Besides Frost, do other BWCA lakes have a sand beach somewhere on them? They don't seem to be that common, but it is nice to have a chance to lay out on a beach at least once per trip.

I recall quite a few in Quetico, but in the BWCA, east side of Insula has a site with nice beach. I know there are more, just not something I can recall. Others here will fill in.

Malberg, Alice, Amber, Loon or Little Loon, Tuscarora offhand. I'm sure there are plenty more.

Quite a few do actually. I'll give one :P Good Lake I believe has one.

Clove has a site with a nice sandy beach, it's the northernmost site on the lake.

I was told by an outfitter there is a sandy beach on the southern end of Friday Bay of Crooked Lake.

The northernmost campsite on Alton has a sand beach. Great swimming area there too because the sand continues out into the lake for a long ways. Makes it so easy to land a canoe and unload.

Malberg, Nina Moose, and many others. Google maps or any other satellite imagery site is your friend. You can pick out most of them by scanning your route from above.

Some information here .
Alice lake site #1170

Insula and Alice have them.

Site #1332 On Insula

Malberg has a gorgeous one on the east end of the north bay, also a small beach on the far west site. The east bank site on Amber has a small beach at the site and a bigger beach just yards to the north of the site. Alice has 4-6 big beach sites along the east and north shores.....same with Insula. Loon and Little Loon have some nice beach sites also as mentioned. Just go to the maps section and call up those lakes and click on some of the sites. There are numerous photos of the beaches.

Bald Eagle has some on the west bank and one at the south tip but they're all right in front of camps. There's one on Gabbro that's as much pea gravel as actual sand but it's ok.

Basswood has several areas with sand beaches, the closest one being close to the portage from Newton Lake on the left side of Pipestone Bay-maybe 1/2 to 3/4 mile away.

Nice beach where Basswood lodge was. Also Isabella Lake has a nice beach. As I think of it most of the larger lakes have beaches. Sometimes tucked away in bays. Insula ,Loon, Alton ,Crooked, Alice, Loon, Gunflint, Sag, etc......

We stayed on a Kawishiwi Lake sandy beach site a few weeks ago... it's the second site along the north shore when coming in from Square.

Here's the Malberg site that has been mentioned...













And the Amber site...overall probably a cooler site









and the beach adjacent to the site

TuscaroraBorealis: "Some information here .
Alice lake site #1170"

Oh my gosh! That's like paradise!

Wow, I didn't realize there were so many! Seems like we've somehow missed most of the lakes listed here on our trips. Our first BWCA sand beach experience was on Frost last year after we through-bushwacked from Copper to Octopus in the Hairy Lake PMA, so an afternoon of lounging on the beach sipping powdered lemonade and vodka felt well deserved at that point. We will have to try and loop through some of these lakes midweek and hope the sandy sites are open.

Loon lake.

I'll agree with the others that Insula has several of them. There is also one in the SW bays on Oyster, the campsite is up on a rock but the beach is right next to it.

Savage Voyageur: "The northernmost campsite on Alton has a sand beach. Great swimming area there too because the sand continues out into the lake for a long ways. Makes it so easy to land a canoe and unload. "

Site # 846 about midway on west side of Alton.

MN_Lindsey: "

TuscaroraBorealis: "Some information here .
Alice lake site #1170"

Oh my gosh! That's like paradise!"

Is that a funeral pyre on the far right hand side of that photo?

I'm pretty sure there is a nice big sandy beach on the north shore of Crooked, near where you would land to do the portage to Argo?

Sand beach makes for a fun lunch/swimming break but I honestly don't like to camp there. Tent and everything in it fills with sand that gets tracked in. (Personal preference) Beach on NinaMoose is right on main travel route where river flows north out of the lake

johndku: "

MN_Lindsey: "

TuscaroraBorealis: "Some information here .
Alice lake site #1170"

Oh my gosh! That's like paradise!"

Is that a funeral pyre on the far right hand side of that photo?"

Leave no trace! Right??? ;-)

cyclones30: "Sand beach makes for a fun lunch/swimming break but I honestly don't like to camp there. Tent and everything in it fills with sand that gets tracked in. (Personal preference) Beach on NinaMoose is right on main travel route where river flows north out of the lake "

I’m with you on sand tracking in everywhere. 11 years ago I paddled past the Nina moose beach with my dad and daughter and there were 4 guys pulled up standing in a circle on the beach. We had one of those What’s that smell? occasions.

On Basswood on the Northwest side of US Point there are couple of campsites with large sand beaches.

We camped at the site on the north end of Little Loon two weeks ago. Site itself isn’t on a beach, but there’s a path to a nice spot, although that pollen was thick when we were there. Great site!

