BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 07 2025
Entry Point 38 - Sawbill Lake
Sawbill Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Tofte Ranger Station near the city of Tofte, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 25 miles. Access is a boat landing at Sawbill Lake. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 11
Elevation: 1802 feet
Latitude: 47.8699
Longitude: -90.8858
Sawbill Lake - 38
Number of Permits per Day: 11
Elevation: 1802 feet
Latitude: 47.8699
Longitude: -90.8858
Sawbill Lake - 38
First timers - Lady Lakes Chain
by kac7700
Trip Report
Entry Date:
July 19, 2009
Entry Point:
Kawishiwi Lake
Exit Point:
Sawbill Lake (38)
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
My husband and I always planned to visit the BWCA but with the pressures of work and family we just never made the time. This year my boss told me I had to take one full week off work without logging in, so we figured this would be the perfect time. We choose this route for the walleye fishing, as my husband is an avid angler, but as you will see, we are obviously inexperienced at this!
We're not inexperienced when it comes to "wilderness" camping as we have backpacked many trails, and have all the gear and know how to travel light, but with canoe packs we were lulled into a false sense of ability to carry a heavier load!
Day 1 of 4
Sunday, July 19, 2009 We left our home at 9 a.m. excited and ready for our adventure. We arrived at the Sawbill Outfitters and campground around 2:30 after stopping at the ranger station in Tofte to watch the video and pick up our permit. We camped overnight at Sawbill Lake campground and enjoyed a dinner of steaks and corn, walked around and enjoyed the scenery and picked up a bait and a few essentials at the store. I always carry a spare tank of fuel for my stove and happened to forget it this trip, and the outfitters did not have the type of fuel that I needed, so I started to panic a little bit, even though I have never run out of fuel on a three day trip. The weather was warm and perfect, we changed into shorts, made a fire, and had a few cold ones excited for our adventure. 
Day 1 of 4
Thursday, May 25, 2006
We awoke around five and got our things together before making the first trip out to the Burntside public access to drop off my canoe before heading back to the outfitter to pick up the second. Our second canoe was already waiting for us at the public access so we dropped off all the gear and Drew and I headed back to Voyager North to pick up our permit and some paddles. The weather was low 70s, little wind, and clear skies.
We were on the water by 7am and reached the portage to Crab by 8. We split up the gear and headed up the mile long portage. The trail was rocky for the first 100 rods or so and had a lot of up and downs. We took a break just short of the marsh and where it looked like the new portage connected with the old one. The rest of the portage leveled off a bit and became straighter and less hilly. We took a second break about 50 rods short of the end of the portage and then finished it off after 45-60 minutes of hiking total. It was a rough way to begin a trip but at least the worst was behind us for the day. We then paddled across Crab Lake and took the 20 rod portage to Little Crab. The path was well worn, wide, and very easy. After paddling through Little Crab, we traveled down the Korb River, lifted over the 2 rod portage, and moved onto Korb Lake. We decided to skip the extra paddling across Korb Lake and further down the Korb River to the 30 rod portage and we took the 70 rod instead. The trail was also pretty good other than scat being all over the place. We put into Cummings Lake and headed to one of the two island sites on the eastern portion of the lake. We came the first site and decided to stop there after seeing how nice the site was. The grate area had some nice benches around it, the tent pads were nice and away from the fire grate and we had a nice rock landing. It took us about five hours to get from the public access on Burntside to our campsite on Cummings. A storm briefly rolled through around five in the afternoon and then we grilled up some steaks for our first night. The night ended with some whiskey and a campfire.
Day 3 of 4
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 We awoke to a steady rain. I didn't want to get out of the tent, but needed to assess the damage from the night before. Thankfully, we remembered that we brought a tarp and had put it up, so everything was amazingly dry! My husband didn't want to paddle in the rain, but I figured we brought rain gear for a reason, and there was NO wind (whew) so it was perfect to head out. We had coffee, couldn't manage to choke down breakfast since we aren't breakfast eaters, but had our coffee and enjoyed the scenery. Thankfully bears didn't get in our food, even though we hung it, we didn't do very well since the trees were not very conducive to the perfect situation to hang a bag as heavy as ours. We packed WAY too much food. We were warned at the ranger station that bears have been very active on Polly, so it was a concern. We headed off to our first portage of the day into the Phoebe river. When I planned this trip, I figured the smaller lakes and rivers would be less challenging...I was wrong. Rivers are unpredictable, and I didn't not count on the rocks that show up out of no where. However, seeing all the canoe scrapes on the rocks made me feel a little better that we weren't the first ones to not see them until we were literally on top of them. Even though the lily pads and weeds slow travel down, I became thankful for them since there aren't as many shallow spots where the lily pads are. Rivers are also a little annoying at times when you have many short portages. Sometimes it felt like we just got back in the canoe when it was time for another portage. [paragraph break] We made it to Hazel lake and still had enough energy in us to press on to Phoebe Lake. We tackled the 140 rod portage, which was actually a nice break from the short portages we encountered on the river, only to go back in the river again on the way to Knight lake. We put our canoe in the water after our portage and break, thinking we had clear sailing to Knight Lake. We came around the bend and got beached on rocks! I looked into the water, and for as far as I could see, it was like a rock dam and there was no where to go to get around it. We started to stress a little at this point. My husband was on a mission to NEVER get his feet wet on this trip, meaning I had to wet foot the portage landings and every other time. I was constantly changing between sandals and my hiking boots. Well, this time he had to get out of the boat. We took off our boots, put on our sandals, rolled up our pants, and started to walk the canoe through the rocks. Dane was holding on to the front of the canoe, I was trying to hold on to the back of the canoe, the rocks were sharp, slippery and very difficult to walk on. Dane told me I had to let go of the canoe, at which point I promptly feel forward into the water. So, I grabbed a paddle to help me through the water. His stress was adding to my stress, and I think his stress was all about having to get in the water more then anything. It was a touchy situation, not so much for navigation as it was on the relationship! Once we navigated that stretch and were back in the boat, we had smooth waters into Knight Lake. [paragraph break] We left Knight Lake headed down the river (again) into Phoebe Lake. This was by far the most beautiful stretch of river we had encountered so far. 
