BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
October 22 2026
Entry Point 29 - North Kawishiwi River
Number of Permits per Day: 1
Elevation: 1249 feet
Latitude: 47.9543
Longitude: -91.5641
North Kawishiwi River - 29
Lake 1 Fall 2026
Entry Date:
September 28, 2026
Entry Point:
Lake One
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
After multiple setbacks and EP changes due to the 2026 Fires I reluctantly decided on EP 30 as a viable spot. I usually like to be more remote up in Crooked Lake area but it was closed. I had heard that Lake One was a nice route but busy, but figured in the late season it shouldn’t be so bad. We set out to a bright sunny day with a storm forecasted to roll in around 4pm. Lake One was the first issue the Map is missing a lot of small islands on this lake resulting in us ending up in the bottom corner instead of the portage. I have never used a GPS in the BWCA but this may be the area for it. With water levels low there were a lot of islands that were no longer islands with land bridges connecting them to the main land making things even more confusing. Anyway we got through the two small portages and on our way across Lake Two. I had a 1st timer with me and we got a bit of a late start so had no huge expectations on distance. Once we got into Lake Two I already started to notice every campsite we passed was occupied. Not a problem as we planned on hitting at least Lake Three for the day. Again more islands turned peninsulas in this lake. We ended up stopping for the day at the end of Lake Three just before going up and around for the portage along the Kawishiwi River. It wasn’t the greatest of sites (1498) but with the storm coming it worked. We got the tent up, tarp up and settled in for the night. 
It started raining during the night and the wind picked up from the south, so we hunkered down for the entire day under the tarp playing cards and drinking more coffee than we should have but it kept us warm and dry. Not really much else to report on this day. 
Up early to watch the sunrise from the rocky point out from the campsite which was nice but very exposed as the wind was picking up. Chilly mornings but once the sun came up it was quite enjoyable, and no skeeters. We had planned to go further in towards Insulia Lake but with losing a whole day to rain decided to spend the day fishing instead of paddling. This part of Lake Three was shallow and muddy on the bottom. We hooked a handful of small Northerns only one of which was worth keeping and were about to call it a day when Kenny hooked a beefy Bass, measured in about 18” but had some girth on her. We ate good this night. 
Up early again watching the sun but the wind has shifted to the W and is significantly stronger and colder than the day before. The decision was made to start heading back and find a more desirable campsite. I admit I checked the forecast and it was calling for stronger W to NW winds for the next few days and all of our paddling would be in that direction. So we packed up and headed off. As soon as we rounded the corner from the point the waves were hitting hard and almost into the boat. After what felt like an hour we made I up to some shelter and cut south along the coast behind a series of islands in the W part of Lake Three. Checked out a site on the bluff but it was directly in the wind and not a great site anyway so we moved along. And as expected every site we came to was occupied except one. The one thats not listed on the BWCA maps but it is listed on my MacKenzie. Very nice site other than it too was directly in the path of the wind which was gusting quite well. So we set up camp, we ended up having to put large rocks on the tent stakes to keep them in the ground as the wind was so strong it was pulling them out. Thankfully we were able to have a fire once the wind died down in the evening which was a moral booster as we had only had one the first night as the other nights were too windy to risk it. No luck fishing in this area, very shallow in spots. I decided to do some carving on a hunk of Cedar and made my son a small canoe with a couple paddles since he wasn’t able to make the trip this year. 
Up to beautiful sunny skies and no real wind to speak of….yet. It was a chilly morning but nothing some coffee cant fix. Then the wind picked up again. Now I am used to the wind out on the lakes and am fully aware it picks up during the day and drops off at night but this was days and days of wind, cold wind at that. So we decided to pack up again and head over to Lake One for our last couple days. Find a site sheltered from the NW wind and just enjoy that area for a bit. Another arduous paddle into the waves we hit the portages and passed several other groups of people on the way out. This was the first week of October so I was somewhat shocked by this. We got into Lake One and figured we would head up to the N side. I can not say how many people we saw, it was mind boggling. Every single campsite we passed was occupied with 20 plus canoes out on the water. SO needless to say we decided to cut the trip short vs going back through the portages into Lake Two to maybe find a campsite. I did not realize how many people head out on those early weekends of self issue permits. Lesson learned. It was possible the worst trip I have had to the BWCA in the 30 years I have been going but that being said it was still better than not being there.