BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
March 10 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!
EP 37 to Malberg
Entry Date:
July 10, 2025
Entry Point:
Kawishiwi Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
Arrived to Kawishiwi lake and were paddling by noon. It’s a fairly quick paddle across Kawishiwi lake. Several campsites if interested in easy but remote area for families with kids. Saw several here doing just that. Takes about 45 - 60 minutes, for good paddlers, to get from entry to NE side of square lake where the channel to kawaschwong begins. Awesome paddle down the creek connecting square and kawaschwong. Several beaver dams (a few of which you’ll need to portage across, but not overly difficult) and beautiful scenery. From there it’s time for your first test. The portages from kawaschwong to Polly are the real deal. Be prepared to work hard and make the hike. 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile back to back. We took about 2.5 hours to get into Polly from NE corner of square lake. From there we continued across Polly and into Koma lake. Three more portages in short order after the front side of Polly really makes this trip a tough one. This took us around another hour or so. There seemed to be several good campsites on Polly but we didn’t actually stop at any to visit or scout on the way out. We stopped for a bit to eat and cool off and then got back to it so we could be to Malberg on the first day. Easy portage between Malberg and Koma. Stunning views on a clear day from waterfalls heading into Malberg. Got to our campsite on Malberg around 6pm Thursday after a little searching for what was easily the best site on the lake. (#1051) Set up camp and took it easy from there. This is a difficult trip in my opinion for those without experience and navigation capabilities to cover in one day but definitely worth the trip. Of all the BWCA trips we have done, this one was the most secluded and peaceful.
Took day trips to fishdance lake, Malberg/Koma falls, and explored the entirety of Malberg over the next three days. Portages to fishdance are a little tricky and there are TWO portages from river lake to fishdance. The second is around a small point close to the rapids/beaver dam. The second is the actual portage. Don’t miss it!
3 good sites in our opinion on Malberg and one 5 star. A few you could take if they weren’t available. Good fishing and absolutely gorgeous area. Highly recommend this trip if you’re willing to do the work of getting to Malberg.
Day trip out on the 5th morning of our trip. Started at 7:00am and were back to EP 37 shortly after noon but admittedly we took minimal breaks as we had a schedule to keep.
Amazing trip. If you like a quieter BWCA experience then i would highly recommend this route. 
