BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
November 28 2025
Entry Point 54 - Seagull Lake
Seagull Lake entry point allows overnight paddle or motor (10 HP (except where paddle only) max). This entry point is supported by Gunflint Ranger Station near the city of Grand Marais, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 50 miles. No motors (use or possession) west of Three Mile Island. Large lake with several campsites. landing at Seagull Lake. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 8
Elevation: 1205 feet
Latitude: 48.1469
Longitude: -90.8693
Seagull Lake - 54
Number of Permits per Day: 8
Elevation: 1205 feet
Latitude: 48.1469
Longitude: -90.8693
Seagull Lake - 54
2024 Seagull (54) - Knife - Seagull Loop (54)
by starz1994
Trip Report
Entry Date:
June 23, 2024
Entry Point:
Seagull Lake
Number of Days:
9
Group Size:
9
Trip Introduction:
I have had the pleasure of paddling the beautiful BWCA with my dad, son's, and other family members over the years. My dad expressed an interest in visiting Knife Lake after our trip last year, so this year's trip is all about exploring and fishing the Knife Lake area.
Day 1 of 9
Sunday, June 23, 2024 - Seagull Lake We wake up at 5:30 am feeling a bit cold this morning at Piece of Heaven Campground in Rice Lake Wisconsin. We usually catch a bunkhouse or campground close to our entry point the night before we set out, but this year we decided to try something new and enter the wilderness the day we arrive to the BWCAW. After breaking camp we are all excited to continue our road trip northward, to the majestic beauty of the north woods. We'll be targeting the Gunflint Trail area this year. Before we get too far, we stop for breakfast at Lona's Corner Cafe in Haugen for breakfast. It's our go to breakfast stop. Over the years, we've made it our custom to travel from the Indianapolis Indiana area to Rice Lake on the first day of our trip where we stay at Piece of Heaven Campground. This little campground has a clean bathroom/shower, great people, free firewood, the perfect place to stop for the night. We shake down our gear, unwind from the daily hustle bustle of everyday life, and talk about past trips and expectations of this year's trip. A few years ago we stopped in at Lana's Corner Cafe for breakfast, and it was great food, great atmosphere, and great people so we decided to have breakfast there again this year. After breakfast we embark northward toward Grand Marais, MN. Everyone was ready to eat again when we arrive in Grand Marais so we stop in the Fisherman's Daughter Fish Market. They might be the best fish and chips I've ever had. On to the Gunflint Trail.... Not far after we passed Trail Center, we noticed a blue Dodge truck pulled off on the side of the road. We slowed down to make sure everything was ok and noticed a moose walking along the side of the lake. What a cool start to our trip!! Not long and we arrive at Seagull Outfitters. There are 9 of us this year: Dad, Noah, Joel, Levi, Christopher, Quinton, Angelina, Dakota, and myself. We'll be renting 3 MN3 canoes from Deb and Crew at Seagull Outfitters. We've outfitted with Seagull Outfitters several times, and have always had a great experience!! It has been raining off and on most of the day, but the sun is starting to come out now. 
It's about 4:30 pm as we paddle away from the dock at Seagull Outfitters, on a southwesterly heading looking to find an open campsite on Seagull for the night. The wind lays down, the sun is out, life is good! 
We arrive at site #448 on the south shore of Seagull with plenty of daylight remaining in the day. We set up camp, tidy up our gear, and even decide to go for an afternoon swim. This site has a great rock to jump into the lake from. I end up putting new fishing line on a few reels. 
Joel and Quinton went fishing. They caught a few, but we decided to release them instead of clean them for dinner. Joel and Quinton were trolling and got their lines crossed and tangled, so we cut off some of the new line. Dad and I joked about it and had a good laugh. 
Levi and I went swimming and scrambled around on the rocks. 
