20 – 0:06:20] Erik: No big deal.
[0:06:21 – 0:06:25] Erik: But so the first palisade has a trail.
[0:06:25 – 0:06:30] Erik: I would say about three quarters of a mile hiking trail.
[0:06:31 – 0:06:32] Adam: Seems about right.
[0:06:33 – 0:06:35] Adam: Yeah, and…
[0:06:35 – 0:06:45] Adam: It’s pretty much straight uphill and then a moment of momentarily uphill and then another section of straight uphill until you’re at the top.
[0:06:46 – 0:06:53] Erik: Yeah, no, it’s, I would say, the most popular day trip that we send people out at Clearwater on.
[0:06:56 – 0:06:57] Erik: It’s incredible.
[0:06:57 – 0:06:59] Erik: And, I mean, you get the best of both worlds.
[0:06:59 – 0:07:00] Erik: You get a paddle…
[0:07:01 – 0:07:07] Adam: Like when my family came up here for the first time to visit when I had moved up here, I took them on this trip.
[0:07:08 – 0:07:11] Adam: Like this is the trip you have to go on if you have like four hours.
[0:07:11 – 0:07:12] Erik: Yeah.
[0:07:13 – 0:07:16] Adam: Somebody needs to understand what the boundary waters are all about.
[0:07:17 – 0:07:19] Adam: Like you barely cross into the boundary waters.
[0:07:20 – 0:07:24] Adam: We talked about the mysterious boundary in episode three.
[0:07:25 – 0:07:36] Adam: You cross this boundary just barely into the bay on the south side of the lake, and then you find these two crossed trees on shore, and they indicate the landing zone for the trailhead.
[0:07:37 – 0:07:43] Adam: And then you think the trail is going to go left, but it goes right, and then severely uphill to the left.
[0:07:43 – 0:07:53] Erik: That’s, yeah, the biggest, I would say the biggest challenge for people when it comes to the Palisades Trail is finding the landing.
[0:07:54 – 0:07:59] Erik: And I always recommend, because if you’re too far out in the lake, it’s really easy to miss the trail.
[0:08:00 – 0:08:00] Adam: Right.
[0:08:00 – 0:08:01] Adam: Stay close to shore.
[0:08:01 – 0:08:02] Erik: Stay nice and close to shore.
[0:08:03 – 0:08:11] Erik: I always recommend people actually look for and find, which can be fun on its own, the sign.
[0:08:11 – 0:08:12] Erik: There’s a sign for the Bajau Waters.
[0:08:13 – 0:08:13] Adam: Yeah, the stick.
[0:08:14 – 0:08:17] Erik: Yeah, now entering the barge water’s canoe area wilderness.
[0:08:17 – 0:08:19] Erik: It’s like a gray oblong oval.
[0:08:20 – 0:08:21] Erik: You find that.
[0:08:22 – 0:08:24] Erik: And then from there, stay nice and close to shore.
[0:08:25 – 0:08:28] Erik: Paddling about as close to shore as you can get.
[0:08:28 – 0:08:30] Erik: Or if you’re in a motorboat, you can do that too.
[0:08:31 – 0:08:32] Erik: It’s a nice steep drop off on clear water.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:36] Erik: You can get surprisingly close to shores with motorboats.
[0:08:36 – 0:08:38] Erik: As long as it’s not a clear water motorboat, stay away.
[0:08:40 – 0:08:44] Erik: And you’re actually going to look for a landing.
[0:08:44 – 0:08:54] Erik: Anything that you’re not going to see anything before that that is remotely close to a place where you could get out, walk around comfortably.
[0:08:54 – 0:08:57] Erik: It’s going to be a pretty dense wilderness shoreline.
[0:08:58 – 0:09:04] Erik: And if you get to the actual rock slide, scree, they call that scree, right?
[0:09:05 – 0:09:05] Erik: Yeah.
[0:09:05 – 0:09:06] Erik: The rocks under the cliff.
[0:09:07 – 0:09:07] Adam: Yes.
[0:09:07 – 0:09:08] Erik: If you get to that…
[0:09:09 – 0:09:10] Erik: It’s the tumble home.
[0:09:10 – 0:09:13] Erik: Yeah, if you get to the tumble home, you’ve gone too far.
[0:09:13 – 0:09:22] Erik: If you get to the pile of rocks that are basically right up to the edge of the water under the first palisade cliff, you’ve missed the trail.
[0:09:23 – 0:09:24] Erik: Not the end of the world, actually.
[0:09:24 – 0:09:27] Erik: You haven’t missed the trail by much.
[0:09:27 – 0:09:35] Erik: The best thing to do at that point is to turn around and head back and heading in that direction and at that angle…
[0:09:36 – 0:09:37] Erik: You will see the trail.
[0:09:37 – 0:09:39] Erik: That’s when most people actually find it.
[0:09:39 – 0:09:40] Erik: It’s much easier to see it coming back.
[0:09:40 – 0:09:44] Adam: After you’ve gone beyond it, then you look back and you’re like, oh, there it is, obviously.
[0:09:44 – 0:09:49] Adam: The sun catches it better when you’re looking back to the west.
[0:09:50 – 0:09:56] Adam: It’s a strange phenomenon, but you will find the trailhead, no doubt.
[0:09:57 – 0:10:07] Erik: And to say that there’s going to be two crossed sticks to market, it’s like, yeah, that might be true on some days, but it’s crazy.
[0:10:07 – 0:10:18] Erik: Like I will go by that trail on one day and it’s like a nice cairn and then I’ll go by it the next day and somebody’s kicked the cairn over.
[0:10:18 – 0:10:20] Adam: Yeah, kicked all the trees down.
[0:10:20 – 0:10:22] Erik: Yeah, done something differently.
[0:10:22 – 0:10:25] Erik: So it’s like really hard to say what exactly you’re going to find.
[0:10:25 – 0:10:27] Erik: The best bit of advice is
[0:10:28 – 0:10:31] Adam: Check with Clearwater Lodge before you go out.
[0:10:31 – 0:10:34] Adam: Ask the updated conditions of the trailhead.
[0:10:34 – 0:10:45] Erik: Yeah, update, yeah, check with the locals and know that it’s probably going to be marked by something that doesn’t look like it was created naturally, either a pile of rocks or some sticks.
[0:10:45 – 0:10:54] Erik: But, yeah, the trail from there actually does, like you said, confusingly cut off to the right immediately.
