Lakes of the Ottawa National Forest

I love getting out to explore new places. Ever since I began my U.P. journey 15 years ago, I've been digging into new hills, shorelines, waterfalls, and trails. None has been as prolific as the region's vast numbers of inland lakes. Lake Superior is great and all, but the interior of the U.P. is full of smaller lakes to explore.

This is particularly true of the Ottawa National Forest, which happens to be one of my favorite places to visit and explore. The Ottawa claims to have over 500 named lakes and ponds, which is quite a few more than I imagined. How long would it take to paddle them all? Has it been done? And more to the point, is it even possible? If anyone is going to find out, it'd be me.

As of August 15, 2021 I have visited 98 different lakes in the Ottawa National Forest. I've also paddled on several dozen others elsewhere in the U.P., but those don't count towards my goal. 400+ to go!? I have a lot more than I thought remaining. Turns out there are all sorts of tiny named lakes out there left to discover. To count towards my goal, I either have to paddle on the lake (obviously), swim in it, or snowshoe/ski on it in winter. That last one is easier said than done considering the vast majority of back roads in the Ottawa aren't plowed, making lakes tough to access.

A lot of lakes are completely inaccessible by road even in the summer. Fortunately I built a packraft so even those lakes can't escape me for too long. The most difficult lakes will be private ones. Can't really get around that too easily unless I can hike in through CFA or Ottawa land or Misery Paddle Tour my way in via wetlands or rivers.

Here's a list of the lakes I've been to so far. Hit me up if you've ever visited some of the rarer ones.

I'm always interested to hear how people got on out there!

NATHAN INVINCIBLE

Lakes of the Ottawa National Forest