BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 17 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!
Wind, Waves, and Fishing
Entry Date:
August 23, 2008
Entry Point:
Hog Creek
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
4
We arrived in the parking lot for Hog Creek about 9:00 a.m. and unloaded all of our gear. This was our first trip into EP 36 and the stairs down to the river were a welcomed surprise. With everything loaded in the canoes we were ready to go. There was a group in front of us and we waited around for about 15 minutes to let them get ahead to avoid any congestion. After paddling for 10 minutes we caught up to them and they were portaging around a small set of rapids. Being the young, and smart people that we are we decided to try and push through. There was what appeared to be a short patch of rocks and rough water....until we got passed the first set and realized the creek hooked hard to the right and there was another 100 yards of the same rough terrain that we had just been through.....We decided to portage. After learning a bit of a lesson the rest of the paddle on Hog Creek went rather smoothly.
We broke out into Perent Lake after about 2 and a half hours of paddling and found ourselves in some pretty big waves. Our map gave us a rough idea of where mostof the campsites on the lake were so after seeing that all of the visible sights from the entrance were full we decided to head north, hugging the shore. After what seemed like hours of paddling on the lake in giant waves we were able to find a site. I understood quickly why it was open. The wind was blasting the campsite, but for now it was a welcomed relief. We found a few places to hide the tents behind some trees and set up camp. Excited to get our lines wet we headed out shortly thereafter to find out what the fishing situation would be like.
My two buddies had brought along a portable fish finder and were headed for deeper water. I however was with my girlfriend and she had very little interest in paddling and was all about the fishing. I told them that since I was paddling solo that I was going to head for an island where we could get away from the breeze a little. We brought 10 nice size eaters back, they brought 1. We were never more than a couple hundred yards from camp and it was an amazing experience.
After having fresh walleye for dinner, it was a relatively short evening with a little fire side relaxing and a couple of barley pops we were headed to bed.
This morning we awoke to more wind and waves. We held off on fishing until the early afternoon and what do you know, my buddies decided to follow us today. The lake was beginning to clear of its campers and traffic was rather limited today. We did very well with the fish all the up until dark when we had to head back to camp. The "state birds" came out in full force at dusk and I learned my lesson from the first night, I was wearing pants and a long sleeve tee tonight and they didn't have as much luck on this night.
I usually take minnows with me to the boundary waters, but due to our lack of research on the area we were headed, when we got to Tofte we realized that the only bait shop around was the Holiday station in town. So, night crawlers it was. I have to admit that I was a little nervous going in with only one selection for bait, but I found out that there was no need to be because those fish would have hit anything we threw at em'! It was a catch and release day today because we would be enjoying brats and potato chips for dinner. We sat out this evening and listened to a Twins game by the fire and enjoyed a few more beers and called it a night.
We woke up early to break camp this morning and found the weather to favorable for our paddle home. There was a nice and gentle breeze blowing at our backs with an overcast sky so the sun was beating down on us.
During the paddle on the creek we made pretty good time so we stopped for a quick swim on the way out. There is apparently a pretty deep hole out in front of the short portage! The water was cool and the trip was great!
I realize that this report is a little old, but I reserved a permit for Hog Creek again back in January and just revisited my photos from this trip and it got me excited to get back out there!
