Smoothrock Lake -- Fun with GPS
I've mentioned how the GPS was essential for navigating the lake. Here are three of the maps I pulled off the GPS when I got home.On the first one, you have the basic area of Smoothrock Lake that we navigated. Mostly the western branch and the eastern branch. I'll note that this is only the lower third of the lake! It's an enormous lake! Before the trip, I'd placed various fishing waypoints based on the map that Mike at Pipestone had given us. (Marked as W1, W2, P1, P2, etc.) These were pretty useful as navigation points and/or destinations.
In the upper northeast, you see where I caught my 23" walleye, and obscured by the "Lake Trout Start" waypoint is where I caught my 30" pike (near W13). Our cabin was in the south, highlighted in yellow. We made it as far north as "Lake Trout End" and W12.
At the south tip of the lake, just south of the cabin, was the half mile portage walk to Spring Lake, shown. Also, you can see our venture into the river channel in the east which ends at the falls (noted P1). The track that leaves the maps is the plane as it flew home.The second map shows the flight from the lake to Emo. Notice Kenoji is marked from our last trip there in 2004, just north and west of Smoothrock. The flight totaled about 220 miles. The third picture shows the altitude profile of the flight, in feet.