BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
December 19 2025
Entry Point 14 - Little Indian Sioux River North
Little Indian Sioux River (north) entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by La Croix Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 32 miles. Access is a 40-rod portage heading North from the Echo Trail.
Number of Permits per Day: 6
Elevation: 1364 feet
Latitude: 48.1466
Longitude: -92.2103
Number of Permits per Day: 6
Elevation: 1364 feet
Latitude: 48.1466
Longitude: -92.2103
Moose River - LLC - Oyster - September 2025
by Pete2Paddle
Trip Report
Entry Date:
September 14, 2025
Entry Point:
Moose/Portage River (north)
Number of Days:
8
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
Our goal for the trip was to travel a nice loop and try for the grand slam of fish (Walleye, Northern, Bass, and Lake Trout).
Day 1 of 8
Saturday - Drive to Ely & Fortune Bay Golf [paragraph break] Ely is about a 5 hour drive from home in west-central Minnesota. We started early so we could get to Piragis to pick up the canoe and our permit before driving back to Fortune Bay for a late round of golf. I called the course for a tee-time 5 weeks ago and the first time I could get was 3:30. It was the same story at the Legend's courses in Biwabik so I learned my lesson: Make your tee-time in May. The Wilderness at Fortune Bay was ranked 2nd in the state of Public Courses by Golf Digest this year and it did not disappoint. A quick trip to the Kwazy Wabbit for a pizza and back to the Canoe on Inn for the night. 
Day 2 of 8
Sunday - Enter at Moose River North - Travel to Tiger Bay Area of LLC [paragraph break] We were up by 6:30 and walking down the first portage by 8:00. The first portage is listed at 160 rods but feels much shorter. It's an easy garden path that gradually slopes downhill to the first put-in. Once you put-in, don't bother getting comfortable because you're going to be in and out of the canoe about every 10 minutes between the first two portages and a series of beaver dams within the first mile. After two short portages, the beaver dams are small enough to glide over with a full head of steam and a current that will help you along. [paragraph break] I believe an advantage of entering on a Sunday is that many people leave that day, and you have a better chance of finding your desired site unoccupied. On the other hand, the downside of a Sunday entry is the number of people you will see along the rivers and portages who are making their way out so they can get back to work on Monday. We passed 12 different groups of varying sizes along the way to LLC. I let myself get slightly annoyed when at one portage, we found 3 canoes clogging the put-in with only 2 people standing there. The rest of the party was walking back to get the rest of their packs. Thankfully, one of the two people standing was a solo and was out of the way quickly so we could land and begin our portage. [paragraph break] ** Pause for short rant ** [paragraph break] The way my Dad taught me, and what I believe is the proper etiquette, is if you're not single portaging, you don't put your canoe in the water unless ALL of your bags, people and paddles are across the portage. If you bring the canoe across and you or any of your party need to go back for more bags, put the canoe off to the side (not in the water) so that groups that are single portaging can pass you or groups going in the other direction can land, unload, and begin their portage. The same is true when you begin a portage. If you are not single portaging, make sure you leave your canoe out of the water and off to the side. [paragraph break] *sigh* *deep breath* -- It's beautiful out here and I'm not truly bothered, but the people committing this faux pas had as much grey in their beards as I do and should know better. [paragraph break] ** Rant over ** [paragraph break] We took a 15 min snack break on an island on Lake Agnes and made it to the tiger bay area by about 2:00. We found a fantastic site on the south side of the island just south of Warrior Hill (#175). This site is like a palace! The kitchen is perched on a cliff about 20 feet off the water with fantastic views for a western sunset. There's a huge swimming beach to the north and a smaller landing beach to the south. Plenty of tent and hammock options. One neat feature was a 'front porch' for fishing! An easy rock scramble around the rock face on the water puts you on a 4' x 10' ledge. We set up chairs, poured a whiskey and caught a few smallmouth while the sun started to set. [paragraph break] That night after supper, we turned on Sunday night football on the radio. One minute, PA's voice is loud and clear with the play-by-play and the next minute, static. We couldn't figure out why the signal was in and out so much... Until we looked up and saw an incredible display of Northern Lights! I've been in the BWCA coming up on 20 times and while I can say I've 'seen' them in the past... I had no idea they could be this crazy. They were all around us! North, West, and even above our heads. The light wispy white 'cloud-like' lights would dance from one shape to another every few seconds. The camera shots picked up the greens and purples, but to the naked eye, they were pretty much white. This was one of the highlights of the trip. 
