BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 04 2024
Entry Point 30 - Kawishiwi Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 7
Elevation: 1653 feet
Latitude: 47.8390
Longitude: -91.1036
My son Remy and I, and my friend Keith and his son Charlie put our canoes into Lake one at 9:30 Monday morning after dropping off a car at the Snowbank Lake landing. Lake One can be tricky to navigate. On our way to Lake Two we turned East too early and ended up paddling about a mile out of our way into a dead-end bay before we realized our mistake. We blamed the fact that Lake One was split between Fisher Maps #10 and #4 for our error. If the entire lake had been visible at once on a single map, we would not have made the wrong turn. Once we got back on course we portaged the 30 rods into a pond and then portaged the 40 rods into Lake Two. The weather was nice, and there was a bit of a tail wind out of the West. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Lake Two. After lunch we canoed through the North end of Lake Three and into Lake Four. We stopped for the night at a campsite on the West shore of Lake Four, just North of the channel heading toward Hudson Lake. We had to battle swarms of mosquitoes as we set up the tents. We then had a nice refreshing swim. Because we had brought steaks along for the first night, we didn't go fishing.
On Tuesday morning we had a bacon and eggs breakfast then packed up camp and headed out in our canoes. As we canoed past our campsite, we realized that Remy & I had left our hammocks pitched between trees. We landed again and quickly packed them up. Once again we had beautiful weather. We paddled East and completed 3 short portages before entering Hudson Lake. The 105 rod portage into Lake Insula was exhausting! Lake Insula is a large gorgeous lake broken up by multiple islands and penninsulas. We had lunch at a campsite on a large island just East of Hudson Lake. It felt like we had a tail wind as we were heading East, and then as we turned North it seemed like the wind shifted and was at our backs once again. We navigated Lake Insula flawlessly and camped for the night on the island just West of Williamson Island. After setting up the tents and a refreshing swim, Remy & I got back into the canoe and tried to catch some fish. We had no luck! At 9PM that night, just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled through. That night I was awakened several times by the loud croaking of bullfrogs from the shallows around our island. What noisy neighbors!
By Wednesday morning the weather had cleared, but the wind was now coming from the Northwest, pretty much in our faces. We paddled to the North end of Lake Insula and tackled the largest portage of our trip. The 180 rod walk to Kiana Lake actually seemed easier than the 105 rod carry into Lake Insula. We headed onward into Thomas Lake where we really started feeling the headwind. We finally made it to the campsite just Northeast of the portage into Thomas Pond in time for lunch. After lunch we proceeded across Thomas Pond and into Thomas Creek after hiking across the famous Kekekabic Trail. We managed to easily run the rapids in Thomas Creek and avoid the 2 short portages. We camped for the night on Hatchet Lake at the northern campsite. It was cool and windy, so we didn't swim. There was lots of threatening weather going by to the North of us, but we stayed dry. After supper we canoed back to Thomas Creek to fish and look for moose. No luck on either count, but we did see a beaver swimmming.
The weather was nice again Thursday morning, but the wind was out of the West which was the direction we were heading. We portaged into Ima Lake and canoed across it. Before portaging into Jordan Lake, we watched a bald eagle sitting in a tree get harrassed repeatedly by a seagull. The narrow channel leading into Jordan Lake is quite beautiful. It is narrow like a river with big rock outcroppings. We paddled across Jordan, Cattyman, Adventure, and Jitterbug Lakes. We found the Eastern campsite on Ahsub Lake taken, so we camped at the Western campsite which had a great place for swimming in front of it. There was a very brave loon in front of the campsite who didn't seem to mind if we got close to it. We tried our luck at fishing, but only caught 1 smallmouth which was too small to eat. Between 5:00 and 7:30 that evening we saw a number of canoes heading across Ahsub Lake from Disappointment Lake to Jitterbug Lake. We weren't sure where they were planning to camp, but it was getting late.
On Friday we awoke again to good weather. We paddled the length of Disappointment Lake and portaged into to Parent Lake and then on to Snowbank Lake. It was July 4th, and as we entered Snowbank Lake the sounfd of firecrackers reminded us we weren't in the wilderness anaymore. After a brief splash war on our way across Snowbank, we made it to the landing and our car was still there. What a great trip!
Sawbill Mini-Loop (Daytrip)
Entry Date:
July 28, 2021
Entry Point:
Sawbill Lake
Number of Days:
1
Group Size:
1
I quickly realized one of the beauties of a solo trip (even if it's just a day trip) is that it's completely up to you when you want to leave. I wanted to get an early start since I only had a day, so I took off from 'somewhere north of the Twin Cities' at 4 a.m. and I was off for the Sawbill Trail.
I also booked a campsite at Sawbill Lake campground as a backup if I was too tired to drive back home on the same day.
I arrived at this new for me area (I've only ever been to Ely and E. Gunflint Trail) around 7:30 a.m. I was a little disappointed I didn't time it right and missed going to CoHo for some coffee & breakfast treats. Oh well, Holiday will have to do, for my second cup of Joe.
I enjoyed the drive up Sawbill Trail, and quickly set off for the mini-loop I planned.
I arrived at Sawbill with no fanfare The wind started out pretty calm as I paddled towards the portage to Alton. I procured some Keen Venice H2 sandals before my trip so that I wouldn't mind wet footing it. I absolutely LOVED Sawbill lake, and it was more narrow than I thought from the maps.