The water was like glass, and even the dark storm clouds couldn't dampen our spirits with hoW BEAUTIFUL THIS WAS. AND, there were fewer obstacles along the way. We made it into Phoebe Lake just as the weather was starting to get a little darker and rainier. We decided to look for the campsite on the north end of the lake so we would be closer to our portage in the morning and kept our fingers crossed that it wasn't occupied. Well, we managed to paddle right by the site. It was rather hidden up in the trees and was well off the shoreline. We had to break out the GPS to verify where we were in relation to the site. Dane found it and went to scout it while I stayed with the canoe. He came back down the trail and said the views were amazing and it was unoccupied. We just had to figure out how to get the gear and canoe out of the water with all the rocks. Good thing he's an engineer! Seriously though, it wasn't that bad and we were so thankful we found this amazing site for the night. 
Our first order of business was to get the tarp up so we could have a fire. The mosquitoes were ferocious! We needed the smoke so we wouldn't pass out from blood loss. No matter how much Jungle Juice you use, there's always a little spot you didn't quite get and they find it. As Dane was going out to look for more firewood, he stumbled across a destroyed portage pack, a Pullman suitcase, and clothes, gear, and empty food packages strewn about down the rocks! We were disgusted...and also very ashamed that we packed WAY too much stuff and couldn't bring it out with us. Thankfully, this site had the most amazingly perfect tree in which to hang out food, so despite seeing the evidence of what a bear is capable of doing, I wasn't worried. I was, however, very sad that someone would just leave this stuff, even the salvageable things such as clothing and gear. We could only speculate that they didn't go looking for it when it showed up missing. We rested, cooked dinner, and enjoyed an evening by the fire and turned in early after our somewhat stressful and adventurous day. We lit the candle lantern in the tent, played a game of "mosquito quest" (i.e. killing all the mosquitoes that snuck into the tent as we hopped in) and played a few hands of cards. The rain picked up its intensity overnight and we were sure we were going to have rough going the next day.
The water was like glass, and even the dark storm clouds couldn't dampen our spirits with hoW BEAUTIFUL THIS WAS. AND, there were fewer obstacles along the way. We made it into Phoebe Lake just as the weather was starting to get a little darker and rainier. We decided to look for the campsite on the north end of the lake so we would be closer to our portage in the morning and kept our fingers crossed that it wasn't occupied. Well, we managed to paddle right by the site. It was rather hidden up in the trees and was well off the shoreline. We had to break out the GPS to verify where we were in relation to the site. Dane found it and went to scout it while I stayed with the canoe. He came back down the trail and said the views were amazing and it was unoccupied. We just had to figure out how to get the gear and canoe out of the water with all the rocks. Good thing he's an engineer! Seriously though, it wasn't that bad and we were so thankful we found this amazing site for the night. Our first order of business was to get the tarp up so we could have a fire. The mosquitoes were ferocious! We needed the smoke so we wouldn't pass out from blood loss. No matter how much Jungle Juice you use, there's always a little spot you didn't quite get and they find it. As Dane was going out to look for more firewood, he stumbled across a destroyed portage pack, a Pullman suitcase, and clothes, gear, and empty food packages strewn about down the rocks! We were disgusted...and also very ashamed that we packed WAY too much stuff and couldn't bring it out with us. Thankfully, this site had the most amazingly perfect tree in which to hang out food, so despite seeing the evidence of what a bear is capable of doing, I wasn't worried. I was, however, very sad that someone would just leave this stuff, even the salvageable things such as clothing and gear. We could only speculate that they didn't go looking for it when it showed up missing. We rested, cooked dinner, and enjoyed an evening by the fire and turned in early after our somewhat stressful and adventurous day. We lit the candle lantern in the tent, played a game of "mosquito quest" (i.e. killing all the mosquitoes that snuck into the tent as we hopped in) and played a few hands of cards. The rain picked up its intensity overnight and we were sure we were going to have rough going the next day.
