BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 08 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!
Gabbro Wind 8-22
Entry Date:
August 22, 2008
Entry Point:
Little Gabbro Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
We stayed at a friends cabin on White Iron Thursday night. We were up at 5:15 to get over to see TGO for some leeches and get our canoe. I didnt realize the outfitter I was renting from was 22 miles east of Ely, so we didnt get on our first portage until almost 7am. The 290 rd portage from the parking Lot to Little Gabbro was easier than expected, very well maintained and wide for the most part. We paddled through to Gabbro without having to get off the water to get through at all. AS we entered in to Gabbro, the wind was in our face and fairly strong. After a paddle down half the lake, we found a group leaving the south island camp site. We waited on eh sand beach just past it until they were gone and moved in for the next four days. We set up camp out headed out to do some fishing. We managed a handful of small walleyes and smallmouth along the NE shore of the island directly to the west of ours drifting leeches on rigs. Once the Thunder storm started to move in around dusk we headed in for some fish and steak for dinner. The island squirrel was not happy we were there as he continued to chirp all four days when we were in camp. All day and all night it seemed.
Day 2 we were up early with the rain and wind. Crawled back in until it subsided a little. Then it was off for some more fishing. Hit the same island, but ont he east side as the wind had shifted from the previous day. Same results. We got caught in some drizzle, and then saw the wall of rain coming. We got close to shore and anchored and sat in the down pour which continued on and off for a while. Headed in to dry off in the tent for a while before going back out for the evening fishing run. Fished the island again and the rocks to the west of it. Caught one 20" smallie and a lot of 9-15" eyes. Saw a loon on the way in and were able to get within 15 feet of it. Unfortunately our cameras were tucked away because of the rain. Headed in for the night and were treated to some stars as the clouds broke up a little as dark set in.
Woke up to sun and a much lighter wind. Decided to try some top waters around the shores on the north side of the lake. Nothing was doing there, so we went back to teh leeches on rigs and again found many small walleyes off a rock out cropping. Again caught one smallie at 21". Heeaded in after 8 hours drifting around the north side. Went back out for the night bite with all the same results. AS dark set in we made for camp and the fish was spectacular as the stars came out. As we watched the satelites moving around we saw a meteor enter teh atmosphere in the north sky and go all the way across it. Very cool. Settled in for our last night. We didnt realize how cold it was going to be either. Found out when I got home that it got down to 27 degrees.
Woke up around 4am to a scratchin sound in our tent. Turned on the headlamp to see a mouse scurrying up the inside of the tent. He had chewed a hole in the side of the tent and was all over the tent, looking for food I assume. A little of our trail mix had spilled out apparently at some point, and he was taking what he could. He crawled all teh way up to the ceiling and was gone through the hole again. Broke camp around 11 and headed out on teh nicest day of our trip. Almost no wind, sun was out, couldnt have asked for a better day. On our way between Gabbro and Little Gabbro we noticed how many rocks were near teh surface that we coudlnt see on our way in due to the wind. We may have been lucky to not have hit any of these the first time through. The portage out seemed much longer than when we came in of course and was a bit of a relief to get to the car. One more trip down without incident and looking forward to next years trips.