BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 03 2025
Entry Point 27 - Snowbank Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 8
Elevation: 1191 feet
Latitude: 47.9716
Longitude: -91.4326
Snowbank Lake - 27
Solo October 2016
Entry Date:
October 04, 2016
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
1
Later, as I crossed Ima toward the Hatchet portage, I realized how tired I was -- 2 hours of sleep in the past 36. Camped at the first site I saw on Hatchet (No. 1908). It was a cool but sunny afternoon, and I set my new Helinox chair on a ledge and simply enjoyed being outdoors. I had encountered two other groups this day, and seen one other from afar.
Two other new items of equipment deserve mention. The Sawyer mini gravity filter, which I screwed directly onto an old, 1-liter pop bottle, was a wonderful way to stay hydrated with minimal fuss. I had read some concerns about the need to back-flush, I encountered no reduction in flow during six days. And storing my food in an Ursack/Opsack combo was much easier than hanging a pack. 
That changed as I threaded my way toward the Thomas-to-Fraser channel. It grew suddenly dark and the mist changed to sprinkles then heavy, cold rain in the course of a minute. Before I could pull out rain gear, I was soaked and there was an inch or two or water sloshing in the canoe. I was offshore from Campsite 1187, starting to shiver. Landed and set up the Kelty Noah's Tarp 9, put on dry clothes and rain gear. The Helinox came in handy again, as I sat and watched it rain for perhaps a couple of hours. Fired up the Whisperlite, made tea, and eventually made a hot meal. When the rain ended, I hung my wet traveling clothes and let the spotty sunshine and strong breeze dry them a bit before I packed and headed out. Paddled and portaged through Fraser to Sagus and Roe, then camped at No. 978 on Cap Lake.
The first portage out of Fraser made it clear I was heading off the beaten track. It was narrower and less trodden than the heavily used trails I'd been on so far. This intensified as I pushed on into the three-letter lakes. Although there were obvious portages, they were narrow, and as I carried I continually heard brush and branches scraping along the upturned hull. I saw one paddler on Thomas, but no others, and I spoke to no one this day.
Throughout this sunny day a steady southwest breeze hurried me through the three-letter lakes. Although the portages were challenging, they weren't terribly difficult. An exception was the carry from Vee to Fee, which is listed on my map and in guidebooks as 60 to 80 rods. After a short carry, perhaps 15 rods, the portage ended at the grassy verge of a beaver pond. I wandered around trying to find a continuation, but no luck. Finally brought the canoe over and began to explore the pond looking for either an outlet or a continuation of the portage. At long last I tried the correct lead through a reedy, shallow area at the east end of the pond, and found where others had taken their canoes out. Another short portage led to Fee.
The rest of this day's travel was uneventful. I encountered a pair of paddlers at the portage north out of Makwa who warned me about a fallen tree that obstructed one of the 19-rod portages into Little Saganaga. Tired, I stopped at the first campsite I saw on Little Sag (815). As the sun set, the wind died and I sat in utter silence under a sky clear except for a bar of clouds to the southwest.
With its bay-pocked shoreline and speckling of islands, Little Sag can be a navigational challenge, and degraded visibility was not helping. But rather than follow a safe course around the western shore, I opted to try a more-or-less straight shot toward the portages to Gabimichigami. This was a mistake, because I paddled almost straight east, rather than north-northeast, and quickly became disoriented among the bays and islands. I compounded this error when I finally took out my compass and, upon finding it at odds with my sense of direction, decided the compass was broken. Rain fell intermittently and it began to blow strongly out of the northwest as I bumbled around. I finally paddled past a campsite, pulled in to brew some tea, and decided it was unwise to proceed. As the day wore on, some sun finally showed and I was able to reckon up my position (campsite 821). Rattled by the weather and navigation errors, I didn't feel any will to push on. I pitched the tent and settled in.
This was a beautiful island site. Situated at a narrow neck, a 15- or 20-rod trail cuts across the island to a small bay with a sand beach. It is no doubt in high demand during the summer, but I saw no other paddlers this day.
I had chosen the closest campsite to the portage off Kekekabic, No. 1468, and it proved interesting. A small, slanted site, it offered just enough level area for me to pitched the tent. I also set up the tarp and then, in fading light, followed a short trail to the latrine. At one spot along that trail, a nearly perfectly square section of earth had been removed and set to the side. The hole was perhaps four inches deep, and I stared at it for awhile trying to figure the purpose. It did not appear any food waste had been buried, and in any case why would anyone dig such a perfectly square hole?
Awesome!! We skipped breakfast and broke camp and hit the water by 6am. The lake was silent and beautiful. As we made the short paddle to the portage to the Kawishiwi on the way to Farm lake a loon popped up 20 feet from our canoe. He was as surprised as Keegan and I were and was back under before I could snap a picture.
The portage heading toward Farm was excellent. Well traveled and very dry for the most part. We waved goodbye to our last portage, we hoped, and took a nice paddle down he river. We ran both rapids heading in that direction not needing to portage. 
The rest of the paddle was very leisurely, this part of the river has little or no noticeable current and we enjoyed the scenery.
Summary:
The fishing was great but next time we need to spend more time in this arena. We saw at least one bald eagle every day and the list of other wildlife includes: beaver, whitetail, snakes, herons, turtles, ducks, and otters.
I know we can trim the food pack a bit and still eat like kings. We did pretty well not over packing on clothes. I think next time we will leave the lantern behind and just rely on flashlights. Good sandals and warm socks are a must and I might rethink taking boots for the portages and just do them in our wetfoot gear.
What an excellent adventure. My Dad was really excited to have gone back and truly enjoyed the trip. He convinced me that it is more about attitude than age in that at 70 years he more than carried his weight on the trip. In fact he found that he would rather portage the canoes than the Duluth packs so after the 2nd day he carried the canoes on 95% of the portages and left the packs to boys and I. The boys are already talking about next year. Raleigh called one his best friend back home the day we got out and started recruiting him for next year. I was truly amazed and impressed at my boys ability to carry there weight and help out when necessary. When I asked Keegan to "dig in" when we were in the whitecaps he gave me all he had and we made it. I suspect they both learned a lot about themselves during this trip. I can't wait to get up there next year. I think these picks say it all.