Day 6 of 4
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 The rain stopped at about 5 a.m. and when we got up at 5:30 it was calm, and the skies were clearing. We wanted to be on the water by 7 a.m. and finish the rest of the journey, but we were having so much fun at camp with great weather, and beautiful sunrise where the sun started to evaporate the water off the trees creating a mist rising up through the trees. 
We decided to have a few more cups of coffee and enjoy the morning. Our packs were way too heavy to begin with, causing us to have to double portage, which we didn't want to do. With everything wet, it managed to add even more weight, so whatever weight we ate, was replaced with water. We couldn't get a break from that. We were starting to get anxious to get back to Sawbill and be done with the packs. We managed to get on the water by 9 a.m. and enjoyed sunshine and clear skies for a while. [paragraph break] We tackled our last river of the trip and pounded out the four portages along the river between Phoebe Lake and Grace Lake. We celebrated after our last 15 rod portage of the river! We launched into Grace Lake and saw people for the first time since Monday. We were rather shocked that we didn't encounter anyone from the time we left Polly until we headed across Grace towards our biggest portage (285 rods.) We thought with double portaging this portage would take us 1.5 hours. We timed ourselves and were rather impressed that we pounded it out in 17 minutes one way. Even with double portaging, we made the whole thing in just under an hour. However, along the portage trail, we had to continually pass a fatally injured woodpecker laying in the trail. It was still alive but unable to move. I couldn't bring myself to photograph it and every time I passed, wished it would have finally died, but it was still alive with each pass. [paragraph break] We entered into Beth Lake and enjoyed an quiet paddle across the lake. The storm clouds were building during our portage, but luckily we never encountered anything too severe. As we crossed the lake, we watched a bald eagle hunting. It started to rain as we reached the portage landing on the east end of Beth Lake. We did the 140 rod portage into Alton Lake and took a break before crossing the largest body of water we had on this trip. The water was very calm, but when we were ready to head out the wind picked up as the front moved through. We only brought one map, so we had to rely on the GPS to find the portage into Sawbill. When we reached the portage and could see the lake through the trees, we couldn't believe our good fortune! I kept reminding Dane that this day was about the journey, not the destination and it really didn't matter what time we rolled into the landing at Sawbill Lake. We got in the water at Sawbill and enjoyed blue skies, warm weather, and light winds all the way back.[paragraph break] We dropped the canoe off at the outfitter, enjoyed an ice cold beer, and headed out to find a hotel room with a hot tub![paragraph break] We learned a lot on this trip, and cannot wait to do it again, but very differently. The packs we borrowed were difficult to carry, and just because it fits in there doesn't mean you need to bring it with! Next time, we'll pack like we do for backpacking trips. If we could make those portages easier on our bodies, we wouldn't have been anxious to leave that beautiful, peaceful place.
We decided to have a few more cups of coffee and enjoy the morning. Our packs were way too heavy to begin with, causing us to have to double portage, which we didn't want to do. With everything wet, it managed to add even more weight, so whatever weight we ate, was replaced with water. We couldn't get a break from that. We were starting to get anxious to get back to Sawbill and be done with the packs. We managed to get on the water by 9 a.m. and enjoyed sunshine and clear skies for a while. [paragraph break] We tackled our last river of the trip and pounded out the four portages along the river between Phoebe Lake and Grace Lake. We celebrated after our last 15 rod portage of the river! We launched into Grace Lake and saw people for the first time since Monday. We were rather shocked that we didn't encounter anyone from the time we left Polly until we headed across Grace towards our biggest portage (285 rods.) We thought with double portaging this portage would take us 1.5 hours. We timed ourselves and were rather impressed that we pounded it out in 17 minutes one way. Even with double portaging, we made the whole thing in just under an hour. However, along the portage trail, we had to continually pass a fatally injured woodpecker laying in the trail. It was still alive but unable to move. I couldn't bring myself to photograph it and every time I passed, wished it would have finally died, but it was still alive with each pass. [paragraph break] We entered into Beth Lake and enjoyed an quiet paddle across the lake. The storm clouds were building during our portage, but luckily we never encountered anything too severe. As we crossed the lake, we watched a bald eagle hunting. It started to rain as we reached the portage landing on the east end of Beth Lake. We did the 140 rod portage into Alton Lake and took a break before crossing the largest body of water we had on this trip. The water was very calm, but when we were ready to head out the wind picked up as the front moved through. We only brought one map, so we had to rely on the GPS to find the portage into Sawbill. When we reached the portage and could see the lake through the trees, we couldn't believe our good fortune! I kept reminding Dane that this day was about the journey, not the destination and it really didn't matter what time we rolled into the landing at Sawbill Lake. We got in the water at Sawbill and enjoyed blue skies, warm weather, and light winds all the way back.[paragraph break] We dropped the canoe off at the outfitter, enjoyed an ice cold beer, and headed out to find a hotel room with a hot tub![paragraph break] We learned a lot on this trip, and cannot wait to do it again, but very differently. The packs we borrowed were difficult to carry, and just because it fits in there doesn't mean you need to bring it with! Next time, we'll pack like we do for backpacking trips. If we could make those portages easier on our bodies, we wouldn't have been anxious to leave that beautiful, peaceful place.