BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 15 2025
Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1497 feet
Latitude: 47.8452
Longitude: -90.8169
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Gabbro Wind 8-22
Entry Date:
August 22, 2008
Entry Point:
Little Gabbro Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
We stayed at a friends cabin on White Iron Thursday night. We were up at 5:15 to get over to see TGO for some leeches and get our canoe. I didnt realize the outfitter I was renting from was 22 miles east of Ely, so we didnt get on our first portage until almost 7am. The 290 rd portage from the parking Lot to Little Gabbro was easier than expected, very well maintained and wide for the most part. We paddled through to Gabbro without having to get off the water to get through at all. AS we entered in to Gabbro, the wind was in our face and fairly strong. After a paddle down half the lake, we found a group leaving the south island camp site. We waited on eh sand beach just past it until they were gone and moved in for the next four days. We set up camp out headed out to do some fishing. We managed a handful of small walleyes and smallmouth along the NE shore of the island directly to the west of ours drifting leeches on rigs. Once the Thunder storm started to move in around dusk we headed in for some fish and steak for dinner. The island squirrel was not happy we were there as he continued to chirp all four days when we were in camp. All day and all night it seemed.
Day 2 we were up early with the rain and wind. Crawled back in until it subsided a little. Then it was off for some more fishing. Hit the same island, but ont he east side as the wind had shifted from the previous day. Same results. We got caught in some drizzle, and then saw the wall of rain coming. We got close to shore and anchored and sat in the down pour which continued on and off for a while. Headed in to dry off in the tent for a while before going back out for the evening fishing run. Fished the island again and the rocks to the west of it. Caught one 20" smallie and a lot of 9-15" eyes. Saw a loon on the way in and were able to get within 15 feet of it. Unfortunately our cameras were tucked away because of the rain. Headed in for the night and were treated to some stars as the clouds broke up a little as dark set in.
Woke up to sun and a much lighter wind. Decided to try some top waters around the shores on the north side of the lake. Nothing was doing there, so we went back to teh leeches on rigs and again found many small walleyes off a rock out cropping. Again caught one smallie at 21". Heeaded in after 8 hours drifting around the north side. Went back out for the night bite with all the same results. AS dark set in we made for camp and the fish was spectacular as the stars came out. As we watched the satelites moving around we saw a meteor enter teh atmosphere in the north sky and go all the way across it. Very cool. Settled in for our last night. We didnt realize how cold it was going to be either. Found out when I got home that it got down to 27 degrees.
Woke up around 4am to a scratchin sound in our tent. Turned on the headlamp to see a mouse scurrying up the inside of the tent. He had chewed a hole in the side of the tent and was all over the tent, looking for food I assume. A little of our trail mix had spilled out apparently at some point, and he was taking what he could. He crawled all teh way up to the ceiling and was gone through the hole again. Broke camp around 11 and headed out on teh nicest day of our trip. Almost no wind, sun was out, couldnt have asked for a better day. On our way between Gabbro and Little Gabbro we noticed how many rocks were near teh surface that we coudlnt see on our way in due to the wind. We may have been lucky to not have hit any of these the first time through. The portage out seemed much longer than when we came in of course and was a bit of a relief to get to the car. One more trip down without incident and looking forward to next years trips.