[0:10:54 – 0:10:56] Erik: It doesn’t actually walk towards the cliff.
[0:10:56 – 0:10:58] Adam: Yeah, it kind of follows the shore for a bit.
[0:10:59 – 0:11:25] Adam: yeah and that’s also another point that kind of throws people goes like way like severely uphill severely uphill yeah it’s a first bit is the steepest bit you pretty much gain all your elevation like almost right away and then it’s almost like i would say you will know what you’re made of in the first like hundred feet of that trail yeah if you’re gonna make it up this trail and that like yeah if you can’t make it up the first part then then maybe turn back
[0:11:26 – 0:11:27] Erik: But if you can, that’s about it.
[0:11:27 – 0:11:29] Erik: There’s one last little climb at the end.
[0:11:29 – 0:11:33] Adam: At the end is also pretty steep, but it’s the beginning and the end.
[0:11:34 – 0:11:35] Adam: The middle is just very pleasant.
[0:11:36 – 0:11:42] Adam: Lots of gray jays and chickadees and cedars.
[0:11:42 – 0:11:43] Erik: And a little creek.
[0:11:44 – 0:11:46] Adam: A nice little creek that you get to cross.
[0:11:47 – 0:11:50] Adam: It is honestly a very beautiful trail.
[0:11:50 – 0:11:54] Adam: And then when you get to the top, wow, you know, the reward.
[0:11:54 – 0:11:54] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:54 – 0:12:06] Adam: This view, you know, at first you’re exposed to this beautiful view back to the west towards the lodge or, you know, the landing, probably where you ended up walking from.
[0:12:07 – 0:12:12] Adam: You could probably see your tracks if you’re crossing the lake on snowshoes.
[0:12:13 – 0:12:20] Adam: Way down there, you’ll see these beautiful little ant tracks coming across, and you’ll say, those are us.
[0:12:21 – 0:12:27] Adam: Or in the open water, you’ll maybe be able to see a little tiny canoe down there.
[0:12:28 – 0:12:29] Adam: Some other canoe is going by.
[0:12:30 – 0:12:33] Erik: That’s always fun when you can see other people on the water.
[0:12:34 – 0:12:35] SPEAKER_00: They’re tiny.
[0:12:35 – 0:12:35] Adam: Tiny, yeah.
[0:12:35 – 0:12:40] Adam: It’s so crazy how it didn’t feel like you really climbed that high, but…
[0:12:40 – 0:12:45] Adam: When you see those little canoes going by underneath you, you really get a perspective of what you’ve done.
[0:12:46 – 0:12:48] Erik: Yeah, don’t throw rocks from the top of the Palisades either.
[0:12:48 – 0:12:54] Erik: I don’t know if I’ve ever actually made it to the water, but just in case, don’t throw rocks.
[0:12:56 – 0:12:57] Erik: You don’t know who’s down there.
[0:12:58 – 0:13:09] Erik: I mean, it can be exciting, but yeah, the little canoes and the little boats that you can see from the top, the other thing that I really like from the top of the Palisades Trail is you get that…
[0:13:09 – 0:13:31] Erik: that really cool like uh you can see how the how clear the water is and the drop-offs and you can see all the little reefs yeah that’s i found yeah we found that one reef based on hiking up there that one day and the sun was hitting it perfect and it’s like that looks like a oh yes yeah and then yeah we ended up finding that later in a canoe
[0:13:32 – 0:13:32] Erik: Yeah, no.
[0:13:32 – 0:13:42] Erik: So, highly recommend, if you’re on the Gunflint Trail, once in a lifetime, hit up the Palisades Trail.
[0:13:42 – 0:13:55] Erik: It’s kind of a pirate trail, not to necessarily say that it’s illegal or anything, but it’s not maintained by the Forest Service, which is the…
[0:13:56 – 0:13:57] Adam: It’s a little off the beaten track.
[0:13:57 – 0:13:58] Adam: Yeah, it’s not.
[0:13:58 – 0:13:58] Adam: That’s what we’re saying.
[0:13:58 – 0:14:01] Erik: Yeah, it’s well-known, but it’s not one of those things where you’re going to find it.
[0:14:02 – 0:14:03] Erik: It’s not going to be, like, listed in a trail book.
[0:14:03 – 0:14:04] Adam: This is a pro tip.
[0:14:05 – 0:14:05] Erik: Pro tip.
[0:14:05 – 0:14:13] Adam: Like, seriously, if you want to visit one of the greatest lakes in North America and then hike one of the coolest trails on that lake.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:14] Erik: A quick little trail.
[0:14:15 – 0:14:15] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:16 – 0:14:18] Adam: It’s an easy afternoon hike, and it’s, oh.
[0:14:19 – 0:14:23] Adam: I’d be so jealous of somebody that is hiking that for the first time.
[0:14:23 – 0:14:23] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:23 – 0:14:24] Adam: Honestly.
[0:14:24 – 0:14:26] Adam: It’s one of those kinds of trails.
[0:14:26 – 0:14:28] Adam: So check it out.
[0:14:29 – 0:14:35] Adam: Also on Clearwater, but not connected to that trail, is the Border Route Trail.
[0:14:36 – 0:14:38] Adam: We had talked about it in Episode 3 and 2, I believe.
[0:14:39 – 0:14:42] Adam: And it runs to the north side of Clearwater Lake.
[0:14:45 – 0:14:50] Adam: Access from Campsite 1 and Campsite 8?
[0:14:51 – 0:14:52] Erik: No.
[0:14:52 – 0:14:52] Erik: 7.
[0:14:52 – 0:14:52] Erik: 7.
[0:14:53 – 0:14:55] Erik: Campsite 1 and Campsite 7.
[0:14:55 – 0:14:59] Adam: Also on the portage from Mountain to Clearwater, it will cross.
[0:14:59 – 0:15:02] Adam: It is a beautiful trail for hikers.
[0:15:03 – 0:15:04] Erik: Yeah, the Border Rod Trail.
[0:15:06 – 0:15:10] Erik: To throw back to the first episode, we were talking about…
[0:15:11 – 0:15:34] Erik: permits entry points quotas that you can hike the border rod trail on your own on any day for the day with a self-issued permit but if you want to camp out overnight you do need to get a overnight camping permit and these are separate from the overnight paddling permits but
[0:15:34 – 0:15:39] Erik: And there’s actually only three permits for the Border Route Trail.
[0:15:39 – 0:15:45] Erik: And there’s the Border Route Trail West, Center, and East, 81, 82, and 83.
