BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 17 2026
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.
The trip not taken
Entry Date:
September 14, 2026
Entry Point:
Sawbill Lake
Number of Days:
0
Group Size:
1
A permit for Monday, September 14 opened up, so I took it. Sunday night found me at the Sawbill Campground, among some RVs and standup tents, but the neighbors were quiet and friendly, unlike an experience there about 20 years ago when a noisy group with chainsaws built a 12 foot high bonfire while their kids roared around on unmufflered ATVs. The next day made up for it, though, when my group of eight did some day paddling. One young couple opted to do some fishing while the rest of us portaged into Kelso for a lunch stop. When Drew and Janie caught up to us, I asked "Did you catch anything?" Drew said "I caught a beauty" and Janie held up a big engagement ring on her left hand. They got engaged on the portage! We were all delighted.
Back to the present, I checked out the canoe landing. It had been "improved" by the Forest Service with a seawall of 12 by 12 timbers and a floating dock. There was no shallow water around. How do you load and launch a solo canoe in the wind, especially how do you enter a boat floating a foot below the dock? I found a tiny gravel beach up the shore at a canoe storage area accessed by a steep timber stairway from the road, but the prospect of carrying the canoe and gear down there was daunting. Back at the tent site, my 83 year old muscles started objecting as I knelt down to clean out the fire pit, and during other mundane tasks requiring bending down and standing up. At home I use one of those green kneelers to help me get down and get back up. Fortunately there was a picnic table to help in inflating the sleeping pad and sorting out the frou frou like tent lights and reading.
I built a small fire on top of the grill instead of down in the fire pit. The warm flames and coals inspired me to reconsider my decision to launch next morning. Was the near certainty of muscle pain going to ruin the pleasure of being alone out in the wilderness? The angel on my left should said "be smart", while the devil on my right shoulder said "What are you, some kind of wimp?" It wasn't easy, but I decided to cancel.
The next trip will need to be with a partner who can help with the up and down stuff. No more overnight solo trips, sadly, but I had a good share of those and I treasure the memories.