BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 01 2024
Entry Point 26 - Wood Lake
Wood Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 13 miles. Access to Wood Lake is a 180-rod portage. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1361 feet
Latitude: 47.9691
Longitude: -91.6001
Sunday, July 14, 2019 My wife and I learned the hard way over the past few years that a Saturday entry point date was too rushed of a scenario to start a trip on the right foot, so this was our first time starting on a Sunday. That gave us ample time to drive up to Ely during the day on Saturday, mosey around town a bit, eat a good meal, and then hit the hay early to get a full nights sleep and a fresh start on Sunday. [paragraph break] Needless to say, Krystal and I did not sleep deeply or as soundly as planned, and we were wide awake in our hotel room at 2:30 in the morning. You guessed it, we got up, showered and packed up the last bits and bobs in the hotel room, ushered the dogs out into the car, and were on our way to the gas station at about 4:00 in the morning. We popped into the gas station and grabbed a few things to eat and a hot coffee, and headed on down the Echo Trail to get a sunrise start on the Little Indian Sioux. And what a perfect morning it was. We charged through the short portage to the launch with due haste and loaded up the boats. The sun was golden behind the tree line, and the foggy mist danced across the river as we settled in for a nice slow paced paddle. [paragraph break]
[paragraph break]
We arrived at the first portage and while attempting to get out of her canoe, Krystal stepped on a rather vicious rock, twisted her ankle and fell with a resounding thud to the ground. She peppered the air with some familiar curse words, and other than a few little scrapes, her wounded pride, and a firm but loving reprimand from me to always look down before you step, we carried on with the task at hand. [paragraph break]
The grassy waters of the approach to Upper Pauness whispered against the canoe as we made our way across a lake we would revisit on our way out of the BWCA. The next portage to Lower Pauness was a mosquito fest. Thankfully, we had brought bug nets, gloves, and had long sleeve shirts and pants fully doused in permethrin to wear on move days. It was as if the haze of the morning had transfigured itself into a mosquito hell haze on that portage.
[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break]
Lower Pauness is a pretty little lake, and we took our time paddling through to the Devil's Cascade portage. After our first trip across the portage (as we are double carriers with the solo canoes, and nearly two weeks worth of gear and food for two dogs and two humans) we were extremely gladdened that we had chosen the route we did, and only had to carry our gear down that staircase rather than up it. But boy was that a beauty. That campsite about halfway across the portage was definitely worth the pause along the portage. The Boundary Waters never stops giving those breathless moments, in more ways than one.[paragraph break]
With our usual dilly dally pace, the afternoon was growing long due to our supremely early start and we were nearly to our destination lake, Loon Lake. We planned on camping there one night and then making our way up to Lac LaCroix. We really wanted to catch some walleyes on this trip and have a few fish fries. Lac LaCroix seemed like a win win in the walleye department. [paragraph break]
We found a lovely - if it weren't for the darn stable flies - beach site and settled on it for the night. With a beach, you are hard fought to resist taking a swim. After a long day of traveling, humans and dogs jumped in and cooled off, escaping our own sweat and the flies. We discovered there would be no quickly setting up camp this trip with our Lean 3 tent. And I would have several mild bug related panic attacks while clearing out the pesky critters from our tent each night. But nevertheless, we became experts at setting up that Lean in not so convenient spots over the duration of this trip. It was our home for 12 days so love it or leave it was not an option. We did grow to love it but now prefer to use it in the bug free times of the year.[paragraph break]
[paragraph break]
Night fell and so did our eyelids. I couldn't tell you what we ate for supper that night but it certainly wasn't fish. But the trip was starting off as expected, full of minor mishaps that always made us chuckle in the evening, and beautiful sites worth reminiscing about as the stars blanketed us to sleep. What would tomorrow hold?
