Ena Lake is the name of a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

and an adjacent

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and railway point Reference for the unincorporated area. in Unorganized

Kenora District Kenora District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The district seat is the City of Kenora. It is geographically the largest division in Ontario: at , it covers 38 percent of the province's area, making it larger ...

in northwestern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

,The coordinates give in the main Infobox and the top right of the article are those for the unincorporated area, per the

Geographical Names Board of Canada The Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government of Canada, which authorizes the names used and name changes on official federal government maps of Canad ...

reference. about north of the city of

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The history of the name exten ...

. Formerly a stop on the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

, it is now a small cottage community of approximately 50 seasonal residents and 11 year round residents.

Geography

Ena Lake is a typical

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

lake: the shore is rocky with many high ridges and hills, and the water is clear and cool. The major inflows are Octopus Creek (locally called "Ena Brook") from Octopus Lake and the MacFarlane River (locally called "Corn Creek") from Corn Lake. The major outflow is the MacFarlane River, controlled by a small dam, below which one finds a rapids and falls. The MacFarlane River flows to the

Winnipeg River Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its drainage basin, w ...

. Thus, the lake is in the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson, Manitoba, Port Nels ...

and

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

Transportation

Ena Lake can be accessed from Kenora via Ontario Highway 658, then Ena Lake road. It is on the Canadian National Railway

transcontinental Transcontinental may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Transcontinental", a song by the band Pedro the Lion from the album ''Achilles Heel'' * TC Transcontinental, a publishing, media and marketing company based in Canada, a subsidiary ...

main line, between

Minaki Minaki ( or ) is an unincorporated area and community in Unorganized Kenora District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is located at the point where the Canadian National Railways transcontinental main line crosses the Winnipeg River, betwee ...

to the west and Redditt to the east, has a passing track, and is passed but not served by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

transcontinental ''

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

'' trains. It may also be reached by boat via the

and MacFarlane River, from which a short portage leads to the lake. The historical and public portage route is tightly along the north side of the rapids/falls, starting right next to the dam at the out flow of Ena Lake, it crosses the road, where a sign marks the portage route. Boat trips to Redditt via the MacFarlane River and Corn Lake are also possible.

Natural history

In the spring great flocks of white pelicans fish for spawning fish in the rapids below the falls at the outflow from the lake. Flocks of up to 200 have been observed. The tributary Ena Brook (called Octopus Creek on topographical maps) and Corn Creek (called McFarlane River on topographical maps) have a boreal floating bog/wetland. Fish species included

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

, and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

Whitetail deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North, Central and South America. It is the most widely-distributed mainland ungulate ...

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

, and black bear may be seen along the shore.

Beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

and active lodges are present, especially along Ena Brook and Corn Creek.

Recreation

Ena Lake is a popular starting point for canoe trips to Vermillion Lake, Octopus Lake, and beyond.

References

{{authority control Communities in Kenora District Lakes of Kenora District

Geography

Transportation

Natural history

Recreation

See also

References