Ball's Lake is a popular Forest Service recreation site near Thorne Bay providing a campground, picnic area, boardwalk trail, fishing and small boat launch. A hiking trail circumnavigates the entire lake, but the boardwalk is only completed on about half of it and portions of the trail require travel through some boggy holes. Very little boardwalk has been completed between the bridge and the return to the campground, but it is an enjoyable hike for more adventurous cachers. You'll want to have waterproof boots on anyways for the cache so you might as well do the whole trail while you're out there. For those not wanting to get too muddy it is best to head counterclockwise around the lake to get to this cache and then retrace your steps after making the smiley. Boaters may bypass all of this with a short paddle from the launch area.