Are There Really 10,000 Lakes In Minnesota? The Answer For An Outsider
So... I was born and raised in Colorado where we had 14er's -- mountains that are over 14,000 feet tall. The other day I got in trouble for joking about there being 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. I really didn't believe that there were so many lakes in our state and thought it was funny that we brag about it on our license plates. What was really confusing me was the idea that someone would take the time to count all 10,000 lakes. After doing a simple Google search, I found out 10,000 is kind of a joke... there are actually a lot more!
So how many lakes are in Minnesota? According to the Department of Natural Resources, there are 11,842 lakes reported in our beautiful state. Here's a list of the top five deepest lakes.
1. Lake Superior- 1,290 feet
2. Ten Miles- 209 feet
3. Lower LaSalle-204 feet
4. Loon Lake- 202 feet
5. Rainy- 161 feet
The website says that these are the top five largest lakes.
1. Red Lake- 288,800 acres
2. Mille Lacs Lake- 132,516 acres
3. Leech Lake- 111,527 acres
4. Lake Winnibigoshish- 58,544 acres
5. Lake Vermilion- 40,557 acres
There isn't enough room on this page to write out all 11,000 lakes! I promise this outsider will no longer joke about Minnesota being the Land of 10,000 Lakes. I vote that we update our license plates to have the land of 11,000 lakes instead!
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