BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 05 2025
Entry Point 16 - Moose/Portage River (North of Echo Trail)
Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1348 feet
Latitude: 48.1230
Longitude: -92.0991
A favorite route offering many trip options and memorable things to see including;
World Class fishing for all four BWCA Species
Pictographs
Soaring granite hills and cliffs
Small lakes
Small rivers
Tumbling rapids and waterfalls
Wildlife, including Moose
Vistas from high points across the region if you're willing to climb. Rating Easy to Moderate. Day One. Get to EP16 off of the Echo Trail early. The initial portage is long, but well worn and smooth, sloping gently downgrade to the launch area. Load your canoe and head North. You'll be paddling with the slight current on this narrow winding river. The water is clear and make sure to tell the bowperson to watch for looming rocks!
Lake One to Insula in August
Entry Date:
August 20, 2006
Entry Point:
Lake One
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
3
We drove up from Southern Wisconsin to Ely Saturday night. We picked up our permit and licences at an outfitter. We spent the night in the car at Entry Point 30, so we could get an early start Sunday morning. We had our canoe and kayak on the water at 6:00 AM. The weather was perfect. The water was very calm. We traveled through Lake One. Two short portages got us to Lake Two. Then to Lake Three, Four and three more short portages to Hudson. The longest portage was from Hudson to Insula, 105 rods. We paddled the southern end of Insula and found a campsite open southeast of the Rock on an island. It was a beautiful site. It took us ten hours to paddle and portage to our site. We wanted to make it in one day, and make day trips the rest of the week.
We spent the day fishing around camp. The bass were hitting behind the chain of islands east of our camp. We also wanted to see the rapids at the first Hope Lake portage, southeast of our site. The water level was down. The rapids were dry. A few northerns were hitting on the channel leading to the rapids. We kept enough fish to have a good meal. The day was sunny and warm. 
Another day of fishing. A few northerns, bass and walleye. We fished around the Rock and went swimming. 
Today was another beautiful day. We spent some relaxing time around camp. There were no mosquitoes or flies the whole week. Our campsite was high on a hill. It always provided a nice breeze. This may have helped keep the bugs away.
We decided to pack up and get back near the car, so we could paddle out to the car and still drive the 8 hour trip home Friday morning. We found the campsite closest to Entry Point 30 open. It took us 8 hours to paddle and portage from our base camp to the camp near the entry. We were packed up and ready to paddle out by 7 AM on Friday. We had a big breakfast at the Chocolate Moose, did a little souvenir shopping and headed home. We all want to this again real soon. 
