Hen Lake

On the LakeGrade rubric, Hen Lake pulls an A: clarity at 17.6 ft and 12 µg/L of phosphorus put it in the top bracket for Minnesota. The three sub-grades — clarity, phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a — track close together, so no single parameter is dragging the average.

A TSI value of 38 puts Hen Lake in the oligotrophic range, where biological productivity stays low and the water column remains clear. Hen Lake is unusually deep for Minnesota at 105 ft, which buffers the lake against summer warming and helps the deep water stay oxygenated. At 858 acres, Hen Lake fits the Minnesota median for monitored lakes, with 14.8 miles of shoreline. Among the 120 graded lakes in Crow Wing County, Hen Lake sits at rank 47, above the county median.

Hen Lake is on the Minnesota infested-waters list for zebra mussels — boaters should follow clean-drain-dry protocols when moving gear to or from the lake. The fishery includes walleye alongside the lake's other 21 documented species — a notable draw for Minnesota anglers. The lake lacks a documented public access point, so visitor use is limited. The lake has a partial ice record — 8 observed ice-outs, centered near Apr 19. Monitoring depth is thin here: the LakeGrade rubric is applied to a small number of sample years, and the grade will be revised as more data accumulates.