BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
October 18 2024
Entry Point 33 - Little Gabbro Lake
Little Gabbro Lake 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 23 miles. Access is a 200-rod portage from the parking lot to Little Gabbro Lake.
Number of Permits per Day: 1.5
Elevation: 1235 feet
Latitude: 47.8481
Longitude: -91.6357
Little Gabbro Lake - 33
Number of Permits per Day: 1.5
Elevation: 1235 feet
Latitude: 47.8481
Longitude: -91.6357
Little Gabbro Lake - 33
Powwow Trail Backpacking
by slugger
Trip Report
Entry Date:
October 14, 2024
Entry Point:
Isabella Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
We had intentions of coming to the BWCA to hike the Sioux-Hustler trail. Timing wasn't on our side, as the Shell Lake fire was reported and closed the trail, which we discovered the night of 10/12. We changed our plans to instead hike the Powwow Trail. The intention was to hike this in 4 days, 3 nights. But we moved through more quickly and finished it in 3 days. We hiked the trail with our three Siberian Huskies.
Day 1 of 3
Monday, October 14, 2024 We began our morning in Little Isabella River Campground as we drove up the day before and stayed the night here in preparation for our hike after the drive up from SE Wisconsin. We arrived at the trailhead and had our packs and dogs ready to move on the trail by 10am. As expected from our short time to research this trail, the “stem” of the trail was relatively straight, flat and easy hiking until we reached the branch where the loop began. We hiked clockwise, with the goal of reaching the Quadga Lake campsite for our first night. Besides cool temperatures and sporadic rain and freezing rain, the hike was relatively uneventful. A lot of mostly straight hiking with some sections of overgrown grass, which was still relatively easy to navigate. Quadga Lake was beautiful and we experienced a long enough break in the rain to set up camp and make dinner before the rain really started coming down around 6 and we ushered all the huskies and ourselves into the tent to stay dry. 
Day 2 of 3
Tuesday, October 15, 2024 The morning of day two was bitter and frosty. Weather reports were expecting high 20’s and low 30’s for the night. We took it easy and enjoyed our warm oatmeal and hot coffee by the lake as the sun started to come out from the thinning clouds. We didn’t hit the trail until around 10am with the goal of making it at least to Horseshoe Lake, if not all the way to North Wilder Lake. We quickly found out that today made for much slower hiking. A lot more technical walking, ups and downs and careful foot placement. Between Path Lake and Rock of Ages Lake we had to navigate some downed trees on the trail that looked relatively fresh, as well as a very large trunked tree that looked like a recent fall. Despite that extra work the trail around Rock of Ages Lake was beautiful and well worth the extra trouble. With our progress much slower than we expected, we decided that we would indeed camp at Horseshoe Lake for the night and had beautiful sunshine that evening to set out our wet tent and other gear to get completely dried out. It was a beautiful night and wished we could have had a campfire, but with the fire restrictions in place we settled for setting our sleeping bags up by the water with hot water bottles to watch the stars for a short time before we turned in for the night. 
Day 3 of 3
Wednesday, October 16, 2024 We had even more frost from the cold night than the day before and made quick work of breaking camp as we expected we’d be able to hike out today if the last bit of the loop was as easy walking as the first part we hiked on day one. We found more trees down mostly between North Wilder Lake and South Wilder Lake that slowed our progress. When we arrived at Pose Creek, we found it completely flooded. We contemplated wandering upstream to see if we could find a dry option to cross but instead we opted to shed our boots and cross with wet feet. In a warmer season we might have crossed right where the trail ran but after taking a single step forward into the creek and frigid water coming up to my knees, we didn’t want to risk getting so wet in such cool temps (We suspected the middle might reach up to my waist). Using some of the fallen trees nearby, we were able to mostly navigate the crossing by using a combination of the trees, submerged rocks and submerged logs and only got wet up to our knees. The huskies somewhat followed our route but swam through some of the areas that made the most sense to them. All our huskies are confident hikers and were comfortable finding their own way across. After swapping for dry socks, we continued on. As expected, past the Pose Lake Campsite spur trail the hiking was relatively easy, especially after the trail turned back towards the “Wye”. This whole section is relatively easy (compared to the northwestern side of the loop) and we were finally able to pound some quicker miles back to the car.
Plan for a slower pace of hiking between Superstition Lake and Pose Creek, not only because the terrain is harder but also because I expect these are the further out, harder areas for volunteer crews to reach for tree clearing.
discuss this trip report (0 comments) - last post on October 17, 2024