Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

July 04 2025

Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake

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Baker Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Tofte Ranger Station near the city of Tofte, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 26 miles. Access is a boat landing at Baker Lake with a 10-rod portage into Peterson Lake to reach first campsite. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

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.

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Daddy/Daughter Trip to Caribou w/ H

by ducks

Trip Report

Entry Date: July 27, 2012
Entry Point: Lizz and Swamp Lakes
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:

Last fall during a family day trip along the Gunflint Trail while we were staying in Grand Marais our oldest daughter said that she wanted to paddle in the bow instead of the middle seat because she wanted to show us that she could go on a trip with just daddy. I was so excited! When she was 5 she went to Perent Lake from Hog Creek with both mommy and I and she has been on many day trips in the BWCA. So, at age 7 she has some experience in the BWCA, but this would be her first overnight trip with just her and one adult. At the end of June I checked to see which entry points were available for the last weekend of July and picked 4 that I thought would be a good/easy trip with kiddo. I laid out the maps with H and told her what I knew about each area and let her make the decision on where we were going. Lizz EP to Caribou it was! I think the deciding factor was that we would be staying in the bunkhouse at Rockwood the night before entry. I decided to rent a smaller canoe because our SR Quetico 18.5 would be too much boat for the 2 of us especially if it was windy. It ended up being a very good decision. We used a 16ft royalex Wenonah Adirondack and it was a nice little canoe. This is hopefully going to be the first of many daddy/daughter trips for me. While H and I went to the BWCA and bonded, little M and mommy stayed home and did their own fun things and had their own chance to bond. Next year I will be taking M with me while H stays home. This is a tradition that we hope carries on for many years to come. The following report is written by H. I took the idea from someone else on the messageboard (sorry, I can't remember who it was and I couldn't find the post using the search) when they said they are going to have their kids do trip reports because they thought it would be neat to have some trip reports from a kid's perspective on the messageboard.

Day 1 of 4

Friday, July 27, 2012

(Drive from home to Rockwood Lodge on the Gunflint Trail)

I bought a Loon at the Ranger Station in Grand Marais and a book. We ate at SOB in Grand Marais and at the Trail Center. I made a new friend at Rockwood and we went swimming. I love mommy. Then we went to sleep

Day 2 of 4

Saturday, July 28, 2012

We woke up really early. (up at 5:00, on the water at 6:20, at Caribou at 8:00) I made another new friend (MagicStik's daughter) and we played at the campsite. We went fishing and caught walleye. We went swimming. Then we went to bed. Poplar Lake, Lizz Lake, Caribou Lake

Day 3 of 4

Sunday, July 29, 2012

We slept in. Then we went fishing. I caught a smallmouth bass. We had my first fish fry. It rained a lot so we played Uno. I drew pictures for mommy. I played with the leeches. Then we went to sleep. Caribou Lake

Day 4 of 4

Monday, July 30, 2012

We woke up early again. (up at 5:00, on water at 6:30, back to Rockwood at 8:00) We left our campsite. We showered at Rockwood and talked to them. (Mike and Lin who are great outfitters and great people) We ate at Trail Center again. They have big pancakes. Then we drove home. I was happy to see mommy and M. When do I get to go to the Boundary Waters again? Caribou Lake, Lizz Lake, Poplar Lake [paragraph break] For a few years now (ever since reading about Kiporby's trips with his daughter) I've been dreaming about a daddy/daughter trip with my girls. It was everything I had hoped for and more. The quality bonding time I had with my daughter was simply amazing. I am very proud of my little girl. She grew up a lot on this trip and she is a great tripping partner. I'm looking forward to the same thing with little M next year as well as a trip with the whole family. It was great meeting "MagicStik" and part of his family on Caribou (thank you for the fishing info that helped H get her first BWCA fish fry) and "Tony" at the Trading Post in Grand Marais. The people from this site are so cool and it was nice meeting some in person.