BWCA Campsite 619 on West Otto

The site sits above the water in a white pine grove with an awesome view. Because of all the pines, the entire site is covered in pine duff. Small landing. The site seems large, but there are not many tent pads. In fact, there is only one good, albeit large, place to put a tent. Everything else is slanted. The lake is very secluded, and the only reason anyone would come here would be to stay here. To give you an idea of how large and old the pines are, there is a large, fallen whine pine in the site. I counted approximately 155 growth rings. There are a few other standing white pines that were just as large.

This was my favorite site of our loop (Gaskin - Winchell - Otto - Horseshoe). Super hard to get to - the portage is terrible on the Otto side, very muddy - but quiet and we had the lake to ourselves. The site itself is set up on a cliff overlooking the lake and from the outcroppings we saw a moose cow and calf munching on the opposite shore. We also saw a young black bear cross the portage.

Beautiful white pines but inconvenient site. Muddy lake bottom makes for poor swimming. Roughly 200 paces to latrine.