BWCA Campsite 618 on West Otto

I have to agree with Riley on this one. I had to give it one star because I rated similar campsites as one star. However, this is a one-star that can actually be used. I was able to land the canoe and pull it up without too much of a problem. Moss covers almost the entire site. The kitchen sits up above the lake. There is no seating in the kitchen, though. I struggled to find a place for a tent. The "good" tent pad is on moss near the kitchen. It had a stake in it, so someone else must have put a tent there. That was the only evidence, though, that someone had stayed at the campsite. The other possible tent pads were on the rock (so no stakes) or on the thick moss in the woods.

I'm giving this site a 1 because, by most ways of rating a campsite, it would be. The landing was tiny and very difficult to use (the original main landing had a tree come down on it.) There was a single, marginal tent pad (we figured out a second in the trees that wasn't a tent pad before.) The camp kitchen is small, has very few rocks, and isn't facing the lake. And the biff is inconveniently up the hill. That said, I absolutely loved this campsite. All the attributes that make is a "poor" campsite are attributes of a true wilderness site. It doesn't see a lot of traffic, it is tiny and really undeveloped compared to a lot of sites, and it is tough to use if you are large than a two person group using hammocks. With the other site on the lake full (how is that possible?!?) we stayed here and we loved it. This site sits on a small cliff overlooking the lake. This site truly is a diamond way, way into the rough.