[0:15:45 – 0:15:46] Erik: And 82 is actually just down the road from Clearwater.
[0:15:54 – 0:16:05] Erik: 81 actually starts at the Magnetic Hiking Rock Trail, and 83 starts over by McFarland.
[0:16:06 – 0:16:11] Erik: So those are the three permits that you would need to use to actually camp out overnight on the Border Rock Trail.
[0:16:12 – 0:16:14] Adam: Only crazy people hike the Border Rock Trail.
[0:16:14 – 0:16:15] Adam: I will say this right now.
[0:16:16 – 0:16:18] Erik: Only crazy people hike it and camp out overnight overnight.
[0:16:19 – 0:16:25] Adam: Right, like we’ve used it for ice fishing or day tripping at most.
[0:16:25 – 0:16:31] Erik: Yeah, but those are kind of peripherals to what we’re actually talking about.
[0:16:31 – 0:16:44] Erik: The borderline trail can be accessed from Clearwater Lake, like you said, from the first campsite, the last one, and then the easiest point to access it and also access the best…
[0:16:45 – 0:16:52] Erik: Part of the border route trail, in my opinion, is the portage between Clearwater and Mountain.
[0:16:52 – 0:17:01] Erik: You can hook into it and head up to the Mountain Lake Overlook, which is tops when it comes to the border route trail.
[0:17:01 – 0:17:02] Erik: Holy moly.
[0:17:02 – 0:17:03] Adam: It’s really good.
[0:17:04 – 0:17:27] Erik: i mean the the the the border route trail um i mean there i think that’s what it was made for was the views i mean it’s like that’s what it’s all about there’s the amazing views over on the east end over the uh north and south foul there’s the the incredible view over rose lake which is basically like that’s the the picture that they use on their logo
[0:17:29 – 0:17:38] Erik: But my favorite, my personal favorite is the Mountain Lake Overlook because Mountain Lake is like, I mean, it’s like a 10 mile long lake and you can see down the whole length of it.
[0:17:39 – 0:17:42] Erik: And, I mean, it’s just perfect.
[0:17:42 – 0:17:48] Erik: I mean, I think the Clearwater Palisades Trail is really nice, obviously.
[0:17:48 – 0:17:48] Erik: We just talked about it.
[0:17:49 – 0:17:50] Erik: Totally worth it.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:57] Erik: But if you have the extra time to paddle down and portage, or not portage necessarily, you don’t have to.
[0:17:57 – 0:17:59] Erik: You can just walk the portage.
[0:17:59 – 0:18:01] Adam: You can picnic walk it.
[0:18:01 – 0:18:27] Erik: picnic walk it over to the uh the uh mountain lake overlook i would say if you’ve got the time to do to do one or the other my vote is still for the the mountain lake overlook off of clearwater that’s one of my favorites it’s just pretty neat that we have these kinds of overviews here i mean that that’s what makes this section so nice for me like
[0:18:29 – 0:18:31] Adam: It’s a large elevation change.
[0:18:31 – 0:18:38] Adam: Like for somebody that grew up in Wisconsin like me to see this kind of like cliffs and rocky geology.
[0:18:38 – 0:18:40] Adam: I mean, it’s old volcano stuff.
[0:18:40 – 0:18:41] Erik: This is crazy.
[0:18:42 – 0:18:45] Adam: I grew up in an old limestone potato field.
[0:18:46 – 0:18:47] Adam: Yeah.
[0:18:47 – 0:18:51] Adam: And you come up here and you see this and it kind of does blow your mind a little.
[0:18:52 – 0:18:56] Adam: But every time I look at it, it does.
[0:18:56 – 0:18:58] Adam: It doesn’t ever get any less weird.
[0:18:58 – 0:19:01] Adam: It’s just crazy how steep everything is.
[0:19:01 – 0:19:02] Adam: It’s a beautiful area.
[0:19:04 – 0:19:12] Erik: Yeah, the Border Rod Trail runs essentially on the north side of the entire length of Clearwater Lake.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:17] Erik: You can hook into it in three spots, but it’s a 40-mile trail.
[0:19:17 – 0:19:21] Erik: I mean, you can get access to it in a number of places.
[0:19:22 – 0:19:27] Erik: Clearwater is fortunate enough, though, that it has three different points where you can hook into it.
[0:19:28 – 0:19:30] Adam: It’s pretty rugged, though.
[0:19:30 – 0:19:30] Adam: Yes.
[0:19:31 – 0:19:34] Adam: Not necessarily super maintained.
[0:19:35 – 0:19:43] Adam: You may run into downed trees and whatnot, but you will be out there and you’ll definitely have some great views.
[0:19:43 – 0:19:43] Erik: Yep.
[0:19:44 – 0:19:46] Erik: You can hook into the border route trail at the end of the lake.
[0:19:46 – 0:19:50] Erik: Essentially, the trail is the portage from Clearwater to West Pike.
[0:19:50 – 0:19:51] Erik: We talked about that in the last show.
[0:19:51 – 0:19:52] Erik: Right, right.
[0:19:52 – 0:19:57] Erik: Where you hook in about, I don’t know, three quarters of the way across the portage.
[0:19:58 – 0:20:05] Erik: It veers off to the right and runs up to Gojabik Lake where there is a designated hike-in campsite.
[0:20:06 – 0:20:07] Erik: And then you can hike on from there.
[0:20:08 – 0:20:24] Erik: They’re actually, considering how up in the hills it is between Clearwater and East Pike, there’s actually really only a couple of really good viewpoints.
[0:20:24 – 0:20:32] Erik: We’ve hiked up to that one over West Pike, that one that you have to hook into from the portage between West Pike and East Pike.
[0:20:32 – 0:20:34] Erik: That is a nice overlook.
[0:20:35 – 0:20:48] Erik: But there’s a lot of, I mean, not to say that it’s bad hiking or anything, but it’s way up in the hills, way up on the ridges, but there are points where you would think you’d get to see more.
[0:20:50 – 0:20:55] Erik: So that’s why I think the Mountain Lake one is my favorite because the access is easy.
[0:20:55 – 0:20:57] Adam: You can literally see like 35 miles.
[0:20:57 – 0:20:57] Adam: Yeah.
