BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 18 2025
Entry Point 25 - Moose/Portage River (North of Echo Trail)
Moose/Portage 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 27 miles. Access is a 160-rod portage heading North from the Echo Trail.
Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1348 feet
Latitude: 48.1230
Longitude: -92.0991
Labor day weekend 2024.
Entry point was 25-Moose lake. Went north, and then west onto Ensign Lake. Camped on eastern end of Ensign lake. Very busy and lucky to get a campsite. Day 2, went to Cattyman Falls and on down to Disappointment Lake. All sites full. Had to get off the water due to inclement storm. Ended up on Parent Lake on day 3, western camp site. Beautiful site. Exited from Snowbank lake on day 4. Overall fishing was poor. Some small mouth bass on Parent lake.
Nothing elsewhere. Approximately 20 miles of paddling/portaging. 11 portages in total. Already planning for 2025.
Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1348 feet
Latitude: 48.1230
Longitude: -92.0991
Labor day weekend 2024.
Entry point was 25-Moose lake. Went north, and then west onto Ensign Lake. Camped on eastern end of Ensign lake. Very busy and lucky to get a campsite. Day 2, went to Cattyman Falls and on down to Disappointment Lake. All sites full. Had to get off the water due to inclement storm. Ended up on Parent Lake on day 3, western camp site. Beautiful site. Exited from Snowbank lake on day 4. Overall fishing was poor. Some small mouth bass on Parent lake.
Nothing elsewhere. Approximately 20 miles of paddling/portaging. 11 portages in total. Already planning for 2025.
Kettle Falls
by whyzata
Trip Report
Entry Date:
June 05, 2021
Entry Point:
Little Vermilion Lake (Crane Lake)
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
Crane Lake to Kettle falls and back down to Crooked Lake.
Report
Nothing like a seven day trip on big water with 5 of the days enjoying flat water. Wow. We were the only canoe out. Trip was about 70 miles in distance as we did about 10 miles a day. Reservations were required in the National Park. The small mouth bass fishing was excellent Crane Lake to Sand Point to Namakan to Rainy and back down to Crooked for a night before exiting on Crane lake. Having lunch and a beer at the hotel and camping near Kettle Falls was a treat. Saw bear, deer and moose pretty much every day. Drank about a gallon of lake water a day as the weather was hot. Just a great, great run. Stormed on Namakan the evening of the 9th. Had strong SouthEast winds on the 6th but Namakan has many, many islands to chart a course around. Would love to do this trip again, but weather and winds need to be on our side.
discuss this trip report (2 comments) - last post on September 14, 2018