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Lake Mille Lacs
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Intro
The lake is big at about 15 miles across in any direction, but shallow at only 20-30 feet deep. Part of the lake is in an Ojibwe reservation but there are no restrictions to accessing that part of the shoreline. Mille Lacs is famous for its walleye and musky, and was once proclaimed the best smallmouth bass lake in the county by Bassmaster magazine. In the winter there are plowed ice roads that provide access to over 5000 ice fishing houses. In spring the ice thins and the winds pick up, creating ice shoves that have on occasion destroyed lake side homes. Amazing ice shove video footage
Click on to enlarge map
Downwind Runs
Mille Lacs is a 90 minute drive from Minneapolis or Duluth. Because there is a paved road all the way around the shore, and many designated boat launches, it is possible to line up an almost perfectly straight downwind no matter the wind direction as you can see on the lake map below.
Mille Lacs Access Points - Click to Enlarge
Downwinding is great in any direction, but there are some differences. The north shore of the lake is shallow and sandy while the south shore is deep and rocky. Waves tend to shrink in the last couple miles as they approach the shallow north shore. But waves heading to the south shore build unimpeded until about a half mile from land, where they collide with rocky reefs that guard the entrances to all the southern boat launches. These reefs are marked with buoys and are too deep to pose danger to paddlers, but they do cause the waves to distort and stack up and sometimes break unexpectedly. The most frequently paddled route is probably Garrison to Cove Bay with NNW wind, or the reverse if the wind is SSE. The west side of the lake is deeper than the east, so the waves build a little better there.
- Garrison to Cove Bay with NNW wind, or the reverse if the wind is SSE approx. 16 miles, Downwindfun
Waves
Mille Lacs can get pretty big. It’s hard to accurately judge wave height but 15 miles of fetch creates great downwind conditions. Zach Handler estimates that on a good day the waves are around 4 feet with a few 5 and 6 foot ones thrown in the mix.
Safety
Remote/Distances to Shore
Mille Lacs is an inland lake, but do not get lulled into a false sense of security. Its size and remoteness create the potential for great danger. A route across the middle of the lake takes a paddler more than 6 miles from the nearest shore. There is no coast guard and a mayday call sent over VHF would likely fade into the ether without ever being heard. There is cell phone coverage nowadays, but that might be of little help as there is probably not a local search and rescue team equipped to find and save a paddler on such a vast lake when the waves are big. So assume that you are on your own. Note - there are a number of potential routes that are shorter and stay closer to shore if what you are looking for is not a lengthier and more exposed full lake crossing. These could be “somewhat” safer learning routes, particularly if you combine them with a wind and wave direction that is in line with your route or somewhat onshore, but please be aware that the major safety concerns for the lake still apply.
Water Temperature
The lake goes from frozen in the winter to 70s - 80s deg F (~23 - 29 deg C) in the summer. As a shallow lake the temperature changes rapidly with the season and weather. Don't underestimate the risk of cold water exposure from immersion during the shoulder seasons between winter and summer.
Navigation
This is flatland. There are no good visual landmarks to help with navigation. Depending on how far from shore you are the view is either a shimmering horizon line or a low strip of trees. It all looks the same. A GPS with a navigation arrow is essential.
Videos
Resources
- See Patling
- Zach Handler (facebook) Zach is an experienced Mille Lacs downwind paddler and kindly provided the information on this page
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