[0:20:58 – 0:21:25] Erik: i don’t think you can see yes all right see you can literally see the skyscrapers in thunder bay yeah you can definitely see the uh the potato mills pumping out their uh potato steam from thunder bay at night especially on a cold night and no no doubt but yeah so um those are i think the the palisades trail the mountain lake overlook and there’s one more thing i would like to bring up is the
[0:21:26 – 0:21:53] Adam: cliff jumping the cliff jumping yes and it’s not recommended but there are we do not recommend we’re gonna keep this to 30 seconds i’ll just say in many lakes up here there are really nice rocks which you can jump into where it’s like it’s zero feet deep down to 100 feet deep safe and wonderful thing to do in the summer so there are a couple spots on clearwater
[0:21:54 – 0:21:57] Adam: In which you can enjoy this safely.
[0:21:57 – 0:22:01] Erik: And we talked about it on the 5th and 7th campsite.
[0:22:02 – 0:22:03] Erik: 5th for sure confirmed.
[0:22:04 – 0:22:09] Erik: We have jumped off of the cliffs at that campsite and safely not broken femurs.
[0:22:10 – 0:22:10] Erik: And the 7th.
[0:22:11 – 0:22:11] Erik: And the 7th.
[0:22:12 – 0:22:13] Erik: I haven’t actually done that.
[0:22:13 – 0:22:13] Erik: You’ve jumped into the 7th?
[0:22:13 – 0:22:14] Erik: Yes.
[0:22:14 – 0:22:15] Adam: Your brother did.
[0:22:15 – 0:22:17] Adam: And brother Andrew also did, yes.
[0:22:17 – 0:22:17] Adam: Yeah.
[0:22:17 – 0:22:18] Adam: Yeah.
[0:22:18 – 0:22:31] Erik: But there is a spot that is not associated with a campsite just past the first campsite on the north shore of the lake where it’s perfect because you can jump in at whatever level you want.
[0:22:31 – 0:22:33] Erik: It’s like a terrorist.
[0:22:33 – 0:22:36] Adam: Yeah, I’m very scared of heights and gravity.
[0:22:37 – 0:22:38] Adam: And there’s a nice spot for you.
[0:22:38 – 0:22:45] Adam: You can kind of clamber up like 10 feet up, and there’s a very fine spot to jump in from there, which is exciting and thrilling.
[0:22:45 – 0:22:47] Erik: Yeah, a nice five-foot spot for you.
[0:22:47 – 0:22:49] Adam: It was at least 50 feet up.
[0:22:51 – 0:22:54] Erik: No, I think there’s like a 20 foot spot and then like maybe like a 30.
[0:22:54 – 0:23:01] Erik: And then there’s that crazy spot that I jumped off of one time and it like popped my ears and I got water in my ears.
[0:23:01 – 0:23:03] Adam: That was way too much.
[0:23:03 – 0:23:08] Erik: And you have to take a running start to jump out over some rocks that are in front of you.
[0:23:08 – 0:23:10] Erik: Yeah, that spot is not recommended.
[0:23:10 – 0:23:12] Erik: But there is some cliff jumping on the North Shore.
[0:23:14 – 0:23:15] Erik: And we don’t recommend it.
[0:23:15 – 0:23:17] Erik: Obviously not.
[0:23:18 – 0:23:19] Adam: It’s super dangerous.
[0:23:19 – 0:23:20] Erik: Super dangerous.
[0:23:20 – 0:23:23] Adam: What’s a lot better use of your time is probably fishing.
[0:23:23 – 0:23:31] Adam: And Clearwater Lake certainly has the largest lake trout in the history of the world swimming around in it.
[0:23:31 – 0:23:32] Adam: It has to.
[0:23:32 – 0:23:33] Erik: And nobody will ever catch it.
[0:23:34 – 0:23:34] Adam: Nope.
[0:23:34 – 0:23:39] Adam: Because a lake trout that big is too smart to be caught by humans.
[0:23:40 – 0:23:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:40 – 0:23:46] Adam: But we can still wonder and think, maybe, just maybe, we can catch that fish.
[0:23:47 – 0:23:49] Adam: Also, there’s green-eared sunfish.
[0:23:50 – 0:23:51] Erik: Green-eared sunfish.
[0:23:51 – 0:23:52] Adam: Those are the ones.
[0:23:52 – 0:23:54] Adam: And a lot of other weird stuff.
[0:23:55 – 0:23:57] Adam: So what is the status of the fishery?
[0:23:58 – 0:23:59] Erik: Yeah, let’s run down the status of the fishery.
[0:23:59 – 0:24:14] Erik: We’ve got, in alphabetical order, we’ve got burbot, cisco, green sunfish, light drought, smallmouth bass, white sucker, and yellow perch.
[0:24:15 – 0:24:33] Erik: I have been fishing and talking to people who have fished Clearwater Lake for over 10 years, and the only things that I’ve ever heard of anybody catching on the lake are lake trout, smallmouth bass, and cisco.
[0:24:34 – 0:24:38] Erik: Cisco is being shocking when I hear people being like…
[0:24:38 – 0:24:40] Erik: I’m always excited when I hear that a cisco is caught.
[0:24:41 – 0:24:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:24:42 – 0:24:44] Adam: On a jig or something like, whoa.
[0:24:44 – 0:24:46] Erik: I caught this long silvery thing.
[0:24:46 – 0:24:47] Adam: I didn’t know what it was.
[0:24:47 – 0:24:48] Adam: Yeah, it was a cisco.
[0:24:48 – 0:24:50] Adam: Heck yeah, it was a cisco.
[0:24:50 – 0:24:56] Erik: I guarantee Clearwater is probably the world premier lake in terms of cisco sizes.
[0:24:57 – 0:25:02] Adam: Yeah, like if there was like a cisco show, just a cisco podcast.
[0:25:03 – 0:25:05] Adam: Cisco cast.
[0:25:05 – 0:25:08] Adam: We only listen to cisco and then catch cisco.
[0:25:10 – 0:25:12] Adam: Clearwater would be the spot.
[0:25:12 – 0:25:13] Erik: Yeah.
[0:25:13 – 0:25:28] Erik: And based on the Minnesota DNR Fisheries Lake Survey, Clearwater Lake has an area of which this number, you know, for me, not my go-to measurement of a lake.
[0:25:28 – 0:25:35] Erik: Whenever anybody asks me how big is the lake in acres, my eyes kind of roll back in my head.
[0:25:35 – 0:25:38] Erik: I’m like, I don’t know.
[0:25:39 – 0:25:42] Erik: I read these numbers, and it doesn’t give me a good idea on scale.
[0:25:42 – 0:25:45] Erik: But it’s 1,344 acres.
