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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

July 04 2025

Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake

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.

Poplar Lake Loop 2013

by enreil
Trip Report

Entry Date: June 14, 2013
Entry Point: Lizz and Swamp Lakes
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 5

Trip Introduction:
This was my second foray into the BWCA and my first time going in off the Gunflint.

Day 1 of 4


Friday, June 14, 2013: Poplar Lake, Lizz Lake, Caribou Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Allen Lake, Jump Lake, Gaskin Lake, Winchell Lake

We drove up to the Nor'wester Lodge the night before from the Cities and camped there for easy entry into the BWCA the next day via the Lizz Lake entry point. A swarm of mosquitoes greeted us right when we got out of the car, and plans for no fire quickly changed in order to keep those bugs away! We stood around the fire for awhile after setting up camp until the bugs and a desire to get an early start drove us to our tents.

On Friday we packed up, ate a decidedly unhealthy but very delicious breakfast of doughnuts, and picked up our permits and canoes. Since we were going to travel each day, we went with Kevlar canoes, and I can't imagine going on a portage again with anything else. We put in at Poplar, and spent the day paddling our way to Winchell Lake. The weather was beautiful, with a slight wind from the West. This wind of course picked up as soon as we got onto Winchell. We decided to forego lunch in favor of getting to our campsite, which took a long time in that wind! We were pointed to the campsite across from the Cliff Lake portage by some kayakers we met on the lake, and were glad for their recommendation as that was a nice site. We could tell it was a popular one as dry firewood was hard to find. Dinner was steak and potatoes over the fire - doesn't get much better than that!

 



Day 2 of 4


Saturday, June 15, 2013: Winchell Lake, Omega Lake, Kiskadinna Lake

Since Friday was a long day of padding, we took it easier today and traveled into Kiskadinna. We decided to make this the far end of our loop and spend the next two days making our way back to Poplar. We took the westernmost site on the lake and were treated to a beautiful evening and sunset. Dinner was hot dogs and brats. This site had a small bog to the north, and at night we heard lots of critter activity in that direction, but being bone tired helped ensure we slept. Bug activity throughout the trip has been heavy on the mosquitoes.

 



Day 3 of 4


Sunday, June 16, 2013: Kiskadinna Lake, Omega Lake, Henson Lake, Pillsbery Lake, Swallow Lake, Meeds Lake

We journeyed from Kiskadinna to Meeds today. The day dawned beautiful, which gave no indication of the weather to come! We made it to Meeds in the early afternoon and set up camp on the easternmost island.

NB: the F-13 map has the portage from Pillsbery into Swallow in the wrong location. You need to go through the narrow stretch of water where it looks like the portage and into small bay to the north, and you'll find the portage. It took us 30 min. to figure this out!

I think we would have appreciated this site more if it wouldn't have started raining 2 hours after we got there. We could see the thunderheads building all day, and got our tarp up just in time for the first storm, which came with very strong winds. The storm blew over quickly, but we spent the rest of the day and evening in the rain. We were able to get a fire going and made pizzas over it (delicious!) and retired early.

 



Day 4 of 4


Monday, June 17, 2013: Meeds Lake, Caribou Lake, Lizz Lake, Poplar Lake

We were ready to get out of the BWCA this morning! It was quite chilly during the night, and just as soon as we packed up camp (sopping wet) and hit the lake, the rain started again and didn't quit until just after we got back to the outfitters on Poplar! The wind had blown a tree down over the portage from Lizz into Poplar, but we made it over with little trouble. We were glad we had dry clothes in the car! We turned in the canoes and headed back down the North Shore and back to the real world, glad to be out of the rain, but missing the simplicity of being out in the wilderness and looking forward to the next time we come back to the BWCA! 

 

Lakes Traveled:   Meeds Lake, Caribou Lake, Lizz Lake, Poplar Lake,

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