BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 01 2024
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!
Not the Puniest but still short
by Selfsuffi
Trip Report
Entry Date:
September 19, 2019
Entry Point:
Slim Lake
Number of Days:
2
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
A quick trip to bring my 20 yr old daughter into the BWCA for the first time. Was going to be a 4 day trip but was reduced to just two.
Report
We have about an 8 hour drive from home to Ely. We left after work Wednesday night and drove through the night to get to Ely a couple of hours before things started moving in town. We ate breakfast at Britton's when they opened the door and it was delicious. On to Cliff Wold's to pick up the canoe at 7:00am and then on to EP6 shortly afterwards. I planned on a fairly easy trip to break my daughter in slowly. She was a little tenative about how this would go. We took the easy portage to the entry point into Slim and we were off! 
We entered Slim Lake on a warm cloudy morning. We passed by the camp site across from the little island as it was occupied but stopped at the northernmost site just to check it out. We were not impressed. However, something very impressive did happen there. While on shore still we heard a low moan call. It wasn't a howl, it almost sounded like a moose a little bit. After a couple short "calls" a wolf howl was heard from what sounded like a couple hundred yards further north (this was all on the east side of Slim and we where on the west side). The single howl turned in multiple howls and in short order turned into a cacophony of howls, yips and barks. It was so beautiful and close. I have heard coyotes do this many times before but the tone and resonance was so much lower and deeper there was no doubt this was wolves. My first time hearing them in the BWCA. I looked over at my daughter and was relieved to see the pure joy on her face. She had been able to start recording in the middle of the song and we had a minute of sound to remember. I was just happy it didn't freak her out. She said she can handle wolves and bears and any small critters but if we run into a cougar then she might freak out a little bit. She is not a fan of them at all. We moved on to Rice Lake and checked out the campsite there and it wasn't bad. It had started to mist lightly and we talked about maybe just staying there. We decided to press on to Hook Lake and see if the campsite there was open. We pressed on and very lucky for us it was open. I have to say I cannot remember a nicer campsite anywhere in the BWCA. It was large and open and Hook Lake is just beautiful. I could have stayed there a week just exploring that lake and the trails around it.
We entered Slim Lake on a warm cloudy morning. We passed by the camp site across from the little island as it was occupied but stopped at the northernmost site just to check it out. We were not impressed. However, something very impressive did happen there. While on shore still we heard a low moan call. It wasn't a howl, it almost sounded like a moose a little bit. After a couple short "calls" a wolf howl was heard from what sounded like a couple hundred yards further north (this was all on the east side of Slim and we where on the west side). The single howl turned in multiple howls and in short order turned into a cacophony of howls, yips and barks. It was so beautiful and close. I have heard coyotes do this many times before but the tone and resonance was so much lower and deeper there was no doubt this was wolves. My first time hearing them in the BWCA. I looked over at my daughter and was relieved to see the pure joy on her face. She had been able to start recording in the middle of the song and we had a minute of sound to remember. I was just happy it didn't freak her out. She said she can handle wolves and bears and any small critters but if we run into a cougar then she might freak out a little bit. She is not a fan of them at all. We moved on to Rice Lake and checked out the campsite there and it wasn't bad. It had started to mist lightly and we talked about maybe just staying there. We decided to press on to Hook Lake and see if the campsite there was open. We pressed on and very lucky for us it was open. I have to say I cannot remember a nicer campsite anywhere in the BWCA. It was large and open and Hook Lake is just beautiful. I could have stayed there a week just exploring that lake and the trails around it.
We thoroughly enjoyed this site. We heard the wolves again in the evening and then again in the early morning. We explored the portage to Keneu Lake and then listened to the weather radio....I almost wish we hadn't. The outlook for Saturday and Sunday was not good. They were calling for Thunderstorms with winds 10-15 mph sustained and gusting to 20mph. Also, we heard another report say 15-20 sustained and gusting up to 30mph. The animals and rain didn't bother us but wind is a big thing I worry about. I know the odds are small but blow down is something I don't want to play around with. Call it extreme caution of a father not wanting to put his daughter in danger but we decided to pack up and head back to Slim Lake and see if there was an open campsite there. We got back to Slim and what was open on our way in were now occupied. Rather than risk the weather and have a great trip end on a bad note we went ahead and left. We were both pretty disappointed on the drive back home but we both agreed a return trip next year was in order and she now knows what to expect and understands why I love going there. 
So that is the quick breakdown on the shortest trip I have taken into the BWCA but I did make a new trip partner....I think....lol~Slim Lake, Rice Lake, Hook Lake, Keneu Lake
Lakes Traveled:
Slim Lake,
Rice Lake,
Hook Lake,
Keneu Lake,
discuss this trip report (14 comments) - last post on October 08, 2019