The Minnesota Lake Summer Bucket List: 25 Things to Do Before Labor Day

A Minnesota summer on the lake is finite and precious. Here are the 25 experiences that define it — from the first sunrise walleye to the last pontoon sunset of the season.

A Minnesota summer is approximately 90 days of perfection followed by a long, cold reminder of why you appreciate it. Here's how to make sure you don't waste a single one of them.

On the Water

Watch a sunrise from the dock with coffee. Catch a walleye before 6am. Pull a kid on a tube until they're laughing too hard to hold on. Take the pontoon to a waterfront restaurant for dinner. Swim across the bay and back. Watch a thunderstorm roll in from the water — from a safe distance. Catch a bass on a topwater lure at dusk. Spend a full day on the water without checking your phone.

Off the Water

Drive to Nisswa for the Wednesday turtle races. Eat a walleye sandwich at a lakeside bar. Go to a local farmers market before 9am. Find a hiking trail you've never been on. Eat dinner on the deck every night for a week straight. Watch the Fourth of July fireworks from the lake.

The Cabin Rituals

Play cards on the screened porch during a rainstorm. Cook a shore lunch with fish you caught that morning. Sleep with the windows open and wake up to loons. Have a bonfire that goes until midnight. Teach someone younger than you how to fish.

The One That Matters Most

Be present. The lake has a way of demanding it — the water, the light, the sounds. The people who look back on their summers with the most satisfaction are the ones who put the phone down and paid attention.