Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

July 12 2025

Entry Point 30 - Lake One

Lake One entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 21 miles. Access is a canoe landing at 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!

Trout Lake Base Camping

by Nscuds
Trip Report

Entry Date: May 27, 2025
Entry Point: Trout Lake
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 1

Trip Introduction:
4 day Trout Lake solo adventure in my Kayak!

Report


4 day Trout Lake solo adventure in my Kayak! Video of my Trip on Youtube - https://youtu.be/mBZcLew7Cy8?si=dPmnHewEYgSpJ-tm

Kayak - Perception Sound 10.5ft (45 lbs with nothing in it) Bags - 60L sea to summit Dry bag - This was tied to the back of my Kayak which has a nice cut out square area in the back which it fit into nicely. - 25 L Day pack - Put between my feet in the front of the Kayak - 20 L Food pack. - Placed behind my Kayak seat. - 2 Fishing Poles tucked on the insides of my kayak - 1 spare paddle also tucked on the inside of my Kayak. - Spill Bag - dry bag with rain gear and dry clothes incase of a capsize.

Day 1 - Tuesday - 4/27 - Picked up Permit from Ranger Station in Cook - Drove to Moccasin Point on Lake Vermillion Parked Car and dropped in to paddle across the lake. Took me about an 1 hour to paddle in my kayak from Moccasin Point to EP. 1. Just over 3 miles. When you arrive to EP. 1 you are greeted by a beautiful waterfall and an old submerged dock. - The Portage was short and a little up hill with one downed tree that I was able to step over comfortably. A few rocks but overall a very smooth portage. I did this it 2 trips. One with my 2 packs and 1 with my kayak and paddles. - From Portage Bay on Trout Lake I paddled about another 3 miles to an island Camp Site right off of Norway Point which I base camped from for the duration of the trip. One of the things I loved most was it had a great Fire pit area with several great sitting logs as well as a huge rock front porch that sloped down into the lake which was great for views and drying off on after a dip in the lake. All said and done it took me about 3.5 hours to get to my campsite from where I dropped in on Vermillion.

The Campsite also had a Latrine with a lid! The entry for canoes and kayaks was very nice just on the back south east side of the island. It also had a nice calm back bay to fish. If the wind was up and the waves were rolling on the main Trout Lake this would still be an okay spot to fish. Really enjoyed this campsite. Definitely room for 2, 2-3 person tents maybe more. Had a tough time finding trees to hang my food pack from but managed. I had a 50 ft rope that I ended up tying a rock to and throwing up and over a couple of branches and made it work.

Day 2 and 3 - Spent the days trolling, jigging, and casting spoons for lake trout. Unfortunately I struck out on this trip. It goes without saying that Trout lake is HUGE. I did have success with small mouth bass right off the back side of my campsite in the back bay area I mentioned above. Rocky bottoms and lots of cover from overhanging branches, bushes, and trees.

I also took breaks looking for lake trout and scouted some of the other campsites on trout lake for future trips.

Norway Point - Right behind my campsite and to the north around the point if you follow the coast line of Trout Lake there will be another campsite. It has a gravel driveway like entrance which made exiting my water craft super easy. Probably the best one I found on the lake that week. It was like someone built a gravel driveway for Canoes and kayaks. From there a trail leads to the left to an elevated camp area which is surrounded by tall trees. You still had some views but it definitely felt insulated from the wind. The bathroom was standard. Wouldn't mind staying here for future trips.

Sioux Pine Island I stopped at the southern most and northern most campsites on the Sioux pine island and would have stayed at either. Lots of room and maybe better trees for hanging food packs. Decent landings for Canoes or Kayaks as well. Okay latrines. Great Views. I would imagine the north site would have some decent fishing.

Cramer Island - on the East bay of the lake is Cramer Island. I stopped for a snack break here and scouted it out. It's on an exposed point with gorgeous views. Bathroom is okay. Small trails around part of the island with rocky shores that could be nice to fish from. The Fire pit area was okay, several downed trees from years past. Definitely wouldn't mind staying here if I had to. The views alone would make it a good stay. But the other sites I think would be more comfortable being less exposed.

Day 4 - Paddling out from Trout Lake - This was the roughest weather day where I experience the most chop of the entire week. It definitely required all of my focus paddling out. Once I reached the portage bay the water was MUCH calmer the rest of the way.

It was a Friday so Vermillion was MUCH busier that when I had entered. I stuck to the shore line and most boats steered clear of me once they saw me.

I definitely would go explore trout lake again. It is a big body of water and involved LOTS of paddling which I expected. Next trip I'd like to make it to the North arm of Trout lake and maybe 1 or 2 of the surrounding lakes like Orinack and Little Trout Lake for day trips. It is a lake which allows motor boats, but it never really bothered me or made it feel any less like the Boundary Waters to me. I only saw 2 other paddling groups from a distance the entire week.

 


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