BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 12 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.
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.
Timber Frear Loop outside of the BWCA
by LindenTree
Trip Report
Entry Date:
May 28, 2019
Entry Point:
Crab Lake and Cummings from Burntside Lake
Number of Days:
2
Group Size:
1
Trip Introduction:
My first ever trip report, lets see how this goes.
I always wanted to canoe the Timber Frear Canoe Loop and finially succeded. With my dog at age 12, I figured this would be a perfect trip for her since she is having trouble with her hips.
This loop was pretty much what I figured it would be since I used to work for the USFS out of Isabella and was familiar with their boat in campsites. I stayed on Elbow Lake (2nd on in from Whitefish Lake) for 2 nites. I had a 3.5 star site with BW looking ledge rock sloping toward the lake. I saw 3 other canoes the first nite (Tuesday) and didn't see another person for 1.5 days until I took out. All sites on Elbow Lake looked pretty nice. The lone site on Timber Lake also looked nice. I wasn't impressed with the sites on Frear Lake.
I actually had two picnic tables on the site I stayed at. It was quiet and really nice.
Over all it was a great tirp. All 6 sites I looked at were clean, I think I was the only person camping on Elbow Lake. (Didn't see anyone else, just through trippers). The three campsites on Whitefish Lake were empty as well.
Would I do it again?
Probabally, but I don't like going back to places I have been to in the past.
It may be on my old age list since it is easy to get to and was quiet.
Get there during the week, I have heard that it can get busy on the weekends.
My campsite looked like it had not been used at all this year until I got there. There were also a couple of dispersed campsites that people had made. I'm not an authority on the Timber Frear Loop but I wold guess that dispersed camping is allowed.
Even with the picnic tables on my site, I was glad to have my camp chair and small table. Mosquitoes were fine but balck flies were a pain, luckily with the amount of wood around and its moisture content it made perfect conditions for a smudge fire. The smudge/smoke kept the bugs well away from my campsite.
The first two pics are of my campsite.
The other one is of a portage complete with portage sign.
Report
I'll try to add some photos.
discuss this trip report (8 comments) - last post on June 08, 2019