Nature
Bear Head Lake State Park, near Ely in Minnesota’s lake-and-forest country, was established in 1961 as an accessible alternative to the nearby Boundary Waters wilderness, offering northwoods scenery with roads, facilities, and motorboating. Centered on 670-acre Bear Head Lake and several smaller lakes, its 5,540 acres include rugged glacial terrain, exposed bedrock, and the Laurentian Divide. The park’s forests were transformed by logging around 1900, wildfire, and later fire suppression, leaving a mix of old-growth remnants, secondary forest, and wetlands. Its largely undeveloped setting supports wildlife such as moose, black bears, wolves, loons, bald eagles, and osprey.
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Minnesota · United States
