BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
November 01 2026
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!
Clove Lake Canoe Derby 2013
Entry Date:
July 29, 2013
Entry Point:
Magnetic Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
6
Sue and the crew got us loaded up and trailered us to the public landing on Gunflint where we put off.
The paddle on Gunflint and Magnetic was great, with very little wind we relaxed and took our time. Even circled the island with the Swiss Chalet on it. 
As we made our way down the Pine river, the scenery was gorgeous, the portages were rocky and the blueberries looked promising! We had a lunch of gorp, granola bars and jerky overlooking the falls.
When we arrived on Clove, the northern campsite with the sandy beach was taken, but the western campsite was available so we took it. It's a solid site, getting in and out is a little tricky but otherwise fine. We did some fishing from shore and had some luck with a few northerns and bass. Rowan caught the big fish of the night with a three pound smallie, when you're 42 lbs yourself, that's a big fish!
Early to rise we had a great sunrise to greet us. Mike and I paddled over the the Pine River rapids on the eastern side of Clove -- the forums, are outfitter and other canoers promised great fishing. We fished with leeches on jigs, slip bobbers, floating jig heads and tubes for about three hours -- nothing. It was pretty defeating. We headed back to camp for a big breakfast of sausage and potato's.
The day was spent swimming, fishing and snacking from the 12 lbs of gorp we brought.
My brother Mike has been 'taking' me fishing ever since he was 7 and I was 3. As long as I remember, I've always needed to bait his pole and take the fish off -- and this year was no exception.
Supper consisted of three northerns made up into fish tacos -- delicious. We breaded the northerns with shore lunch and a 1/4 packet of taco seasoning. Had a cream sauce ala allrecipes, hauled in a head of cabbage and plenty of lime. I'm getting better with filleting northerns, but they sure do make Lake Erie Perch look easy!
That recipes is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fish-Tacos/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=fish%20tacos&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page
We did find a honey hole for bass that was working like a charm. I assumed that most of clove was just northerns except for the Pine River scour hole, but we lucked into a nice little spot.
While taking Rowan to the 'potty', I followed a lightly used trail and came to the top of our 'hill'. While I had heard of great blueberry picking this time of year, I had thus far been disappointed, well disappointed no more. Endless blueberries were to be found just 30 yards from the throne! The crew could not have been happier.
Took a trip up the Granite a few portages and explored the area, wish we would have fished a little more but it's tough with the little ones.
After our Bear Creek Soup supper, we got out for a little more fishing and Rowan caught the fish of the trip! His Kool-Aid mustache and face painted forehead say it all. 
At this point in the trip -- my dad still couldn't tell you what a Senko was but he was catching a lot of fish with them. Rowan liked his tubes and I convinced my brother Mike that catching a top water fish is worth pulling three in on a rapala -- life was good. Had a few bites on a white Zulu of QueticoMike fame, still found it difficult to set the hook but it was good to see it in action. We tripped into Larch -- seemed nice enough, the island campsite looked great. Half heartedly tried for some crappie, didn't get a single bite.
Spaghetti for supper was the call of the day -- accompanied with the 'pizza dough' bannock with sprinkles of garlic and parmesan, delicious!
The weather was so great that we took our sweet time breaking camp, probably didn't leave our site until after noon. Nice little paddle out. The wind had really kicked up on Magnetic and Gunflint on our way out, fortunately it was on our back. The 'surfing' was a little nerve racking at times but we made it through just fine.
I'm a bit of a lurker on the site, if you're a regular you've probably helped us out and didn't even know it. Thanks everyone! 