BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 01 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!
South Moose River
Entry Date:
July 26, 2018
Entry Point:
Moose River (south)
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
Once we got there, we parked, loaded up the canoe and were away. About 15 mins in, there was a fork in the river where you can stay on the Moose River or go down Bezhik Creek. We double checked the map for direction and continued down the Moose River to the first portage. It was super easy to find, unload, and walk through. After this we had some issues. There were some rapids that we came across about halfway between the 1st portage and 2nd portage. We went back and forth a few times to make sure that we didn't miss the 2nd portage but we didn't find anything. So, we actually paddled into the woods and portaged around the rapids. Once we got back in the canoe, we paddled for about 20 mins and found the 2nd portage. This portage was much shorter so we actually doubled portaged our gear. Once we got into the lake, we ended up being able to secure the 1st site on the NW side.
We settled in there for the whole trip. It was a great site with a great landing and rocks to dry things off. Sun came up right over the lake so we were able to dry things off really quickly. Star watching wasn't super great because there was a full moon on the Friday. There was a great landing pad. We saw that there were three good places to set up a tent on the site. One by the fire pit and the other two further back int he woods. The fishing from the site was fantastic as well. We caught mostly small mouths from the shore and walleyes out on the lake. We had a small radio with us so we got MPR and the Twins games from a local station in Ely. Weather was great. Little rain on the Saturday night but other than that, it was good. We did not portage to any other lakes, nor did we feel the need to. Big Moose was beautiful. We did a lot of swimming and exploring of the small islands on the lake.
We left Sunday around 8:30am after breakfast. The paddle out was a lot easier than the paddle in. We portaged around the rapids again and arrived at the car around 11:30am. We were back in the cities by 5pm.
Overall, it's a great entry point. If you do go, I would make sure to check with your outfitter to see how the water level of the river is. For us, it wasn't wasn't a problem, even in July. But, in some seasons where there is not as much rain, it's worth checking.