Christopher has pretty much become camp chef over the years, and doesn't disappoint with our first dinner of the trip. We noticed a beaver swim by our site this evening. The weather is perfect, today has been the perfect start to our trip, spirits are high, lots of laughing and everyone is having fun. With our large group of 9, we decided to bring a mix of tents and hammocks. Levi, Joel and I look over the map and discuss our goals for tomorrow. As the first day of our trek comes to an end, I realize how lucky I am that my Dad introduced me to this great wilderness years ago. I'm so thankful. Campsite #448 is nice. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. Rocky landing, but easy to unload. Large enough for 3 tents, small trees, not great for hammocking. Latrine is uphill, a bit of work to get to it. The fishing near camp was fair. Great site for swimming.
It's about 4:30 pm as we paddle away from the dock at Seagull Outfitters, on a southwesterly heading looking to find an open campsite on Seagull for the night. The wind lays down, the sun is out, life is good! We arrive at site #448 on the south shore of Seagull with plenty of daylight remaining in the day. We set up camp, tidy up our gear, and even decide to go for an afternoon swim. This site has a great rock to jump into the lake from. I end up putting new fishing line on a few reels. Joel and Quinton went fishing. They caught a few, but we decided to release them instead of clean them for dinner. Joel and Quinton were trolling and got their lines crossed and tangled, so we cut off some of the new line. Dad and I joked about it and had a good laugh. Levi and I went swimming and scrambled around on the rocks. Christopher has pretty much become camp chef over the years, and doesn't disappoint with our first dinner of the trip. We noticed a beaver swim by our site this evening. The weather is perfect, today has been the perfect start to our trip, spirits are high, lots of laughing and everyone is having fun. With our large group of 9, we decided to bring a mix of tents and hammocks. Levi, Joel and I look over the map and discuss our goals for tomorrow. As the first day of our trek comes to an end, I realize how lucky I am that my Dad introduced me to this great wilderness years ago. I'm so thankful. Campsite #448 is nice. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. Rocky landing, but easy to unload. Large enough for 3 tents, small trees, not great for hammocking. Latrine is uphill, a bit of work to get to it. The fishing near camp was fair. Great site for swimming.
Day 2 of 9
Monday, June 24, 2024~Sea Gull Lake, Alpine Lake, Jasper Lake
We slept in a bit this morning. Levi was up in the middle of the night feeling sick to his stomach. The strap on Joel's under quilt broke, so he ended up in the tent with Levi and I last night. We'll fix it today... It was pretty cool last night. 
Christopher made pancakes for breakfast. Dad brought some really great coffee for a treat. After breakfast we broke camp and paddled west. 
Joel and Q hung out on the rock around camp before after breakfast. Well, we tried to paddle west, but the wind was directly out of the south and it pushed us in a north westerly direction. Once we were able to get near the western shore line we made our way to the portage head. The 97 rod portage from Sea Gull to Alpine is pretty easy, it just had a few muddy spots. We made quick work of this portage and and paddle across Alpine to the next portage into Jasper. 
This portage has a nice view of the rapids that runs beside it with about a 10 foot tall water fall at the Jasper end. 
On our way to campsite #797 Joel caught a nice Lake Trout, he was so excited! We set up Camp, Levi napped in the tend, Joel, Q and I went fishing. I had a ball watching Joel and Q fishing with floating frogs this afternoon. 
Quinton caught a small mouth bass that Christopher was glad to add to our dinner menu. The gumbo he made was off the hook! Yum. We even had smores for dessert. After Dinner we decided to take some photos of the group with the sunset in the background. What a fun day!!
It begins to rain as we head to bed for the night. I can hear thunder in the distance. I'll sleep good tonight.
Day 3 of 9
Tuesday, June 25, 2024~Jasper Lake, Kingfisher Lake, Ogishkemuncie Lake, Annie Lake, Jenny Lake 
We wake up early this morning to try to get ahead of the afternoon winds on our way to South Arm of Knife. We have oatmeal for breakfast, coffee, and break camp early to get a jumpstart on our day. 
