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!
Cummings Lake after reopening
Entry Date:
September 05, 2021
Entry Point:
Crab Lake and Cummings from Burntside Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
4
We were bringing all our own gear, but decided to go through Spirit of the Wilderness to get a taxi across Burntside. That ended up being the right decision because the morning we went in it was windy and choppy. Plus I was happy to support the local outfitters anyway we could. We also picked up some crawlers and a few lures for the week. SOTW has a bunkhouse but it was full so we stayed at the Paddle Inn in Ely. Nothing luxurious but a great place to crash and shower before heading in. 
The first portage at EP4 is a long one but not difficult. In good shape, mostly flat, and well worn. When we reached the nice sandy beach landing at Crab Lake the wind was in our face and I knew we had a long paddle ahead of us.
We spotted one group on Crab Lake, other than that the place was empty. The paddle across Crab was directly into the wind. When we reached Korb we were protected from wind but then it started to rain, and it rained for about 30 minutes. Eventually the sun came out and it was quite pleasent. [paragraph break]
We decided to paddle the full length of the Korb River and enter Cumming at the far SE end. After a few short portages we reached Cummings and the wind was even worse. Our first campsite choice on the far east end of the lake was taken, but we got the island site 287 and we couldn't have been happier. We unloaded and set up camp and quickly explored the island. 
The weather was great so we got our fishing poles out and fished from shore. Immediately caught a handful of nice eater sized smallmouth. We fried up our dinner and slept well. 
Coxey Pond is beautiful and has some scenic points. Sorry I didn't take more photos. We brought our poles and immediately caught a number of nice smallies from shore but threw them back hoping for some larger ones. That was our mistake because the fishing shut down soon after. We struggled to catch anything over 10". We decided to hike down to Silaca Lake and try our luck there. We pulled in a few nice eater largemouth and smallmouth there and took them back to Coxey for a shorelunch. We brought our camp stove with and we fried the the fish up at the only campsite on Coxey. 
Just about the time we finished the skies turned grey and we quickly packed up. The rain came hard and soon turned to hail. We started our hike back in the rain. Eventually it stopped but it tested our rain gear and boots, and unfortunately some of it didn't pass the test. 
Back at camp the sun peaked out for a moment. We soaked up the sun while we could because it wasn't long before the storms rolled back in.
And so the rain continued on and off the rest of the night
More rains and even bigger storms were on their way so we got off the lake around 4pm and prepped camp for more rain. We hunkerd down under our trap. It poured hard for a while. We measured about 1" of rain in an hour. Nothing like getting all your gear soaked the night before you are going to pack it away. Seems to be the norm in the Boundary Waters.
After the storms passed the sun broke through for a beautiful sunset. I was quickly reminded how beautiful this place it. We quickly ventured with our canoes out onto a huge granite island to take in the views. 
The guide from SOTW picked us up at EP4, they were even about 15 minutes early.
It was another amazing trip, and we can't wait to go back. We always hope to see some wildlife on the trip (moose, bear, wolf, otters, beavers), but that didn't happen this year. And not being able to have a campfire was certainly a downer. We did just fine without one but it certainly changes the mood and feel. So many memories of the BW involve warming yourself while sitting around the fire at night telling stories and cooking food and talking about the day. It was unfortunate but it didn't hamper our ability to make great memories.