What would be the best way to get in to the Bass Lake/Dry Lake area? As these are non-BWCA lakes, are there boat ramps to any of them or is the portage off the Echo Trail the only option?

JD

I've camped on Dry Lake a couple of times back in the '90s. Both times, we parked our truck at the Low Lake access and portaged across to Bass and then on to Dry. You actually don't need to portage from Low to Bass, just pull your canoe up the creek connecting the lakes. The portage from Bass to Dry is short, but pretty steep at first.

I've hiked the Bass Lake trail and don't recall any other means of getting in there other than that.
Now that you brought it up, it may make a good winter camping lake....
'cept for the snowmobile traffic.

It'd be a great place to winter camp with a snowmobile. If you don't want to see/hear them, then I'd go elsewhere.

Like Woodtick says, Low Lake is another way. Gravel landing with car access (at least when I was last there in about 1995). The portage to Bass is a flat 50 rods.

You get to the landing at Low by going through Winton and around Cedar Lake.

Last time I was on that road was back in '96 and it was flooded for a long ways. Beavers looked to be pretty active in the area at the time.

Back from the dead for this thread... my understanding is that for these USFS campsites that are outside of the BWCA, there is no permit required, is that correct?

Does anyone know if these sites get much traffic? Hoping for a intro to the BWCA trip for my son (age 7) and thought this would be easy and provide some good opportunities to see the northwoods and the BWCA experience without going too far in.

There is a mile portage into High Lake as another option. Bass lake receives a lot of camping groups. High and Dry receive much less. If Bass is full, portage to High Lake. There are a few cabins on the lake but usually very quiet.

Wow, 8 years ago? Here's an excerpt from my notes. I didn't check out any of the campsites:

...The road to Low Lake is horrible and gradually gets narrower and even rougher. By the end I was only going about 10 MPH and really wondering if I got stuck if anyone would ever find me. When I finally got to the parking lot, there were 6 vehicles already there. I was absolutely amazed that I wasn’t the only one crazy enough to drive down that stupid road. In hindsight, I could have driven to the Bass Lake trail, a drive of about 10 minutes all on nice paved roads and then portaged to exactly where I was going to end up. I took the drive to avoid about a ¾ mile long portage but the portage is really looking like the better idea at this point.....

IMHO, I think you could do better than these lakes for your intro.

JD

No permits are required. June, July and August this area sees pretty good traffic from the ymca and other camps. I used to fish Dry for trout often and would always hike in via the Bass lake trail and fish from shore. I have camped on High lake, and it sees very little use. The Burntside loop is a good bwca camp/paddle experience. Little Long, Burntside, Twin Lakes, Everett,Little Sletten, Sletten, Tee, Grassy, Low, and Bass are easily accessible, good campsites and fishing, and no permit. You can get to High and Dry via Bass and trout fishing can be good at times.

jdevries: "IMHO, I think you could do better than these lakes for your intro.

JD"

Why, just not the greatest lakes? I like that they are small, require little effort to get to (aside from that poor quality road or a long-ish portage). I hoped that the campsites would be less used as the normal easy routes (thinking the numbered chain) would likely be full on a mid August weekend.

Open to suggestions too if there are other areas that fit those desires.

Exactly, I didn't think they were the greatest of lakes. Every parcel on Low had either a for sale sign or a cabin on it. Bass was much less public in that perspective, but I saw a lot of people on it.

I liked the Fenske Lake area better and it's also outside the BWCA. I can't attest to quantity, availability, or quality of the campsites though, it was another daytrip I took. Another option that I haven't done yet would be Triangle/Ojibway.

JD

I’d also consider Astrid Lake. It’s a little farther up the Echo Trail but it has two nice sites and decent walleye fishing. I spent a week there seeing few people. Some hiking options as well.

Triangle/Ojibway look like a really good choice too! Definitely have to keep it in mind - though only 3 camp sites makes me a little worried about getting a camp site. If I plan to go with the other lake perhaps I'll have good luck on High Lake and can avoid the cabins and traffic on Low lake entirely by portaging through to Bass Lake.

You can launch from the boat launch on Low Lake and the campsite directly across is very nice. Stayed there twice. Have caught bass on Low Lake. You can camp between Bass and Low Lakes. That portage is relatively flat and an easy walk. No permit required. The bay at the end of Low Lake where the portage to Bassis, has been productive for us.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5364834.pdf

This should give you more information.