[0:25:46 – 0:25:49] Erik: Its maximum depth is 130 feet.
[0:25:50 – 0:25:52] Erik: That’s where we dump all the garbage, by the way.
[0:25:52 – 0:25:53] Erik: There’s a 130-foot hole.
[0:25:54 – 0:25:55] Erik: We dump all of our garbage there.
[0:25:55 – 0:25:57] Erik: And there’s a volcano at the bottom.
[0:25:57 – 0:26:03] Erik: Yeah, and there’s a mini volcano that incinerates all the garbage for us.
[0:26:04 – 0:26:04] Erik: Water clarity.
[0:26:05 – 0:26:08] Erik: This is another amazing thing about Clearwater Lake.
[0:26:08 – 0:26:09] Erik: 27.7 feet.
[0:26:09 – 0:26:14] Erik: The only lake that I know of that has better water clarity than that is Lake Superior.
[0:26:16 – 0:26:18] Erik: They’re full of mollusks.
[0:26:19 – 0:26:20] Erik: Sick.
[0:26:20 – 0:26:21] Erik: Full of sick mollusks.
[0:26:21 – 0:26:23] Adam: Zebra mussels and mollusks.
[0:26:24 – 0:26:27] Adam: There’s zero zebra mussels in Clearwater.
[0:26:27 – 0:26:27] Adam: No.
[0:26:28 – 0:26:33] Adam: I will literally drink the water out of that lake by the gullets.
[0:26:33 – 0:26:35] Erik: When I’m swimming, I’ll just like, oh, I’m thirsty?
[0:26:36 – 0:26:36] Erik: Just drink.
[0:26:36 – 0:26:38] Erik: Drink while swimming.
[0:26:38 – 0:26:38] Erik: Yep.
[0:26:39 – 0:26:55] Erik: um the uh the other thing is uh littoral area i’ve i look it up every time yeah and i always forget what it means isn’t it the the amount of area that’s under a certain depth is that right oh i thought it was the watershed
[0:26:56 – 0:27:00] Erik: No, let’s do a quick search on littoral area.
[0:27:00 – 0:27:07] Erik: I think it has to do with the acreage that’s under a certain depth.
[0:27:08 – 0:27:12] Erik: This is incredible audio here that we’re recording.
[0:27:14 – 0:27:26] Erik: Yeah, this is a pretty vague term in terms of littoral zone, but I think it has to do with the part of the lake that’s closest to the shore.
[0:27:27 – 0:27:28] Erik: And I’m not sure.
[0:27:28 – 0:27:33] Erik: I think they actually – there is a certain depth that’s associated with that.
[0:27:34 – 0:27:37] Erik: The Wikipedia definition is a little vague.
[0:27:37 – 0:27:39] Erik: I think there is actually a specific depth.
[0:27:39 – 0:27:42] Erik: And the only reason I’m talking about it is because I think the –
[0:27:43 – 0:27:57] Erik: Clearwater is so, the drop-offs are so steep that I would assume that the littoral area is much smaller than other lakes because there’s not like, there’s not like nice breeding grounds where there’s big shallow bays or anything.
[0:27:57 – 0:27:58] Erik: Yeah, there’s no beaches.
[0:27:58 – 0:28:01] Erik: No beaches, besides the man-made ones.
[0:28:03 – 0:28:04] Erik: There’s no man-made beaches.
[0:28:05 – 0:28:07] Erik: So yeah, we ran down the species.
[0:28:07 – 0:28:23] Erik: We’ve got, in terms of numbers of fish caught in each category, we’ve got a number of 31 cisco species caught between the length of 15 and 19 inches.
[0:28:23 – 0:28:24] Erik: That’s crazy.
[0:28:24 – 0:28:29] Erik: I guarantee you there’s no other lake that has that size of cisco in that amount of numbers.
[0:28:29 – 0:28:37] Adam: Yeah, I remember one time where I was paddling out and I just seen these and I was like, what the heck is that?
[0:28:38 – 0:28:41] Adam: And then later I kind of put it together.
[0:28:41 – 0:28:42] Adam: It was a school of cisco.
[0:28:43 – 0:28:43] Adam: They’re huge.
[0:28:44 – 0:28:46] Adam: You think of a cisco and you’re like, that’s a bait fish.
[0:28:47 – 0:28:48] Erik: Must just be like a little minnow.
[0:28:49 – 0:28:50] Adam: No, they’re huge.
[0:28:50 – 0:28:54] Adam: And then you see a school of them in an inland lake like that.
[0:28:55 – 0:28:57] Adam: It’s quite impressive.
[0:28:57 – 0:29:01] Erik: Yeah, at night you’ll see like a bunch of little blips and pops on the surface for the longest time.
[0:29:01 – 0:29:03] Adam: I was like, those are lake trout surfacing.
[0:29:03 – 0:29:05] Erik: It’s like, no, those are ciscos.
[0:29:05 – 0:29:06] Erik: You’re not going to catch them.
[0:29:07 – 0:29:08] Adam: That’s the thing.
[0:29:08 – 0:29:10] Adam: There’s more cisco in that lake than there are lake trout.
[0:29:11 – 0:29:14] Erik: Which makes the lake trout fishing so challenging.
[0:29:15 – 0:29:18] Erik: But there are huge lake trout in Clearwater Lake.
[0:29:18 – 0:29:23] Adam: I’ve always said, here’s the number one thing I will say about Clearwater.
[0:29:23 – 0:29:24] Erik: Number one thing, coming at you.
[0:29:25 – 0:29:28] Adam: These lake trout are huge.
[0:29:29 – 0:29:32] Adam: And there are not many of them, but they’re huge.
[0:29:33 – 0:29:39] Adam: And it’s the only place I’ve ever been fishing where I had a hook completely bent open.
[0:29:40 – 0:29:46] Adam: and lost a fish due to a hook being bent out on a real modern metal hook.
[0:29:46 – 0:29:46] Erik: Yeah.
[0:29:47 – 0:29:48] Adam: What the hell?
[0:29:49 – 0:29:49] Erik: Right.
[0:29:49 – 0:29:51] Erik: No, I mean… That’s a big fish.
[0:29:52 – 0:29:55] Erik: There’s a massive fish above the fireplace in Clearwater.
[0:29:56 – 0:29:58] Erik: There’s a picture.
[0:29:58 – 0:30:03] Erik: I mean, every year you see somebody pull out 30, 40-inch lake trout.
