The forests return as Highway 371 reaches the town of Backus, located on Pine Mountain Lake, where it meets MN 87 for a short concurrency. After Highway 87 splits off to the east just past Backus Airport, Highway 371 heads into rural forest for about , broken only by the small town of Hackensack before reaching MN 200 just south of Walker, a regionally important city in northern Minnesota. Highway 371 and Highway 200 begin an concurrency at this intersection; Highway 371 north and Highway 200 west continue to the northwest together as they pass around Walker Bay, the western arm of Leech Lake, one of the largest lakes in Minnesota. The two pass the former Ah-gwah-ching facility, which was serviced by the unsigned MN 290.