Twin Lakes Canoe Route in Northern Minnesota
The Twin Lakes Canoe Route in northern Minnesota offers a short canoe route outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness that provides a wilderness-like experience. No permit is required. The route features four portages, and five campsites. The old Iron Trail ran through this area. It was a paddling trail that joined Grand Marais to the mid-Gunflint Trail area before the 1900s.
USFS Map of the Route
As best as I can tell, the US Forest Service map for the Twin Lakes Canoe Route was made in May 2007. I haven’t been able to find it on the USFS website since the beginning of 2025. Because the pdf is owned by the public, I’m providing it here as a public service.
Portages
There are four portages on the route. The longest one follows an old railroad grade which does cross three parcels of private property. The USFS asks that paddlers respect the land owners and not drive down the road. That means that you will need to portage back to your car, which you will leave at the Twin Lakes boat ramp parking lot area.
The portage from Pine Lake to Kemo Lake was a portage on the historic route. There used to be a portage from Kemo Lake into Moose Lake and then from Moose Lake to Abita Lake and from there there used to be a portage from Abita Lake into Marshall Lake. Finally, there was a portage from Marshall to Slough and into Little Trout Lake. Those portages disappeared from maps in the 1930s. I suspect that most people who wanted to access those lakes started using the railroad grade, which was planned as far back as 1879. From Little Trout Lake, the old historic portages are the same ones that we use today.
Abita Lake is currently in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (remember: these places only stay public and protected as long as we continue to work to keep them that way). There is no trail that leads to it making it one of the more remote lakes in the BWCAW. It would be good to see the USFS restore the historic portages in this area.
Backcountry Campsites on the Twin Lakes Canoe Route
There are five back country campsites along the Twin Lakes Canoe Route. They are in various states of repair. Out of all of the sites, the ones on East Twin Lake are the best, but the Kemo Lake one is a nice getaway.
Because the route is short, you could easily do it as a day trip and avoid having to use any of the campsites. There are two nearby front country campgrounds. The first is a Minnesota DNR campground with two sites at the Twin Lakes boat ramp. The second is a USFS campground called Two Island Lake Campground.
Route Access
The route can be accessed from two directions. The first is from the Twin Lake boat ramps. To reach this area, you take the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais to the South Brule Road. Drive to the end of the road and turn left down Lima Grade. You’ll eventually arrive at the boat ramps.
The other access is from USFS Road 1365, which is also called Trestle Pine Road. There are more turns on this route, but it’s the best access from Two Island Lake Campground. It’s best to google this one.
Public and Private Property Along the Route
As of June 2025, the majority of this route travels through USFS public land, your land, and MNDNR public land, land that belongs to all the citizens of Minnesota, but there are also private parcels on this route.
East Twin Lake is surrounded completely by public land. On the south side, it’s MNDNR, and the rest is federal public land. West Twin is more developed. There are 17 private parcels on the lake mixed between the north and south shores. What this usually means is that someone homesteaded the property and actually lived up to the rules of homesteading by establishing residency and working the land. Usually, the original colonist that did the homesteading passed the land along to their family who eventually sold it off either before it was parceled into smaller lots or by parceling it out before the sale. I haven’t looked into the details for this lake to get the specifics.
When looking back at the original parcels most all the land was claimed at one point, but the people who made those claims didn’t meet the requirements and due to that the law the land returned back to all the citizens of the US for all of us to use.
On Pine Lake, there are seven private parcels on the north side of the lake. On Kemo Lake, the north shore of the lake is privately owned with seven parcels and the southwest corner has four parcels on it. Out of all the private property, only two are owned by residents of Cook County. The rest are owned as vacation homes. The west side of Talus Lake and the portage from Talus to Kemo is also private.
You will see houses and development along this route unlike in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Fishing on the Twin Lakes Canoe Route
Fishing can be good on the Twin Lakes Canoe Route. These are trout lakes, so you will need a trout stamp.
A Few Photos
I think this is a great day trip that works as an overnight, too. Here are a few photos that I’ve taken from the area. You can also see my trip report from this lake.
Twin Lakes Canoe Route Map
I made the following map that is designed to print on 8.5×11-inch paper, and when printed at 100% scale will end up being 3 inches = 1 mile in scale. The dots on the map also give you easy distance indications. They are one inch apart.
This is part of a series of posts that I'll be writing that document public canoe routes and campsites in Cook County, Minnesota and on the Superior National Forest. Many information sheets are disappearing from the federal websites, and I don't want them to disappear forever. When I find them, I'll include them in these articles.
You can buy me a coffee for my efforts at paypal.me/bryanhansel. I'm considering offering high-quality downloads of my maps as a way to buy me a coffee. If that's something you'd be interested in, let me know in the comments.
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