[0:30:03 – 0:30:04] Erik: They’re down there.
[0:30:05 – 0:30:07] Adam: But they’ve got…
[0:30:07 – 0:30:11] Adam: Anybody can go to a lake where they’re stocking them every year and you can go catch some dinners.
[0:30:12 – 0:30:18] Adam: But to truly catch one like that, I mean, the older I get, the less that kind of thing matters to me.
[0:30:18 – 0:30:18] Adam: But…
[0:30:19 – 0:30:25] Adam: It’s still exciting and very thrilling to think about catching a 40-inch lake trout, which I’ve never done.
[0:30:25 – 0:30:26] Erik: That potential.
[0:30:26 – 0:30:29] Adam: I think I’ve had one hooked and then lost it.
[0:30:30 – 0:30:31] Adam: And that’s the lake.
[0:30:32 – 0:30:32] Adam: Right.
[0:30:32 – 0:30:34] Adam: That’s the kind of lake that you can accomplish that.
[0:30:34 – 0:30:38] Adam: It’s like that and Tuscarora and SAG.
[0:30:38 – 0:30:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:30:39 – 0:30:43] Erik: Yeah, there’s no… You’re not going to… You’re not fishing clear water to…
[0:30:44 – 0:30:50] Erik: I mean, unless you’re one of the local people that live on the lake, they can go out and catch basically daily.
[0:30:51 – 0:30:52] Adam: They can go out and do it, but…
[0:30:52 – 0:30:54] Adam: There’s a lot of fish in there, too.
[0:30:55 – 0:31:04] Erik: It’s not one of those lakes that you’re going to go out and, like, mountain in the spring where you’re like, we’re going to limit out in, like, an hour and then wonder what we should do because we got…
[0:31:05 – 0:31:31] Erik: six 20 inch lake trout in an hour like here if you catch one lake trout on clearwater you should consider yourself pretty i would say pretty lucky i would too yeah and there’s always the potential that you’re going to catch a 30 plus inch lake trout like they’re down there they exist it’s clearwater mountain uh west and east pike um like rose maybe gunflint i mean these are some of the few lakes that
[0:31:32 – 0:31:38] Erik: produce naturally reproducing native lake trout.
[0:31:38 – 0:31:43] Erik: For the longest time, Mountain Lake, that’s where they used to pull out… Yeah, the genetics.
[0:31:43 – 0:31:49] Erik: Yeah, they used to pull out the lake trout to repopulate and stock other lakes with.
[0:31:49 – 0:31:52] Erik: I mean, these are lake trout lakes.
[0:31:52 – 0:32:01] Erik: That’s why when we were looking at the original information on the lake, I was shocked to see that at one point they tried stocking walleye.
[0:32:02 – 0:32:05] Erik: I mean, it’s not the kind of lake that can support that.
[0:32:05 – 0:32:06] Erik: There’s no weed beds.
[0:32:06 – 0:32:07] Erik: There’s no weed beds.
[0:32:07 – 0:32:13] Erik: I mean, I’m shocked to see that they were even finding yellow perch at some point, but they’re all tiny.
[0:32:15 – 0:32:21] Erik: There’s also the last survey found a burbot in the range of 30 to 34 inches.
[0:32:23 – 0:32:24] Adam: Oh, that’s intriguing.
[0:32:24 – 0:32:25] Erik: Do you imagine?
[0:32:25 – 0:32:26] Erik: That’s really, oh, my God.
[0:32:26 – 0:32:28] Erik: Catching a 34-inch eel pout?
[0:32:28 – 0:32:30] Erik: That’s quite the pout.
[0:32:30 – 0:32:30] Erik: Yeah.
[0:32:31 – 0:32:33] Erik: Future family for a week.
[0:32:33 – 0:32:36] Adam: My first summer up there, we definitely tried to go out.
[0:32:36 – 0:32:43] Adam: We heard the rumors of these pout dragging a jighead full of nightcrawler out in the middle of the lake.
[0:32:43 – 0:32:47] Adam: Just slowly rowing a rowboat in the middle of the night trying to catch a burbot.
[0:32:47 – 0:32:50] Erik: Spoiler alert, we didn’t catch any burbots.
[0:32:50 – 0:32:51] Erik: No, no, Birbit.
[0:32:51 – 0:32:55] Erik: So the opportunity for massive lake trout, there are lake trout.
[0:32:56 – 0:33:01] Erik: Best time to fish the lake, in my opinion, is the month after the ice goes out.
[0:33:03 – 0:33:04] Adam: Late May, early June.
[0:33:05 – 0:33:06] Erik: Late May, early June.
[0:33:07 – 0:33:12] Erik: And you’re going to want to use, at some point…
[0:33:13 – 0:33:13] Erik: Live bait.
[0:33:13 – 0:33:16] Erik: Whether it’s alive now or it was alive.
[0:33:17 – 0:33:17] Erik: Frozen cisco.
[0:33:19 – 0:33:20] Erik: You have to.
[0:33:20 – 0:33:26] Erik: The amount of cisco that are in the lake, you really can’t get away with not using live bait.
[0:33:26 – 0:33:33] Erik: Even if it’s just a little head of a dead cisco, you have to tip whatever you’re using with a cisco.
[0:33:34 – 0:33:37] Erik: In the winter, that’s the same thing.
[0:33:38 – 0:33:47] Erik: Usually we’ll do tip-ups with live bait, and then we’ll jig with something with a dead cisco on it.
[0:33:49 – 0:33:53] Erik: I’ve never heard of anybody having much luck at all in the winter without using live bait.
[0:33:54 – 0:33:56] Erik: It’s just not one of those lakes that…
[0:33:56 – 0:34:01] Erik: You can get away with the number of live bait that’s already around.
[0:34:03 – 0:34:06] Erik: Put yourself in the position of a lake trout.
[0:34:06 – 0:34:07] Erik: What am I going to go for?
[0:34:08 – 0:34:12] Erik: The lifeless, weird, metal, shiny thing?
[0:34:12 – 0:34:17] Erik: Or the thousands of other free ciscos that are around and that I’m used to?
[0:34:17 – 0:34:23] Erik: So you have to at least get halfway close to what a cisco is, in my opinion, to fish clearwater.
[0:34:24 – 0:34:27] Erik: Which is the exact opposite of like how we fish mountain like.
[0:34:28 – 0:34:29] Adam: True.
[0:34:30 – 0:34:31] Erik: True.
