BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
October 10 2025
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.
Disaster at site 917
Entry Date:
October 02, 2025
Entry Point:
Sawbill Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
1
However that site (and almost all others) was occupied by 2 tents and 2 canoes, so I ended up elsewhere.
Sunday, the wind picked up drastically, the announced cold front moving in, and the occupant of that site (like almost all others) had decided to leave, most likely on Saturday when the lake was still possible. Did almost everybody leave because of incoming strong wind or incoming cold?
On Sunday night, my tent was intensely shaken by the wind like I never experienced before, despite its somewhat protected location off the shoreline into the woods, at first from a south wind and then later by a north wind.
Little did I know what was happening on that other site 917, at that time. There, a seemingly healthy pine tree at the edge of the lake, leaning south toward the lake, broke in half, fell northward, took 2 other trees with it, and covered most of the site. See pictures. Also a fourth tree broke also in half and is now blocking the path to the latrine.
Should anybody have been there that night, at best one would have had the biggest scare of one's life...
I am still pondering "what if" I, or my son and I, or the previous occupants had been there that night...
On Monday, calm was restored and I toured the lake while fishing. Site 917 was the only place I saw where trees went down...
So thank you Covid, thank you previous occupants for being there when I arrived and leaving afterward.
Be careful out there, and mindful of the trees around you.
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