United States · US

Caroline Lake

Caroline Lake is a small, undeveloped soft-water lake in northwestern Wisconsin's Ashland–Iron county backcountry, far from the resort crowds that line the region's bigger waters. Designated a State Natural Area and jointly owned by the Wisconsin DNR and The Nature Conservancy, it is prized less for amenities than for wildness: a quiet, shallow lake ringed by bog, sedge meadow and forest, reached by a single gravel road that dead-ends at a public boat landing. The draw here is ecologically rare and quietly recreational. Caroline Lake is the headwaters of the Bad River, whose waters eventually replenish the Kakagon/Bad River Sloughs, a National Natural Landmark, and the surrounding wetlands shelter rare plant communities and birds like common loons, osprey and bald eagles. For visitors, that means fishing from the landing, a peaceful paddle or shoreline walk, and some of the best wildlife viewing in the Mellen area, with no picnic tables, restrooms or crowds to dilute the experience.