BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 15 2025
Entry Point 30 - Lake One
Lake One entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 21 miles. Access is a canoe landing at 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!
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!
Baker Lake 6.12.04 - 6.14.04
by Nathan
Trip Report
Entry Date:
June 12, 2004
Entry Point:
Baker Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
5
Trip Introduction:
First Trip of the year. We were hoping for a challenging route with a little bit of fishing.
Day 1 of 3
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Baker Lake, Peterson Lake, Kelly Lake, Burnt Lake, Smoke Lake, Sawbill Lake, Ada Lake, Skoop Lake, Cherokee Lake
We left home at 2:00am with our two alumacraft canoes. Stopped in Luck, Wi to pick up a couple friends and drove the 4 hours to Tofte. Picked up Permits and stopped by Sawtooth Outfitters where I had rented a Solo Prism Canoe. Drove the last 45 min to Baker Lake and we were in the water by 8:30 am. It was misting lightly but not enough to get us very wet. We made our way through the first couple portages to the first tough one, 240 rods from Kelly Lake to Burnt Lake. The portage itself was not too bad other than the length but we were ready to be done by the time we got to the end. We decided to attempt the stream shown in the map going north from Smoke Lake to Sawbill. It got pretty narrow at several points and we had to lift the canoes over a couple beaver dams but we made it. It added a little variety to our route. We covered a couple more lakes and finally made it to Cherokee Creek. We paddled down the creek to Cherokee Lake. We looked at a couple camp-sites and decided on the site on the north west end of the bay on the south of the lake. The site was up above the water on a rocky area. We had a great view of the lake from there. We were all pretty tired after our days work so we just relaxed for a little while. Finally got around to setting up camp. My brother caught a couple of Northerns so we were able to add fish to our menu. We had a great evening sitting around the fire and finally went to bed at bout 10:00.
Baker Lake, Peterson Lake, Kelly Lake, Burnt Lake, Smoke Lake, Sawbill Lake, Ada Lake, Skoop Lake, Cherokee Lake
We left home at 2:00am with our two alumacraft canoes. Stopped in Luck, Wi to pick up a couple friends and drove the 4 hours to Tofte. Picked up Permits and stopped by Sawtooth Outfitters where I had rented a Solo Prism Canoe. Drove the last 45 min to Baker Lake and we were in the water by 8:30 am. It was misting lightly but not enough to get us very wet. We made our way through the first couple portages to the first tough one, 240 rods from Kelly Lake to Burnt Lake. The portage itself was not too bad other than the length but we were ready to be done by the time we got to the end. We decided to attempt the stream shown in the map going north from Smoke Lake to Sawbill. It got pretty narrow at several points and we had to lift the canoes over a couple beaver dams but we made it. It added a little variety to our route. We covered a couple more lakes and finally made it to Cherokee Creek. We paddled down the creek to Cherokee Lake. We looked at a couple camp-sites and decided on the site on the north west end of the bay on the south of the lake. The site was up above the water on a rocky area. We had a great view of the lake from there. We were all pretty tired after our days work so we just relaxed for a little while. Finally got around to setting up camp. My brother caught a couple of Northerns so we were able to add fish to our menu. We had a great evening sitting around the fire and finally went to bed at bout 10:00.
Day 2 of 3
Monday, June 14, 2004
Cherokee Lake, Sitka Lake, North Temperance Lake, South Temperance Lake, Weird Lake, Jack Lake
We got up and enjoyed Breakfast Burritos, made with tortillas, bacon, and scrambled eggs, with some coffee or hot chocolate. We packed up all of our gear and got back on the water by about 10:00. We paddled at an easy pace most of the morning. We worked our way through, Sitka, North Temperance, and South Temperance. When we reached the 230 rod portage headed into Weird Lake the other guys decided that they wanted to try the rapids instead of the portage. I had the rented Kevlar Canoe and did not think that I should risk it in the rapids. They ended up having to walk the canoes most of the way down. They made it about half way and decided to bushwhack their way back to the trail. They finally caught up to me, very wet and glad that they had attempted the rapids. We finally reached our site on Jack Lake, set up camp and had a dinner of Mac and Cheese, beans, and brats. It rained for about 15 minutes as we were preparing dinner, which ended up being a good thing because the bugs disappeared for the next couple hours. When the bugs finally showed back up again they were bad enough that we went to bed to get away from them.
Cherokee Lake, Sitka Lake, North Temperance Lake, South Temperance Lake, Weird Lake, Jack Lake
We got up and enjoyed Breakfast Burritos, made with tortillas, bacon, and scrambled eggs, with some coffee or hot chocolate. We packed up all of our gear and got back on the water by about 10:00. We paddled at an easy pace most of the morning. We worked our way through, Sitka, North Temperance, and South Temperance. When we reached the 230 rod portage headed into Weird Lake the other guys decided that they wanted to try the rapids instead of the portage. I had the rented Kevlar Canoe and did not think that I should risk it in the rapids. They ended up having to walk the canoes most of the way down. They made it about half way and decided to bushwhack their way back to the trail. They finally caught up to me, very wet and glad that they had attempted the rapids. We finally reached our site on Jack Lake, set up camp and had a dinner of Mac and Cheese, beans, and brats. It rained for about 15 minutes as we were preparing dinner, which ended up being a good thing because the bugs disappeared for the next couple hours. When the bugs finally showed back up again they were bad enough that we went to bed to get away from them.
Day 3 of 3
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
We started the day off with some oatmeal and burritos. After we finished breakfast we packed up our gear, cleaned up our camp, and hit the water. We needed to get home at a reasonable hour. We had a couple easy portages and enjoyed canoeing down the river. Just before our last portage into Baker Lake there is a small rapids and I flipped the canoe over as I was attempting to navigate around a tree. Thankfully, I had tied my pack into the canoe and it was a waterproof pack. My gear stayed pretty dry. :) I was able to throw my pack into one of the other canoes and I walked the canoe the rest of the way to the portage. After I got out of the water I actually felt a lot better. All of the bug spray had been washed off, my clothes were clean (and wet), and I had energy for the trip home. I had to look for the positive elements in my unexpected bath. We drove back to Tofte and returned the canoe to the outfitter, and then headed home. All in all it was a great trip as always! I can not wait for the next one.
We started the day off with some oatmeal and burritos. After we finished breakfast we packed up our gear, cleaned up our camp, and hit the water. We needed to get home at a reasonable hour. We had a couple easy portages and enjoyed canoeing down the river. Just before our last portage into Baker Lake there is a small rapids and I flipped the canoe over as I was attempting to navigate around a tree. Thankfully, I had tied my pack into the canoe and it was a waterproof pack. My gear stayed pretty dry. :) I was able to throw my pack into one of the other canoes and I walked the canoe the rest of the way to the portage. After I got out of the water I actually felt a lot better. All of the bug spray had been washed off, my clothes were clean (and wet), and I had energy for the trip home. I had to look for the positive elements in my unexpected bath. We drove back to Tofte and returned the canoe to the outfitter, and then headed home. All in all it was a great trip as always! I can not wait for the next one.
Lakes Traveled:
Jack Lake,
Kelly Lake,
Peterson Lake,
Baker Lake,
discuss this trip report (17 comments) - last post on November 12, 2010