BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 07 2025
Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1497 feet
Latitude: 47.8452
Longitude: -90.8169
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
How many portages? Cherokee Lake 2023
Entry Date:
September 28, 2023
Entry Point:
Sawbill Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
4
We drove from Duluth to our cabin, which is located south of Ely the night prior. Our bunkhouse served as headquarters for gear sorting, final packing, and map gazing discussing such things as portages, how long a rod was...how many rods per mile. There were a few wide eyes looking at the route. Our planned route took us up from Sawbill, a few puddle jumps and into Cherokee Creek and then to Cherokee Lake. Target was one of the island sites! Assurances were made that ths was totally doable and not nearly as hard as it sounds. Day 1
Ok - Canoes were loaded the night prior and the drive to Sawbill was uneventful. Once at the outfitters, videos were watched, permits were picked up and we shoved off. Everyone, including Pretzel (our 1 yr old Bernedoodle) settled into the canoes nicely and quickly got comfortable paddling. The kids (Travis and Ella) glided effortlessly across Sawbill lake in the Bell Northstar and not only kept up, but could easily paddle away from us. I remember being 17 and strong...not the same at nearly 50. My only solace was knowing the Northstar is a pretty quick boat and is a touch faster than the Northwoods Jo Lynn and I were in. 
Yes Ella - there are more portages. 
All kidding aside, Ella was an absolute trooper, powering across the portages with pack and paddles in hand. A little trail lunch helped. 
The rest of the portages clicked off and soon we found our island home on Cherokee Lake and settled in nicely. Tents were up and there was enough firewood laying around to cook and have an evening fire. We turned in early as everyone was bit exhausted from the days travels.
Day 2 was pretty chill. We tidied up around camp and after some chores were complete, we explored the island. It kind of rained on and off all day, so we pretty much just hung around camp today. 
Today was a little nicer than the day prior, still overcast, but at least it wasn't misting. We headed out to do some fishing and lake exploration. The lake itself is gorgeous with all the various islands and varying terrain and elevation. Leaves were varying degrees of gold, green and crimson. We paddled nearly the entire lake and stopped at a few different campsites that i'd found my way to in past travels. Not sure if my stories wore thin, regaling of all the adventures i'd had through this lake over the last 25+ years...even if they did, the kids were going to have to just bear with me as i'm not stopping. You're going to hear about the ant invasion, the bending branches hammock setup, night hike, the wet from the waist up fall into the lake. It was fun day for sure. 
