BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 23 2024
Entry Point 39 - From Big Lake
Big 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 28 miles. Access La Pond Lake with a 160-rod portage from outside the BWCAW on Big Lake. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1161 feet
Latitude: 48.0651
Longitude: -92.0188
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.
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1161 feet
Latitude: 48.0651
Longitude: -92.0188
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.
Family Time
by Ejd159
Trip Report
Entry Date:
August 18, 2020
Entry Point:
Moose Lake
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
6
Trip Introduction:
So me and my cousin decided we hadnt been on a bwca trip for about 10 years and we got my two other cousins to go and bring teenagers for first time trip
Day 1 of 7
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 We leave baxter mn at 6am to head to Lauterells for a tow to ensign portage, we camped on backside near trident\vera portage 
Day 3 of 7
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 Ahhh after setting up camp from night before we figure we would do some fishing, tried jigging and different depth cranks, only caught with a few bass and some pike, headed back to camp and ended up making steaks we brought 
~Ensign Lake
~Ensign Lake
Day 5 of 7
Thursday, August 20, 2020 This was best day we had for fishing, also the hottest. 4 of Us woke up early and decided to head over to trident, this portage was terribly slippery from morning due on the slanted rock portions. Once at the lake when we set out of portage my younger cousin(15) got stung by wasp and dumped us:( luckly it was only about 4 ft of water and no electronics were damaged. We split the lake looking walleye and we heard west side of lake was great for sunfish as we wanted to do fish fry back at camp that night. Both canoes found good walleye pockets. sunfish twords west and vegitive areas. After we filled our stringers and found we were terribly sunburnt we tried froging bass in back bay twords end of evening but only caught one small guy 
~Trident Lake
~Trident Lake
Day 7 of 7
Friday, August 21, 2020 After getting all fat an sassy on fish night before we decided to just chill at camp this day as it was raining on and off and windy.
Day 9 of 7
Saturday, August 22, 2020 After storming all night it was really humid on this day and bugs were bad! Me and cousin went over to Ashigan for some potential big pike but only caught a super small one after a whole day out there and then got stormed on the ride back later. Meanwhile my teenage cousins got some good photography back at camp. Throughout day 
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Day 12 of 7
Sunday, August 23, 2020 This day we spent relaxing and getting eveything ready to head out in the am, caught a few smallmouth from shore
Day 14 of 7
Monday, August 24, 2020 Left camp at about 9am was back in ely at about 2ish. Had some beers and bomb burgers at random restaurant in ely. Cant wait to head back late spring.
discuss this trip report (2 comments) - last post on February 03, 2021