[0:34:33 – 0:34:37] Erik: Yeah, never caught a perch, never seen anybody catch a perch.
[0:34:37 – 0:34:43] Erik: There’s also pretty good numbers for white sucker, which also never caught or seen anybody catch.
[0:34:44 – 0:34:50] Erik: The only other fish in the lake that I hear of or see people catching regularly are the smallies.
[0:34:51 – 0:34:52] Erik: Tons of small bass.
[0:34:52 – 0:34:53] Erik: Small ones.
[0:34:53 – 0:34:55] Erik: Tons of small ones, though, like…
[0:34:56 – 0:35:04] Erik: The numbers on this survey are actually way lower than what I would expect because there are tons of small moth bass in Clearwater Lake.
[0:35:06 – 0:35:10] Erik: And that’s a whole other debate whether or not you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
[0:35:11 – 0:35:18] Erik: I think small moth bass from a nice, clean, clear lake like Clearwater, they’re perfectly fine.
[0:35:18 – 0:35:19] Erik: Delicious.
[0:35:19 – 0:35:20] Erik: Yeah.
[0:35:20 – 0:35:21] Erik: I think there’s nothing wrong with that.
[0:35:22 – 0:35:37] Erik: I can see when people complain about smallmouth bass when they’re trying to fish for lake trout or walleye and the only thing that they’re catching is smallmouth bass because it can be hard to get…
[0:35:38 – 0:35:44] Erik: your lure past that layer of ferocious smallmouth bass.
[0:35:44 – 0:35:46] Erik: It’s like, I just want to get past these smallies.
[0:35:46 – 0:35:48] Erik: I don’t want to catch another 10-inch smallmouth bass.
[0:35:49 – 0:35:54] Erik: And that can be a struggle on Clearwater Lake because there are a lot of smallmouth bass.
[0:35:55 – 0:35:58] Erik: And the biggest one I think I’ve ever seen is maybe…
[0:35:58 – 0:36:01] Erik: you know, 15, 16 inches out of the lake.
[0:36:02 – 0:36:04] Erik: Um, so it’s fine.
[0:36:04 – 0:36:04] Erik: It’s a fine.
[0:36:04 – 0:36:05] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:36:05 – 0:36:08] Adam: It was pretty cool to catch one on like a torpedo bait though.
[0:36:09 – 0:36:09] Erik: Top water.
[0:36:09 – 0:36:10] Erik: Yeah.
[0:36:10 – 0:36:10] Erik: Yeah, always fun.
[0:36:10 – 0:36:12] Erik: Top water or small is hilarious.
[0:36:12 – 0:36:13] Erik: For sure.
[0:36:13 – 0:36:16] Erik: Like, that is definitely, like, one of my favorite ways of fishing.
[0:36:16 – 0:36:23] Erik: It’s just, like, you’re totally engaged, and when they attack, it’s, like, so much fun to see.
[0:36:23 – 0:36:24] Erik: Like, everything about that, yeah.
[0:36:25 – 0:36:28] Erik: Like, even if it’s a 10-inch fish, it’s hilarious.
[0:36:28 – 0:36:33] Erik: It’s just, like, I mean, everything about it is perfect, but, like…
[0:36:33 – 0:36:45] Erik: Clearwater Lake is an alright lake for smallmouth, but in general I would say there are other lakes in the immediate area which are much better.
[0:36:45 – 0:36:56] Erik: And we’ll probably talk about it later, but just to give you one example right away, if you’re going to come up and fish for smallmouth bass, you might as well just go to Caribou because Caribou Lake has…
[0:36:57 – 0:36:59] Erik: like bass that are twice the size.
[0:37:00 – 0:37:00] Erik: At least.
[0:37:00 – 0:37:01] Erik: There are.
[0:37:01 – 0:37:09] Erik: I mean, it’s insane, and there are sometimes like back-to-back-to-back like 20-inch bass in the spring if you’re in there at the right time of year.
[0:37:09 – 0:37:14] Erik: Well, there’s one more thing I would like to touch on.
[0:37:14 – 0:37:16] Adam: If we have enough time in this episode.
[0:37:17 – 0:37:19] Adam: Oh, I think we do.
[0:37:19 – 0:37:20] Adam: This is part two of Clearwater.
[0:37:21 – 0:37:21] Adam: Yeah.
[0:37:21 – 0:37:22] Adam: Do we have enough time?
[0:37:23 – 0:37:23] Adam: Yeah.
[0:37:23 – 0:37:24] Adam: I need a minute.
[0:37:24 – 0:37:25] Adam: You need one minute.
[0:37:26 – 0:37:36] Adam: Okay, so one of the best things ever to do on clear water is just get out in the middle of the lake and get out of your boat and then float next to your boat in the lake.
[0:37:36 – 0:37:36] Adam: Yep.
[0:37:37 – 0:37:38] Adam: Just take the wind.
[0:37:38 – 0:37:39] Adam: Usually it’s going to be coming out of the west.
[0:37:40 – 0:37:45] Adam: So, you know, just paddle out past that first point into like 100 foot of water and then get in.
[0:37:47 – 0:38:05] Adam: just float just float you go past the palisades we were talking about there’ll be lake trout they’re 58 feet long underneath you looking up at you and they’re they will choose not to bite you because you’re too small this is the way you have to experience it at the end and
[0:38:08 – 0:38:13] Adam: Especially in the middle of like the hot, like you get out there in the end of July or like early August, the hottest days of summer.
[0:38:13 – 0:38:14] Adam: That’s what I was going to say.
[0:38:14 – 0:38:15] Adam: For me, like you can’t beat it.
[0:38:16 – 0:38:20] Adam: You just get out in the middle of the clear water and you just get in and just drift with the wind.
[0:38:22 – 0:38:24] Adam: And that’s really the, truly the best way to do it.
[0:38:25 – 0:38:25] Erik: No, I totally agree.
[0:38:26 – 0:38:30] Erik: The worst part about clear water is also the best part.
[0:38:30 – 0:38:36] Erik: It’s so deep, cold, and clear that it literally never warms up.
[0:38:37 – 0:38:39] Erik: But I love that it keeps the water pure.
[0:38:39 – 0:38:41] Erik: It keeps the fish clean.
[0:38:42 – 0:38:47] Erik: It makes for amazing swimming for two weeks out of the year.
[0:38:49 – 0:38:51] Erik: But those two weeks are amazing.
