Lower Trelipe Lake vs Upper Trelipe Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Upper Trelipe Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Lower Trelipe Lake. Both are in Cass County, Minnesota.
Both Lower Trelipe Lake and Upper Trelipe Lake sit in Minnesota. A same-state comparison strips out the state-level water-quality regime as a variable: any differences in the readings here are about the lakes themselves, not the agencies sampling them. Upper Trelipe Lake reads materially cleaner than Lower Trelipe Lake on nutrients and algae. A gap that wide is unlikely to close in a single year of remediation work; it reflects multi-decade differences in the lakes themselves.
For a recreational visitor, the wider gap in the readings is decisive: Upper Trelipe Lake has the lower nutrient and algae numbers. For a researcher, the gap is the interesting part: what is different about the two watersheds, and which of those differences is mutable?
Lower Trelipe Lake
Moderate clarity, visible to about 6.9 ft.
Upper Trelipe Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 14 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Lower Trelipe Lake | Upper Trelipe Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Water Clarity | 6.9 ft | 14 ft Better |
| Phosphorus | 23 µg/L | 12 µg/L Better |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 11.9 µg/L | 3.1 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 32 ft | 69 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 618 acres | 421 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 16 Better | 15 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | mesotrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
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Verdict
Upper Trelipe Lake reads lower on nutrients and algae than Lower Trelipe Lake. Water clarity: 14 ft vs 6.9 ft. For more fish-species variety, Lower Trelipe Lake edges ahead with 16 documented species.
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Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.