Day 3 of 8
Monday - Fishing around camp and Bottle Rapids [paragraph break] This trip was the first time I brought along a fish finder. I picked up a Garmin Striker Vivid 4CV based on some videos and a recommendation from Eric at Piragis. I used a Ram mount system to camp the monitor to the thwart. Then I used a fishing magnet to secure the transducer to the side of the canoe with a bracket my buddy fabricated and painted with rubberized coating. It worked like a charm and the entire setup including a 12v 15Ah battery weighs just over 6 lbs. I am not an avid angler but just hoping to improve my odds of walleye for dinner. [paragraph break] The next day we made coffee and hit the water for a short fishing trip around our island. Caught a few Pike. Back to camp for a full breakfast of hashbrowns, bacon and eggs and then we set out for some Walleye jigging near the bottle rapids. I have since come to learn that 'marking' fish and catching them are two completely different things. We used a mesh anchor bag to hold us in good places despite a steady breeze but couldn't get any fish in the canoe. As we paddled back into camp in the afternoon the wind picked up and started gusting up to 25mph. After a hard first day of travel, we were content to crack into the whiskey supply and plan our next days adventure. [paragraph break] The original plan was a day-trip to Iron lake. However, the weather report showed increasing winds from the SE which would make the travel to Iron a bit more laborious than we wanted. The revised plan was to break camp early the next morning and fish our way north. Our goal was to land at one of the sites near the entrance to Pocket Creek. 
Day 4 of 8
Tuesday - Travel North - Pictos & Fishsteak Narrows [paragraph break] Another first for me this trip was using a 'coffee alternative'. In the past, I've always brought along a French press and fresh ground coffee. With the added weight of a fish finder and heavy battery, I was looking for a way to save weight. Before we left, I ordered some instant coffee and some coffee paste in a tube from NoNormal. NoNormal coffee in a tube was the taste test winner at home and it works pretty well! Just squeeze an inch-long strip onto your spoon and stir it into your cup of hot water. [paragraph break] Breakfast that morning was coffee and breakfast bars and we were on the water by 8:15. The breeze from the SE allowed us to drift-jig and troll the drop-off on our way to the Pictographs. We caught a keeper walleye that would be perfect for late lunch when we found our next site. A quick visit to the Pictos in Canada and we paddled over to fish steak narrows to try our luck some more. No luck and rumbling stomachs had us paddling west in search of our next site. [paragraph break] We ended up at site #150 which sits on an isthmus of an island just north of the skinny bay that juts south about a mile southwest of the opening to pocket creek. We first took a look at site #151 but I didn't like the bear pack and hammock hanging options so we moved on to the isthmus site and we were glad we did. Easy beach landings on both sides of the site with 2 decent tent pads and a number of good hammock options as well. [paragraph break] The only problem with this site was the garbage! Most of it was centered around the fire-grate, but there were orange peels, food waste, coffee filters, something that was plastic and melted down, and I must have found at least 5 lengths of dental floss! It was obvious that this dental-hygiene-focused litterbug just dropped the floss where ever he/she was standing when they were done. I've never seen anything like it. I put everything we found into our garbage to be packed out. [paragraph break] The first order of business... Walleye, eggs, hashbrowns and bacon for lunch! It was amazing. Just as we finished eating we heard thunder from the northwest. I love a good fire-drill camp setup! We watched thunderheads pass us to the north and south but didn't see a drop! The afternoon weather turned out to be picture-perfect. We fished in shorts and bare feet, and my buddy caught a 24" Walleye. Two fish-meals in the same day! The fish-finder was a huge help as we trolled around our island and kept our diving Rapalas in what we thought was the sweet spot. 
Day 5 of 8
Wednesday - Fish and Rest Day [paragraph break] Our plan for the day was to try and find more Walleye around our island like we caught the day before and paddle to the northeast to fish some contour lines that looked promising. We took some extra time for coffee an breakfast in the morning and were on the water a little after 9. After failing to bring up a Walleye in our first couple hours, we switch to targeting small mouth along the shores and bays of the islands and had some success. The weather was calm and cool and the GPS tracked about 6 miles of travel and fishing. [paragraph break] We came back to our site for some late lunch and afternoon resting when the winds picked up. We watched a solo paddler make their way up the narrow bay to the south heading towards our site noticed how straight they were tacking even without a double paddle. The site is covered by small trees and hedges on the south side so I walked out to the beach to signal that the site was occupied. After letting her know that the site to the east was open, she thanked us and told us about the Moose she just spotted around the point of our island! We grabbed the camera and our rods, and paddled around hoping to catch a glimpse... no luck. [paragraph break] Later, we made another trip out after 5 to try for the evening bite. No luck with Walleyes again, but a few more bass kept our spirits up. Along the north shore of our island there was a treasure trove of washed up beaver-wood! As many of you may already know, beaver wood is some of the best fire wood you can find as long as you aren't raiding an active lodge. We had a great fire that night. 