[0:38:51 – 0:38:51] Erik: It’s like…
[0:38:53 – 0:39:15] Erik: 90 degrees there’s no other lake that you could jump into that you would be more refreshed than by jumping into clearwater lake and even then sometimes you know you jump in and off the dock or you’re down at the public access the best thing to do like you said is to take a boat or a canoe paddle out into the middle of the lake and there’s still you can still find like 60 degree water yeah oh yeah
[0:39:15 – 0:39:16] Erik: And it’s so nice.
[0:39:16 – 0:39:24] Adam: I mean, it’s just the… No matter what happens up here, like I’ve paddled so many lakes, I’ve fished so many lakes, but like I’ve never swam.
[0:39:24 – 0:39:27] Adam: I will never ever swim in more lakes than Clearwater.
[0:39:27 – 0:39:28] Adam: Yeah.
[0:39:28 – 0:39:30] Adam: It’s my number one swimming lake.
[0:39:30 – 0:39:30] Adam: For sure.
[0:39:31 – 0:39:32] Adam: But it’s only for like two months.
[0:39:33 – 0:39:34] Adam: Yeah, basically.
[0:39:34 – 0:39:35] Adam: It’s so cold.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:41] Erik: I think we’ve swam in it pretty much every month that it’s open.
[0:39:41 – 0:39:45] Erik: I accidentally swam in it one May by trying to run across some ice.
[0:39:46 – 0:39:51] Erik: I definitely swam in it June, July, August, September, and then we did the October check-in on the wedding.
[0:39:51 – 0:39:54] Erik: I don’t think I have ever swam in November.
[0:39:54 – 0:39:55] Adam: I haven’t, no.
[0:39:55 – 0:39:58] Adam: That would be the only other potential that we could actually do it.
[0:39:58 – 0:40:00] Adam: Or you have to hack a hole in the ice.
[0:40:01 – 0:40:03] Erik: Which I think, I mean… That doesn’t count, though.
[0:40:03 – 0:40:03] Adam: That doesn’t count.
[0:40:03 – 0:40:04] Adam: No, it doesn’t count.
[0:40:04 – 0:40:05] Adam: Yeah.
[0:40:05 – 0:40:05] Erik: No, yeah.
[0:40:05 – 0:40:13] Erik: So you’ve got your Palisades Trail, the Border Rock Trail, reasonable fishing, light trout.
[0:40:13 – 0:40:14] Erik: I mean, pretty good…
[0:40:15 – 0:40:36] Erik: bass fishing just for fun you’re not going to catch any trophies but they’re out there there’s tons of numbers and then just all around like really really clean swimming which at this point I’m pretty spoiled on in terms of how I feel about jumping into a lake it’s like well it’s no clear water but I guess I’ll jump in
[0:40:36 – 0:40:37] Erik: Right.
[0:40:37 – 0:40:37] Erik: You’re spoiled.
[0:40:38 – 0:40:38] Erik: You’re spoiled rotten.
[0:40:39 – 0:40:39] Erik: Totally spoiled.
[0:40:41 – 0:40:47] Erik: And so in two episodes, I feel like we’ve covered what you can do on Clearwater Lake.
[0:40:47 – 0:40:47] Erik: The camping.
[0:40:48 – 0:40:51] Erik: We ran down the campsites, your portages to get out of the lake.
[0:40:52 – 0:40:53] Erik: If you’re just hanging out for the day.
[0:40:53 – 0:40:55] Erik: Yeah.
[0:40:55 – 0:41:01] Erik: And I think in the future, we’ll probably be able to boil down everything we talked about into one episode.
[0:41:01 – 0:41:01] Erik: But…
[0:41:02 – 0:41:05] Erik: Clearwater is close to home, close to my heart.
[0:41:05 – 0:41:09] Erik: Obviously, I have more things to say about it than probably any other lake.
[0:41:10 – 0:41:13] Erik: And everything going forward will probably be compared to it.
[0:41:14 – 0:41:19] Erik: Because this is, you know, this is where I’ve lived for over 10 years.
[0:41:19 – 0:41:22] Erik: It’s the lake that I send most people out on.
[0:41:22 – 0:41:26] Erik: It’s the lake that I run down in a towboat almost on a daily basis.
[0:41:26 – 0:41:30] Erik: So they are obviously just my perspectives and opinions on it.
[0:41:30 – 0:41:31] Erik: But…
[0:41:32 – 0:41:44] Erik: And I would hope that eventually this podcast can get to a point where our perspective on lakes and our experiences can be shared.
[0:41:44 – 0:41:47] Erik: And then we can also hear what your experiences are.
[0:41:48 – 0:41:59] Erik: Eventually, I’d really like to get to a point where, you know, we can hear what your experiences on a certain campsite or a certain portage or a fishing experience that you had.
[0:41:59 – 0:42:05] Erik: I think that’s the eventual goal is to be able to have conversation back and forth.
[0:42:06 – 0:42:12] Erik: We don’t necessarily feel like we are the end-all be-all authority, that’s for sure.
[0:42:13 – 0:42:17] Erik: But you know, you spend enough time in one place, you get a pretty good feel for it.
[0:42:18 – 0:42:21] Erik: And with that, I think we’ll end up wrapping it up here.
[0:42:22 – 0:42:23] Erik: I think in the future, we’re going to
[0:42:24 – 0:42:47] Erik: continue talking about lakes that are probably on our more familiar sides probably get into some more discussions about what techniques you use what techniques we prefer to do anything in the woods whether that’s paddling camping cooking fishing but for now I think we’ve wrapped up Clearwater and
[0:42:47 – 0:42:56] Erik: I see Caribou Lake being a near future contender for a talk, maybe mountain, pine, probably talk about the Clearwater Loop.
[0:42:56 – 0:43:04] Erik: But yeah, for now, I think we’ve done a pretty good job at giving you a good idea at what Clearwater Lake is all about.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:25] Erik: All right.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:26] Erik: There you have it.
[0:43:26 – 0:43:30] Erik: Thank you for listening to Tumble Home, a Boundary Waters podcast.
[0:43:30 – 0:43:32] Erik: This has been Eric and Adam, your hosts.
[0:43:33 – 0:43:40] Erik: And if you would like to reach out, questions, comments, concerns, you can reach us at tumblehomecast at gmail.com.
[0:43:41 – 0:43:47] Erik: clearwateroutfitters.com or on Facebook at Tumble Home, a Boundary Waters podcast.
[0:43:48 – 0:43:50] Erik: Until next time, happy paddling.
[0:43:56 – 0:43:56] SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
