BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 27 2024
Entry Point 30 - Lake One
Number of Permits per Day: 13
Elevation: 1230 feet
Latitude: 47.9391
Longitude: -91.4792
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!
Ensign Lake - First time back in 12 years with my Father and Uncle.
Entry Date:
August 28, 2014
Entry Point:
Moose Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
4
With some advice from some guys that just pulled camp we checked out the campsite they suggested right around the corner on Ensign. They said it was a beautiful campsite with plenty of room and they were right. I felt a little guilty that everything went so smoothly we were settled into camp by 1:00 p.m., I feel like we should have worked harder than that but I’m not complaining. After camp was setup we tried fishing from the shore of the campsite but didn’t really get anything, a few nibbles but that was it. My brother and I decided to try the bay to the east after dinner and got some small to medium sized Northerns, no keepers but they were fun.
Day 2: The morning started out in true Minnesota fashion with fog and then rain. A cold wet cup of coffee and we decided to load up the canoes and start fishing. By the time we got loaded up and headed out the real heavy stuff was starting. We only made it about a ½ mile when my rain gear started to fail the cold rush of Minnesota rain ran through my lap. We decided to head back and wait out the rain and not sink the canoes which were filling up fast. The rain quit about 12:30 so after drying out a bit it was time for our first night steak dinner (steaks were still frozen solid the first night so they became second night dinner). Our true camping skills came into play trying to get a hot fire going after the monsoon we just went through. With full stomachs we headed out to the bay north of the campsite and were greeted by a plethora different fish. Northerns were most prominent in all sizes but we also managed small mouths, perch and blue gills. The Walleyes were still eluding us at this point.
Day 3: With what looked to be another trademark wet and gloomy Minnesota day we finished up breakfast and headed out. The rain stayed away but the clouds stuck around all day. Not long in my Uncle got a decent large mouth. Jigging with leeches seemed to give the most variety with nice blue gills and small perch but the surprise came when my father hooked into a monster 12” Perch with a white Mister Twister jig. We spent the rest of the day traveling to the river on the south side of the lake where we found and number of Northerns and where my brother hooked into a nice 15” Small Mouth on a Mepps #5 squirrel tail. Now starving (we forgot the snack bag on shore DUH) we headed back to fry up our bounty. On the way back we drifted along the south side of the north bay where I hooked into a monster Walleye only to have him spit the hook just shy of the boat. At the same time I got a call on the radio that my brother just lost a monster Northern not far from us. They may have gotten away but I did manage a souvenir from that Walleye, I must have hooked just under his tooth and when he spit the hook his tooth was stuck on the hook.
Day 4: The weather cleared a bit with some breaking clouds at sunrise and I managed to get what is probably one of the best pictures I ever took on an iPhone no less. The sunrise was breaking through the clouds and lighting up the island through the trees, that’s when you realize why you came here and you ask yourself what took so long to come back. The wind started to pick up and after a check of the weather radio we realized if we stayed to pull out in the morning like we planned we would be in a world of bad weather. So instead of sticking around only to sit out a storm all night and break camp in the mud we decided to head out a day early.
The BWCA is a place that words and pictures cannot describe, try as we might to tell our stories to people that haven’t experienced it before our words will always lack the true beauty that is etched into our minds. My father and my Uncle have been bringing my brother and I here for 30 years and we cannot thank them enough for all the experiences and memories they have given us. Love You Pops, Love you Uncle Eddy.