BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 07 2024
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.
24 Hour Canoe Challenge
Entry Date:
September 13, 2014
Entry Point:
Kawishiwi Lake
Number of Days:
2
Group Size:
2
The long portage from Elton to Little Sag is hilly and overgrown, so we opted to take the two shorter portages instead. The wind was calm, so we made good time from Little Sag through Mora and across Tuscarora, reaching the 30 mile mark just before noon along the portage between Tuscarora and Howl. Traveling on through Copper and Snipe, we met the first people of the day on Cross Bay Lake. By the time we got to Long Island Lake, a south wind had picked up, which slowed us down a little as we headed across Cherokee, still on track to reach our goal of 60 miles before midnight.
The long portage south of Cherokee is not difficult, but because a beaver dam has gone out on Ada Lake, the portage between Scoop and Ada is longer and muddier than before. We crossed the 50 mile mark on Sawbill Lake just as the sun was setting, then turned west through the Lady Chain lakes. It was pitch dark and we were exhausted by the time we got to the portages between Alton, Beth, Ella, and Grace, and the miles seemed to crawl past. We had to do everything very slowly and deliberately, but we pushed on across Grace and through three more portages, arriving on Phoebe Lake just before midnight. It took another last hurrah to circle around the lake looking for an unoccupied site, where we finally stopped and crashed, having traveled a total of 60.7 miles, including 8.4 miles of portages.
After sleeping for 12 hours and getting a slow start the second day, we got back on the water and paddled 16 more miles through Polly back to Kawishiwi, finishing the trip around 10 pm on September 14.