The lake is located in a basin setting of wooded rolling sand hills approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Good Harbor Bay and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

[2] The south and north ends of the lake feature lowland swamps dominated by cedar, hemlock, and birch trees.

Teichner Preserve,[3] a 41-acre (17 ha) parcel located on the northeast shore of the lake, was gifted to the Leelanau Conservancy in 1996.

Timber harvested from the surrounding land was cut at the mill, and then hauled down a 3-mile plank road to Good Harbor Bay for shipping.

With the re-treat of the Laurentian Glacier, approximately 11,000 BP (before present), and the ice burden gone, the Earth’s crust in the northern part of the region began to rise.