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!
Solo trek of BRT Crab lake to Clearwater lodge
Entry Date:
June 21, 2021
Entry Point:
Crab Lake and Cummings from Burntside Lake
Exit Point:
Clearwater Lake (62)
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
1
Started off at Crab Lake entry point for access to the BRT. Fought my way through thick grass and bush searching for some semblance of a trail. Took the Crab lake spur trail to the BRT and more of the same. Brush everywhere obscuring my every step while soaking my pants and boots. Camped out at Topper lake for an easy day, and managed to dry out my boots by chasing the sun and hiding them every 40 min when a cloud would block the sun, dump some light rain for 10min before the sun came out again. Rinse and repeat all day. At night the Loon(s) decided to see how loudly they could call. I will say it did echo quite nicely in that lake area, but caused some weird dreams about altering their ability to call.
Morning day 2 feeling fed up. Tired of crappy weather, but even more frustrated at literal years of overgrowth on the trail. Decided I had enough and decided I'd be ditching my original plans. Hiked out and Camped at the small Rose Lake site with a couple heading opposite my direction to the western terminus. They had 20 miles and 2 days in to my 14 at that point. They planned on continuing at that pace for the next few days. Quite admirable. They provided a nice respite and a friendly pleasant bit of company to enjoy for a few hours. An otherwise uneventful night. No Loons practicing their max volume tournaments.
Day 3 headed out and found a large group occupying the entire lower site complete with a giant multi colored tarp set up completely blocking the entire path. I had to force through some small trees and step over guy (sp?) Lines on bad terrain before I could even think of getting back on trail. One camper asked if I was looking for the trail. I snarkily replied I knew exactly where the trail was...under all their camp setup. I was met with an "Oh" before she crawled under the tarp I was hopping over lines on. I had planned to hike past Clearwater lake before doubling back to the lodge in addition to all the various lake visits. However, considering the trail conditions and how many times I stumbled and nearly twisted my ankles due to the overgrowth hiding unstable footing on the trail I took the Daniel lake spur south. Before that though was a flooded section with shin deep water for a good 100 or 200yds. So much for dry feet. Thankfully due to the abundance of cedar and other pine needle droppings preventing undergrowth the rest was clear trail, level ground and barely any overgrowth...just a half dozen fallen trees that required ducking, climbing, or crawling to get past.
First camp site (north Daniel lake) was just as pristine as I remembered with a very courteous camper having left neatly stacked piles of split wood and kindling all ready for a nice fire in the pit. Second site (south Daniel lake) had another group either settling in or getting ready for a trip out. I said my hellos and stated I would be borrowing a unoccupied seat on a log around the grates for a few minutes just for a quick rest. The head Karen stated this was their camp and would I mind not being here and go use the clearing further down. Recognizing the futility of pointing out courtesy and common sense I could see the distrust and annoyance in her eyes as if I were some evil man trying to steal their site or go through their stuff when gone. I moved on without arguing to the mentioned clearing and managed to find a spot with a boulder I could actually sit on and gave my socks and insoles another wringing to get a bit more water out and stop the constant squishing of every step. Had I had many more miles ahead I'd opt for dry socks but the wading had my boots thoroughly soaked and the lodge was only a couple miles away so no biggie. Trudged through boot sucking, ankle slurping mud and got back to the lodge where I ended my hike.
So I've hiked this same section years ago and don't remember it ever being this bad. When I say that I have walked more accessible deer trails no human has touched, I'm not exaggerating. This trail is so badly overgrown and mismanaged it should be stripped of its name and taken off the NPS registry of trails. When I say these sections have literally gone years without any grooming I am once again not exaggerating. There are spruce trees growing into the trail in many locations some nearly as tall as I am. I did some checking and spruce is a medium to slow grower averaging 12-24inches a year. Even under ideal farmed conditions you'd still need 3+ years to get to a height of nearly 6 feet. After this experience with conditions the way they are, I will not be hiking the BRT again. Might try some canoeing, but I wonder how bad the portagee's are. The BRT is a joke and frankly dangerous. I realize that section I hiked is in designated wilderness area so I don't know if trail crews are allowed chainsaws and other motorized tools. I'm not suggesting they say make the trails 10' wide for 2 people with trekking poles to walk side by side in. At least do enough yearly maintenance to keep the undergrowth down and cut back the yearling trees that are growing into the trails. And would it kill these people to mark trails with more than a ribbon tied to a twig a foot off the ground? There were several instances where I lost the trail and had to consult my map app and backtrack to get back. The trail was that overgrown and poorly marked.