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1361 feet
Latitude: 47.9691
Longitude: -91.6001
Sunday, July 14, 2019 My wife and I learned the hard way over the past few years that a Saturday entry point date was too rushed of a scenario to start a trip on the right foot, so this was our first time starting on a Sunday. That gave us ample time to drive up to Ely during the day on Saturday, mosey around town a bit, eat a good meal, and then hit the hay early to get a full nights sleep and a fresh start on Sunday. [paragraph break] Needless to say, Krystal and I did not sleep deeply or as soundly as planned, and we were wide awake in our hotel room at 2:30 in the morning. You guessed it, we got up, showered and packed up the last bits and bobs in the hotel room, ushered the dogs out into the car, and were on our way to the gas station at about 4:00 in the morning. We popped into the gas station and grabbed a few things to eat and a hot coffee, and headed on down the Echo Trail to get a sunrise start on the Little Indian Sioux. And what a perfect morning it was. We charged through the short portage to the launch with due haste and loaded up the boats. The sun was golden behind the tree line, and the foggy mist danced across the river as we settled in for a nice slow paced paddle. [paragraph break]
[paragraph break]
We arrived at the first portage and while attempting to get out of her canoe, Krystal stepped on a rather vicious rock, twisted her ankle and fell with a resounding thud to the ground. She peppered the air with some familiar curse words, and other than a few little scrapes, her wounded pride, and a firm but loving reprimand from me to always look down before you step, we carried on with the task at hand. [paragraph break]
The grassy waters of the approach to Upper Pauness whispered against the canoe as we made our way across a lake we would revisit on our way out of the BWCA. The next portage to Lower Pauness was a mosquito fest. Thankfully, we had brought bug nets, gloves, and had long sleeve shirts and pants fully doused in permethrin to wear on move days. It was as if the haze of the morning had transfigured itself into a mosquito hell haze on that portage.
[paragraph break] [paragraph break]
Lower Pauness is a pretty little lake, and we took our time paddling through to the Devil's Cascade portage. After our first trip across the portage (as we are double carriers with the solo canoes, and nearly two weeks worth of gear and food for two dogs and two humans) we were extremely gladdened that we had chosen the route we did, and only had to carry our gear down that staircase rather than up it. But boy was that a beauty. That campsite about halfway across the portage was definitely worth the pause along the portage. The Boundary Waters never stops giving those breathless moments, in more ways than one.[paragraph break]
With our usual dilly dally pace, the afternoon was growing long due to our supremely early start and we were nearly to our destination lake, Loon Lake. We planned on camping there one night and then making our way up to Lac LaCroix. We really wanted to catch some walleyes on this trip and have a few fish fries. Lac LaCroix seemed like a win win in the walleye department. [paragraph break]
We found a lovely - if it weren't for the darn stable flies - beach site and settled on it for the night. With a beach, you are hard fought to resist taking a swim. After a long day of traveling, humans and dogs jumped in and cooled off, escaping our own sweat and the flies. We discovered there would be no quickly setting up camp this trip with our Lean 3 tent. And I would have several mild bug related panic attacks while clearing out the pesky critters from our tent each night. But nevertheless, we became experts at setting up that Lean in not so convenient spots over the duration of this trip. It was our home for 12 days so love it or leave it was not an option. We did grow to love it but now prefer to use it in the bug free times of the year.[paragraph break]
[paragraph break]
Night fell and so did our eyelids. I couldn't tell you what we ate for supper that night but it certainly wasn't fish. But the trip was starting off as expected, full of minor mishaps that always made us chuckle in the evening, and beautiful sites worth reminiscing about as the stars blanketed us to sleep. What would tomorrow hold?
Finally a solo
by smuts
Trip Report
Entry Date:
September 19, 2011
Entry Point:
Wood Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
1
Trip Introduction:
Have always wanted to take a solo. Finally bit the bullet and purchased a solo canoe - now no more excuses. Looking to find myself and unplug. This trip has been on the bucket list for over a decade.
Report
Wednesday, July 17, 2019 Move days mean early mornings and slipping onto the water as the sun is breaking the horizon. Although this move day would not have any sun, the process remained the same. Krystal and I could set world records on packing up a campsite, a talent we discovered on our days of kayaking Lake Superior's Apostle Islands and trying to beat storms while moving from island to island. It was not long before we were gliding over the calm quicksilver water on a steely grey day. [paragraph break] Heading east, we navigated around some points and islands and back bays until we found the portage to Gun Lake. The portage was easy enough but as we are mostly not in any shape, we were still getting our trip legs under us so we took our time. And Gun Lake, what can I say, it's a jaw dropper! Those towering Tolkienesque cliffs break your heart.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] Gun Lake's beauty inspired a slow motion paddle through its inky waters. The cliffs and the moody sky mirrored in the lake painted a magical mood as we slipped through on our way to Little Beartrack. And after that portage to Little Beartrack, we would both reflect that maybe we should have lingered longer.