Bad Medicine Lake vs Long Lost Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Bad Medicine Lake and Long Lost Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of A (Excellent). Both are in Minnesota.
Both Bad Medicine Lake and Long Lost Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any grade differences here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies grading them. These two are within a letter of each other on the rubric — Bad Medicine Lake (A) versus Long Lost Lake (A). The deciding factors for a recreational visitor are likely physical (depth, access, fish species) rather than water-quality differences.
With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.
Bad Medicine Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 25 ft down.
Long Lost Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 22 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Bad Medicine Lake | Long Lost Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 25 ft | 22 ft |
| Phosphorus | 6 µg/L | 10.5 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 84 ft | 63 ft |
| Surface Area | 803.03 acres | 539.04 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 1 | 1 |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade A. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Bad Medicine Lake: 25 ft, Long Lost Lake: 22 ft) and what you want from the lake. Bad Medicine Lake matches its peer on species count.