There’s a site tucked away on the east side of Cherokee in a cove with a wonderful beach. The site itself was back in the woods, but we had a great couple hours of swimming there on a hot August day a few years ago.

cyclones30: "Sand beach makes for a fun lunch/swimming break but I honestly don't like to camp there. Tent and everything in it fills with sand that gets tracked in. (Personal preference) Beach on NinaMoose is right on main travel route where river flows north out of the lake "

Yeah, sand beaches seem like the place to be, but the sand gets into everything. Fun to visit, but I don't care to camp on one.

joeandali: "I was told by an outfitter there is a sandy beach on the southern end of Friday Bay of Crooked Lake."

The beach in Friday Bay is very nice.

I know of 3 really good beaches in the BW.

Seagull Lake: Campsite 469
Fantastic site with sandy pads for tents and a beach that stays about waist deep for about 40-yards into the lake. The sight itself is in a little cove just north and west of Miles Island. You can find it pretty easy on Google Maps satellite view.

Knife Lake South Arm: Campsite 2042
Another nice and flat site with good tent pads and a nice swimming beach close by. This site is at the SAK to Hanson Lake portage. The sandy beach is across the bay (100-yards aprox.).

Lac La Croix: Campsite 7
This beach is not actually at the campsite, which is on Sandbar Island. Go straight east from the site and there is an amazing beach. Ate lunch and went swimming there last year.

TuscaroraBorealis: "

johndku: "

MN_Lindsey: "

TuscaroraBorealis: "Some information here .
Alice lake site #1170"

Oh my gosh! That's like paradise!"

Is that a funeral pyre on the far right hand side of that photo?"

Leave no trace! Right??? ;-)"

Only fitting the way some leave a site trashed....lol

There is a sand beach on Long Island Lake at the end of be portage between Karl and Long Island. There is a campsite just to the west, but I don't know if it the beach extends all the way to it.

Echoing the sentiment, lots of hidden treasures. My favorite - Alice Lake.

My friend recently stayed on Cummings (EP 4/Crab Lake) with a nice sandy beach.

East end of the ENE Bay of Gillis.

ENE of the “throat” of Saturday bay on Crooked, and this one is a campsite. We ate lunch there, but I agree that I wouldn’t particularly want to camp at a sand beach spot. Marginal, but it was a beach and a nice lunch spot to land.

A South Bay of Perent (Hog Creek EP), although that one might get really skinny during higher water. We were there in August.

ENE corner of the “middle” bay on the north side of Tuscarora. I read somewhere on this site that this beach is the former pre-wilderness location of Tuscarora Lodge. It’s the nicest of the four I’ve listed.

MN_Lindsey: "My friend recently stayed on Cummings (EP 4/Crab Lake) with a nice sandy beach."

Lindsay, do you know which site on Cummings? I'm heading there in a couple of weeks. Several sites look beautiful. I feel like I've read a site review of yours on one of those lakes..

Aldy1: "

MN_Lindsey: "My friend recently stayed on Cummings (EP 4/Crab Lake) with a nice sandy beach."

Lindsay, do you know which site on Cummings? I'm heading there in a couple of weeks. Several sites look beautiful. I feel like I've read a site review of yours on one of those lakes.."

Maybe this one ?

Back in the summer of 2007, my dad and I were able to wade out on a sandy bottom at Gijikiki Lake. We caught dozens of rock bass. It was odd because none of the fishing reports that we had researched included any mentioning of rock bass being present in the lake. We expected lake trout only.

Lynx, Oyster, Big Moose, Bog all have beaches. Not all are at campsites.

Agree with those about the perils of sand beaches. Nice place to visit but would not want to live there. The sand will get into everything. If there is even a mild wind it will also blow into everything. Then there are the sand fleas, skeeters and no seeums that like sand beaches. Much prefer the classic big sloping rock sites. Most usually have diving rocks that are a lot more fun than sand. As for location, almost every lake will have one, usually in a west-facing bay.

oldguide2: "As for location, almost every lake will have one, usually in a west-facing bay."

Why is the sand found in the west facing bays?

Somewhere on Red Rock...not far from the portage into Red Rock Bay

We landed on a Malberg sand beach with a 5-star camp site rating and were mauled by sand flies for 10-15 minutes before deciding that it was not a 5-star site that early June day.... sand is good some days, but not every day.

Quetico has sand in some places, especially lakes with long wind runs, such as Pickerel which was managed with higher water for many years and now is managed with a lower outlet and has numerous sand beaches. Quetico Lake also has some big sand bar islands.