BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 05 2025
Entry Point 30 - 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!
Sea gull to little sag not
Entry Date:
July 22, 2017
Entry Point:
Seagull Lake Only
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
We found a nice site about 2 miles in and set up camp there was a nice sloping rock to the lake. It looked like some weather was coming in so were preparing camp for the storm.
The rain started lightly and my partner was headed down to the lake to fill a water container so we could allow it to filter over night. As he walked down the now wet rock to the lake his feet went out from under him and down he went hard on his left thigh . I didn't see it happen as I was up in camp doing chores also.
He came back up limping very hard he told me what happen. It didn't seem like any thing was broke but he had a scrap and was really sore and bruised. We decided to go to bed and see what happen in the morning.
The next morning he told me because of the pain he hardly slept and I could tell that he would have a hard time walking and could see a visible limp in his walk.
I made the decision that we wouldn't move that day and stay where we where ne seemed to be improving some but still wouldn't be able to carry any weight.
We did a little fishing but he was in discomfort sitting in the canoe.
The next day was a bit better but still he had pain and the thought of carrying any weight over a portage was out of the question. We hung around camp fished a little found some fire wood read the book we brought along.
The third day he was feeling enough better we decided that we didn't have time to finish are trip so it became a base camping instead of the loop. We tripped into Alpine lake with only the canoe and fishing gear we fished and walked the portage to Jasper for a look. my partner still had pain over the rough ground of the portages with out any weight. The fishing was poor we only had minimal fishing tackle as this was suppose to be a traveling trip instead of a fishing trip.
The next day the wind was strong with white caps on the lake we stayed in camp and watched others fight the wind and waves. About 10am it died down a bit and we decide to travel to the 527 rod portage form sag to Jap lake and check it out.
We caned the 2 miles and decided to walk the portage across with a light day pack. With all the stops looking around and picking blue berries it took a hour and 27 minutes to make it to the Jap end.
It took 55 min coming back to little sag with one 5 minute stop. I most likely could have cut that a bit but my partner was traveling slow.
This portage was maintained no trees across the trail was fairly easy to follow a few tight spots to get a canoe around and the Jap end there is a 30 foot or so very steep climb out of the lake one most likely would have to pull a canoe up it instead of carrying it.
One could tell it had been used a couple times this year.
I would prefer not to do it if given a choice.
We did find a lot of blue berries this year in the burnt area along the trail.
We went back to camp my partner say he did the walk ok but his leg was hurting.
That evening we decided to head out the next day as fishing wasn't good and we were getting bored with are camp site.
We headed out and arrived but at the landing about 1130am. We hit Grand Marais about 1.30 parked to have lunch and walk around. We did see a white pickup with canoe and flying moose on it. But there was no one around so I didn't get a chance to introduce my self.
When we got back from lunch they were gone.
Weather for the trip except for the rain the first evening was fantastic. Some of the best weather I had had on any of my trips up there.
Made it back home safely. ~Sea Gull Lake, Alpine Lake, Jasper Lake, Japanese Lake