I easily found the portage over to Alton, hopped off my paddleboard, and in one swift move, grabbed the handle and my paddle and portaged across. The handle is a little low for my tiny arms, so it was a bit of a strain to reach, but after a break or two, I was to the other side of this very short portage. I will need to engineer something if I plan to keep doing little solo trips on this paddleboard to make the reach easier, but otherwise, it was a breeze as my SUP only weighs 21lbs.
Soon I was on Alton heading north hugging the eastern shoreline (maybe 50 feet out). It was a nice paddle but hazy from the wildfires. I saw a few planes fly overhead, and wondered if they were off to throw water on any of the fires. It was a little choppy but nothing I couldn't handle, in comparison to White Bear Lake down in the cities with lots of motor boats.
Towards the north end of the lake however there were big rollers and white caps on Alton, so I kneeled down which gave more stability. The wind was coming from the south, so I knew I didn't want to paddle back that way via Alton, and figured Sawbill was more narrow and to just complete the loop as I had planned.
Soon I found the Kelso portage and walked on over. I wondered to myself if I would see any wildlife as I spotted a chipmunk gathering some bits from the forest floor.
Once I got to Kelso the wind was a completely different story. It was dead calm and I could hear myself think. Right away my back fin got caught on something in the water that almost looked like train tracks. Throw a comment in this trip report if you know what it is. I found it interesting but had to hop in the water thigh-deep to push out a little further to get free of them as I had my bigger fin on my paddleboard. 
I paddled over to the southern campsite on Kelso as it was free. It was really nice, and I sat down at the firegrate for a tiny bit, but had a feeling I should move on, so I did. 
I sat criss-cross-applesauce on my paddleboard, and let the current/wind take me north while I munched on some snacks in my dry bag. It was so awesome being gently carried up the lake and just taking in the sights. This is what I came for. Relaxation at its finest.
LOL, "This forum that I follow", (i.e. bwca.com). Hey and sometimes you just have to experience things for yourself.
While relaxing on my 'cruise' adventure I spotted a large animal coming out of the trees about to head into the Kelso River. It was a light caramel color, and I couldn't believe it. My first moose....!!!???
Ha! It was a little cinnamon bear. In hindsight, it was super cool to see this (hopefully you could see it swimming from my video). It wasn't that I was really too scared, except for the fact that I was on an inflatable paddleboard should it decide to come swim over near me, but I was more nervous about the fact that I had to paddle up that river, and just hoped that the bear would go back into the forest, and that this wasn't its little territory that it would get fussy about if I went paddling up it.
I continued up Kelso river until I got fully north, just for a chance for the wee bear to get back into the woods, and not surprise it before I went down the Kelso River back to Sawbill.
Once I started down the river my head was on a swivel and I was singing out old songs like "Land of the Silver Birch" and "My Paddles Keen & Bright". I know I had nothing to fear, but it was my first 'solo', and had just listened to the Boundary Waters podcast episode about the assertive bear up near the Rose Portage on my way to the BWCA today. Haha.
Finally, I started feeling calm and suddenly my paddleboard stopped dead right as I took a big stroke, and I went flying head first into the river. I touched bottom, and hopped right back on my paddleboard and started paddling hard. Luckily it has an ankle strap so we stayed connected. I eventually looked behind me, and laughed to myself because obviously my fin just got caught on a branch or something. These nerves are making me really laugh at myself, but imaginations can run wild.
I had a nice paddle for the rest of the Kelso River when an old couple appeared on the Kelso/Sawbill portage. They shouted, "Are you out here all by yourself"? It must have seemed strange to them since I'm so petite, perhaps I looked like a kid to them, plus you probably don't see too many paddleboards in the BWCA. I said, "Yep", and told them about my bear sighting. They thought it was pretty cool and I marched over to Sawbill where there was a yard sale of a portage unloading happening.
I kept my cool while a family/group took lots of time getting situated with really little kids and unloaded their crap everywhere. Eventually, I got back on the water and now had to paddle into a heafty headwind back to Sawbill landing. Kelso and the Kelso River sure were protected from this wind.
If I ever stopped paddling it just brought me right back to where I was, and with the way the wind was blowing, I could only paddle on one side to track properly. My upper back was DEFINITELY getting a workout. The beauty of being alone though is that I could complain aloud all I wanted and nobody could hear me. I also gave myself loads of pep-talks like, you've got this... dig... 
I took a little moment to snap this picture on Sawbill looking north. You can see how hazy it is mixed with what appeared to be an impending Thunderstorm.
Eventually, I got back to the put-in and headed to my campsite. Insert total downpour, thunder, and lightning. Perfect timing to throw on a sweatshirt, and sit in my car.
The campsite I chose was really more of a shared campsite, and definitely not conducive to hammock camping, which is all I brought, and I decided I wouldn't have much privacy so I ended up packing up and heading back home all in the same day.
In 2022, I'd like to do another solo, whether it's another day trip, a hybrid, where I paddle the BWCA, but stay at a forest campground, or maybe a true paddle and camp in the wilderness. I just got myself a SpotX, so I would feel more comfortable, (and a new tiny tent) but I'm glad I got my feet wet so to speak in the solo tripping, and I see what all the fuss is about.