Day 6 of 8
Thursday - Travel to Oyster Lake [paragraph break] We had coffee and breakfast bars while we broke camp and managed to hit the water just after 8:00. The mirror-calm waters and foggy conditions were breathtaking! We caught up to the solo paddler at the portage into Pocket Creek and had a nice chat. She also commented about the poor condition of the campsites. Someone had tossed leftover spaghetti on the ground at the site she stayed at the night before. She was heading for pocket lake or finger lake in hopes of finding more solitude and sites with less wear and tear. [paragraph break] We encountered a large beaver dam just after turning south on the south fork of pocket creek. There must have been at least 3 feet of difference in the water height. The paddle south on pocket was peaceful. We startled up two trumpeter swans that flew over us. We also kept startling a great blue heron that would only fly a few hundred feet ahead of us so we could do it all over again. He kept that up all the way to the portage into Ge-be-on-e-quet Lake. Green Lake and Rocky Lake are both hidden gems that I would love to spend a night or two on, but our goal was lake trout so we kept paddling for Oyster. [paragraph break] We were hoping for the Isthmus site on Oyster and were lucky that it was open. It was about noon when we started to setup camp. After some hard salami, cheese and crackers for lunch, we setup camp and decided to brave the winds and make our first attempt at lake trout. The winds were North-Northeast so we paddled up and drifted back with some heavy Rapala jigs. Our day of travel had worn us out, so we headed back to camp after only a few passes. We were spoiled again by the isthmus site because we could use the landing on the east side. This side is a much tricker landing but it's nice to avoid what would be a mile of paddling back around the peninsula. [paragraph break] We settled in for the day with some dinner, whiskey, cribbage and a campfire. 
Day 7 of 8
Friday - Wind, Trout-Dreams and a Hike [paragraph break] The weather forecast for the day wasn't great. Wind, rain, and much colder temps. The rain started early in the morning, but the previous day's exertion plus effort to deplete our whiskey rations last night made it easy to doze in and out, listening to rain on my hammock tarp. I was grateful for the extra hours of sleep. [paragraph break] The rain broke just after lunch, and the winds started to pick up, so we put on extra layers and rain gear and decided to make another attempt at lake trout. We drifted down the western shoreline while jigging and then switched to trolling as we paddled around the perimeter towards the north-eastern shore. The fish finder showed plenty of marks at the depths we were trying to get our lures into, but not a single bite. We made a stop at the northernmost site on the east side to stretch our legs and have some trail mix. [paragraph break] We spent some more time jigging towards our campsite, but the wind and cold were getting to us. We noticed the rocky bluffs to the south of our campsite and decided to head in and see if we could hike to the top. This ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. There are a number of paths heading along the shore on the south side of the peninsula that we followed. Eventually, they become less and less obvious, and it became a full-on bushwacking adventure. We saw openings in the rock face that looked like a perfect spot for a bear den. I got spooked and wasn't sure we should continue. We skirted them by continuing to the SW so we could approach the summit from that direction. [paragraph break] I am so glad we kept going because the rock at the summit was super cool. A massive rock that had split into two giant pieces with a fissure running between them. We could see that some braver souls had climbed down and scrambled between them, but I was content to look from above. It was nice to do some walking / hiking without the weight of a canoe or pack and the view at the top was worth the effort. [paragraph break] After resting at camp for a bit, we decided to target some Bass on the north side of our site because it was sheltered from the wind. We carried the canoe across our site to put in on the opposite side and headed out. Both of us caught 3-4 bass with a few hammer-handle northern mixed in. Nice to feel a tight line after striking out on the lake trout. [paragraph break] Our last night and campfire wasn't as late so we could get an early... (*early) start towards the car in the morning. 
Day 8 of 8
Day 8 - Saturday - Back to the Car - Back Home [paragraph break] Another breakfast of Coffee and cereal bars and we were on the water by 8. The weather report from my Garmin inReach predicted off and on showers all day. We were prepared for a long travel day. Unfortunately, it didn't start well. We paddled straight across Oyster to the campsite we checked out the day before and then followed the shore east looking for the portage. It's possible we were under-caffeinated... but we didn't see it at all. We were hoping to make good time but lost a good 15-20 minutes searching. The first portage is pretty easy (once you find it) and the paddle down the Oyster River is easy going. [paragraph break] My navigation skills came back to me because I knew we were getting close to the second portage but the open water between the tall grass wasn't anywhere near solid ground. I was on alert and thankfully saw the narrow opening in the reeds heading towards shore. If I would have been distracted by a bird or something for even 3 seconds, I would have missed it! The next portage is the long one with gradual climb out of the oyster river-valley. We also had a downed tree across the path that we had to shimmy under / over. My shoulders were aching pretty good by the time I made it to Agnes. [paragraph break] We started to see groups of people again as we made our way along the river between Agnes and Nina Moose. By this point in the trip, we are a well-oiled portaging machine, using that efficiency to pass a few groups. We lost a little bit of time after crossing Nina Moose Lake because the entrance to the river was lost among the wild rice. Thankfully, a chatty group of paddlers were making their way north onto the lake and revealed the entrance. A new first sighting for me was a person using one of those 'fold-up-kayaks'! I've seen videos of them, but I can't imagine trusting it on a multi-day BW trip with all the rocks and hazards that could damage it. [paragraph break] The Moose River is always harder as you head out. You never seem to realize how much you benefit from the current on the way in... but you definitely notice the difference on the way out. Lots of beaver dams as usual, but the travel was smooth with only a few sprinkles and never a full-fledged rain shower. The last portage to the car is always bittersweet. Leaving such an amazing place is hard to do. I always put a few beers in a cooler loaded with ice to boost my motivation for those last few steps. 
discuss this trip report (2 comments) - last post on December 19, 2025