Eagle Mountain
BWCA Wilderness

This is one of the only times I left the house during the pandemic. This is probably the safest recreation that was available. I think the trip was 2 nights in August 2020. I drove up separately and met Jill and Marc at the trailhead. It is probably a good 4 hour drive from the Twin Cities. I would say this is a good beginner backpacking trip. Its not too far from the campsites to the trailhead and the trails are heavily traveled in summer.

Eagle Mountain is the highest point in Minnesota. Its 2301 feet in elevation.

This sign is entering the Wilderness area. The trailhead is in the Superior National Forest, but a mile or 2 in, it becomes the Boundry Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I think the BWCA is technically within the Superior National Forest, but I could be wrong about that.

I think its about 3 miles from the trail head to the campsite. The trail is very rocky and sort of slow going. I can't imagine someone portaging a canoe that distance on that terrain.

This is the first view of the lake. It seems to be in all the pictures people post about the hike.
There are 2 campsites at Whale Lake. The northern site, the one we stayed at, has a nice view of the lake. The one on the west side of the lake is back in the woods a little ways and is pretty buggy with no view.

The campsite fit 1 larger tent and one was smaller backpacking tent. It would be a challenge to get anything more than that at that site. The ground is a little uneven. A hammock would probably work. This lakeside site gets enough breeze that the bugs were not that bad.

This sign is the turn off to the summit of Eagle Mountain. The lakeside campsite is very near this point. A ranger at the trailhead said that the trail to Brule Lake had been cleared. I don't know how much traffic that stretch gets, it could be overgrown again already.

This is near the top of Eagle Mountain. This is the best view. The actual highest point has more trees and brush so its not quite as senic. You can see all the way into Canada from this point. It was a beautiful clear day.

This tree is the tallest tree on Eagle Mountain.

Fun fact: the lowest point in Minnesota is only 15 miles away, that being Lake Superior.

This was a cool rock covered in moss.

There are lots of cool fungi in the woods up north.

Here are some more nice pictures of Whale Lake.