Quickly across Jasper, Kingfisher, and into Ogishkemuncie. Once on Ogish, the head wind picks up. We'll spend the rest of the morning and afternoon paddling into the wind. We stop at the western site on Jenny and decide to make it home for the night. We are all pretty tired from the extra paddling today. Most of us took and afternoon nap after we set up camp. We made potato soup for lunch and made sure everyone drank plenty of water. Our group paddled hard today, and portaged well. Everything seems to work very efficiently. If the wind wasn't so fierce we would have made South Arm of Knife today. I'm excited to see Knife Lake tomorrow. This is the last section of the border lakes that dad and I haven't had the opportunity to paddle together yet. We've tripped together for over 30 years at this point, but never been to Knife Lake. Levi is feeling homesick this evening and tells me he's not sure he wants to come along next time around. He misses mom and the dogs. He says he may change his mind, I think he's just tired. Noah, Joel and Q are self sufficient now days. They are young men, but can handle their own needs in the wilderness. I'm proud that they don't need my help for things anymore. I think Dad, Christopher, Angelina and Dakota are all having a great trip. I'm not sure I can put into words how being in this wilderness makes me truly feel alive and free. We didn't fish at all today. We ate plenty of snacks, made pizzas for dinner, made chai tea, coffee, filtered plenty of water and head to bed early... the sun is still up. I'll read Jack London's "Call of the Wild" to Levi in the tent until he falls asleep tonight.
We wake up early this morning to try to get ahead of the afternoon winds on our way to South Arm of Knife. We have oatmeal for breakfast, coffee, and break camp early to get a jumpstart on our day. Quickly across Jasper, Kingfisher, and into Ogishkemuncie. Once on Ogish, the head wind picks up. We'll spend the rest of the morning and afternoon paddling into the wind. We stop at the western site on Jenny and decide to make it home for the night. We are all pretty tired from the extra paddling today. Most of us took and afternoon nap after we set up camp. We made potato soup for lunch and made sure everyone drank plenty of water. Our group paddled hard today, and portaged well. Everything seems to work very efficiently. If the wind wasn't so fierce we would have made South Arm of Knife today. I'm excited to see Knife Lake tomorrow. This is the last section of the border lakes that dad and I haven't had the opportunity to paddle together yet. We've tripped together for over 30 years at this point, but never been to Knife Lake. Levi is feeling homesick this evening and tells me he's not sure he wants to come along next time around. He misses mom and the dogs. He says he may change his mind, I think he's just tired. Noah, Joel and Q are self sufficient now days. They are young men, but can handle their own needs in the wilderness. I'm proud that they don't need my help for things anymore. I think Dad, Christopher, Angelina and Dakota are all having a great trip. I'm not sure I can put into words how being in this wilderness makes me truly feel alive and free. We didn't fish at all today. We ate plenty of snacks, made pizzas for dinner, made chai tea, coffee, filtered plenty of water and head to bed early... the sun is still up. I'll read Jack London's "Call of the Wild" to Levi in the tent until he falls asleep tonight.
Day 4 of 9
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 - Jenny, Eddy, South Arm Knife We get an early start today after another rainy night. We pack our wet gear and make ready to paddle and portage towards the South Arm of Knife Lake. There is a chill in the air this morning, and we hope to find a nice site this afternoon before the wind picks up. We make quick work of the paddle across Jenny, the portage to Eddy, the paddle across Eddy and the portage into the South Arm of Knife. Both portages were pretty short and sweet. We paddle west from the portage into South Arm of Knife to a nice island campsite #1433. 
We decided to stop pretty early today for a few reasons. A group of 3 guys fishing told us that when they came into the area a couple of days ago, all of the sites to the west were occupied. We also wanted to take advantage of the nice afternoon to dry our gear, we didn't want to push on and risk not finding an open site until later in the day and spending the night in wet gear. We also thought this site was very nice and large enough for our group of 9. 