[paragraph break] Though a shorter portage, the portage to Little Beartrack would break our spirits for the day and nearly break my leg. We managed to get the boats across without any issue other than performing the miracle of navigating the boulder field that is the Gun to Little Beartrack portage. But when we made it back to the Gun side and began the march back with our heavily loaded packs, things went almost horribly wrong. I have always been a bit quicker than Krystal so I was a good 30 rods in front of her on the portage. And if ever someone should have followed their own advice, it was me on that portage. Always look down at where you are placing your feet. One moment of lapse and I plummeted with one leg being swallowed up to the thigh by a gap in the boulders. I had sick visions of snapping my femur in that moment but thank the Boundary Waters gods it did not happen. I struggled to pull myself out of the hole with my heavy pack doing its best to literally be the devil on my shoulders. I finally wormed my way out and just stood in one spot waiting for Krystal. I was going to make damn sure she knew that hole was there because the fear had seeped in fast and hard. [paragraph break] When she finally caught up with me, we gingerly made our way across the rest of boulder alley to the beckoning waters of Little Beartrack. We both agreed that if the one campsite was available on Little Beartrack, we were going to stay for the night. The sky was threatening rain, and my nerves were threatening exhaustion. Though it was a battered campsite, it was available and perfect. I mean, it perfectly echoed the way we felt and we knew we could make the best of the private little spot. Krystal's face in this pic sums up how we were feeling about that portage. [paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] The campsite on Little Beartrack had taken a beating from some windstorm. There were trees down everywhere and we had to climb ourselves and our gear over trees to get on the site from the landing. We would later brave the slippery rockface to load our boats when we left because scaling the downed trees was challenging enough to only want to do it once. We found a nice flat spot nestled between some downed trees and some rocks for the Lean 3. We did have one rock inside the Lean but it was more a piece of artwork in the tent than a nuisance.[paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] We rode out a mild rainfall in the tent. We had plenty of day in front of us so we chilled at camp, fished from shore some more, and generally enjoyed the solitude. It had been two days since we had seen another human. We would hit a six day stretch on this section of lakes below Lac LaCroix with no other humans in site. Still no luck fishing for me, but it was still early in the trip. My one goal was to catch my first BWCA walleye![paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] Following a delicious Mac n' Cheese meal with dehydrated broccoli for health (insert winky face here), we climbed in the tent early due to impending rainfall. It had been an interesting and respect earning day in the Boundary Waters.
[paragraph break] Gun Lake's beauty inspired a slow motion paddle through its inky waters. The cliffs and the moody sky mirrored in the lake painted a magical mood as we slipped through on our way to Little Beartrack. And after that portage to Little Beartrack, we would both reflect that maybe we should have lingered longer.[paragraph break] Though a shorter portage, the portage to Little Beartrack would break our spirits for the day and nearly break my leg. We managed to get the boats across without any issue other than performing the miracle of navigating the boulder field that is the Gun to Little Beartrack portage. But when we made it back to the Gun side and began the march back with our heavily loaded packs, things went almost horribly wrong. I have always been a bit quicker than Krystal so I was a good 30 rods in front of her on the portage. And if ever someone should have followed their own advice, it was me on that portage. Always look down at where you are placing your feet. One moment of lapse and I plummeted with one leg being swallowed up to the thigh by a gap in the boulders. I had sick visions of snapping my femur in that moment but thank the Boundary Waters gods it did not happen. I struggled to pull myself out of the hole with my heavy pack doing its best to literally be the devil on my shoulders. I finally wormed my way out and just stood in one spot waiting for Krystal. I was going to make damn sure she knew that hole was there because the fear had seeped in fast and hard. [paragraph break] When she finally caught up with me, we gingerly made our way across the rest of boulder alley to the beckoning waters of Little Beartrack. We both agreed that if the one campsite was available on Little Beartrack, we were going to stay for the night. The sky was threatening rain, and my nerves were threatening exhaustion. Though it was a battered campsite, it was available and perfect. I mean, it perfectly echoed the way we felt and we knew we could make the best of the private little spot. Krystal's face in this pic sums up how we were feeling about that portage. [paragraph break] [paragraph break] The campsite on Little Beartrack had taken a beating from some windstorm. There were trees down everywhere and we had to climb ourselves and our gear over trees to get on the site from the landing. We would later brave the slippery rockface to load our boats when we left because scaling the downed trees was challenging enough to only want to do it once. We found a nice flat spot nestled between some downed trees and some rocks for the Lean 3. We did have one rock inside the Lean but it was more a piece of artwork in the tent than a nuisance.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We rode out a mild rainfall in the tent. We had plenty of day in front of us so we chilled at camp, fished from shore some more, and generally enjoyed the solitude. It had been two days since we had seen another human. We would hit a six day stretch on this section of lakes below Lac LaCroix with no other humans in site. Still no luck fishing for me, but it was still early in the trip. My one goal was to catch my first BWCA walleye![paragraph break] [paragraph break] Following a delicious Mac n' Cheese meal with dehydrated broccoli for health (insert winky face here), we climbed in the tent early due to impending rainfall. It had been an interesting and respect earning day in the Boundary Waters.
discuss this trip report (13 comments) - last post on February 17, 2012