BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 08 2025
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!
BWCAW 2009
Entry Date:
August 24, 2009
Entry Point:
Moose/Portage River (north)
Exit Point:
Little Indian Sioux River (north) (14)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
6
We were about 30 minutes late to the outfitters thanks to me forgetting the eggs in the fridge but oh well. Once we arrived at the outfitters we were all roaring to go and loaded our stuff up into the Vnorth van. The ride to the entry point seemed like it was an hour long due to the anticipation. Upon arrival we quickly ran the 160 rod portage to the river and cheerfully loaded the canoes and took off. Because we had two new people we decided to camp at the first lake out of Moose River which was Nina Moose. The campsite across the lake on the point was a delightful site with nice tent spots. It rained and was quite windy that night but all was well.
We awoke to a gloomy windy cold morning and cooked some bacon, eggs, and pancakes. We then folded our tents and loaded our canoes hoping the weather would improve. As we approached Lake Agnes we decided we would try going up the river instead of going around and taking the 160rod portage. Boy that was a mistake. The river near the beginning was horribly shallow and narrow, not to mention all the beaver dams we had to climb over, but we made it up the river and eventually to oyster lake. We camped at Oyster lake that night at a very nice campsite on a narrow part of the penninsula across from the portage. We saw a HUGE beaver. The stars that night were amazing.
Wednesday morning was peaceful and fog was rolling across Oyster lake. We ate some poptarts and oatmeal and set out to the monster 310 portage. Me and Garren were the first ones on the shore and I grabbed my pack and a gear pack, and he grabbed the canoe. I took the lead and started to day dream. All of the sudden i noticed a friggen river going through the portage about 80 rods in. We had to get all the gear and paddle across the 20 feet of river running across the portage as it was a little to deep and muddy for my liking. That night we camped on a very nice island camp site and I caught my first BWCAW walleye.
Thursday morning we packed up and quickly paddled the whole 1.5 miles to our last campsite of the trip. It was also the worst campsite we had ever been to. We only took it because it was right across the river leading to the exit point. Thursday was very uneventful for most of the crew and rainy.
Friday was a fairly uneventful, sad, and rainy day to leave the BWCAW... But we will be back next year!!