Christopher decided to take a nap while we were drying our gear. 
We made some hot tea and snacked for lunch.
We decided to stop pretty early today for a few reasons. A group of 3 guys fishing told us that when they came into the area a couple of days ago, all of the sites to the west were occupied. We also wanted to take advantage of the nice afternoon to dry our gear, we didn't want to push on and risk not finding an open site until later in the day and spending the night in wet gear. We also thought this site was very nice and large enough for our group of 9. Christopher decided to take a nap while we were drying our gear. We made some hot tea and snacked for lunch.
Quinton and Joel spend the whole afternoon and evening fishing around the large island. Levi and I fished near our campsite for a while. Dad and I paddled around the island to check in on Joel and Quinton. Quinton and Joel had caught several fish, so we decided to clean a few for fish tacos for dinner. 
After dinner while getting water for washing the dishes, Noah found about a million crawdads in the shallow area in front of camp. No wonder Levi and I didn't catch any fish near camp, the fish there had plenty of crawfish to eat...
Tonight is looking to be a beautiful evening. 
Day 5 of 9
Thursday, June 27, 2024 - South Arm Knife, Knife. We wake up this morning to a nice, warm, sunny day! The cold wet weather the last few nights have been wearing on me for some reason this trip. The weather is so warm and sunny we go swimming before breakfast. We start the morning with coffee, hot spiced chi, and chef Christopher prepared scrambled eggs with bacon bits, hashbrowns and gravy for breakfast. It was a hit with everyone and provided a moral boost for our whole group! 
Today's paddle will be easy as can be with the wind at our back most of the day. We decided to take the 39 rod portage to cut a few miles off our paddle today since we get a late start. This will mean that we miss paddling west to see some of the most popular destinations of Knife Lake, but that's just a good excuse to come back to this area sometime in the future. We notice several survey/border markers as we paddle toward the northeast end of Knife. 
We arrive at the portage into Ottertrack Lake and much to our surprise we discover our favorite campsite of this trip so far, site #1997. This site was large enough for our group, is elevated off the water and had a nice little waterfall nearby. After setting up camp, we all go fishing. We all caught fish, mostly small mouth bass. Noah napped in his hammock this afternoon, we are all enjoying the beautiful weather. Even though we are between 2 portages, we don't see any other people using the portages today. 
Today's paddle will be easy as can be with the wind at our back most of the day. We decided to take the 39 rod portage to cut a few miles off our paddle today since we get a late start. This will mean that we miss paddling west to see some of the most popular destinations of Knife Lake, but that's just a good excuse to come back to this area sometime in the future. We notice several survey/border markers as we paddle toward the northeast end of Knife. We arrive at the portage into Ottertrack Lake and much to our surprise we discover our favorite campsite of this trip so far, site #1997. This site was large enough for our group, is elevated off the water and had a nice little waterfall nearby. After setting up camp, we all go fishing. We all caught fish, mostly small mouth bass. Noah napped in his hammock this afternoon, we are all enjoying the beautiful weather. Even though we are between 2 portages, we don't see any other people using the portages today.
Day 6 of 9
Friday, June 28, 2024 - Knife Lake We like this campsite so much, we decide to take a layover day and sleep in and fish today. We wake up to another rainy morning, and most of us stayed in our tent or hammock until after noon. It will rain off and on most of the day. I really tried to target walleye today, but I just haven't ever been able to figure them out. Today is no different, I'll get back to the drawing board and try to figure out some way to catch these elusive fish on our next trip... Of course even a bad day fishing, is better than a good day doing many other things! We catch several more small mouth bass and northern pike today. No walleye, but a good day of fishing otherwise. We have an early dinner, and most of our group is asleep pretty early tonight. Joel and Quinton clean a couple of fish and make themselves fish for dinner. Today was a great day to just relax and enjoy the wilderness. 
Day 7 of 9
Saturday, June 29, 2024 - Knife, Ottertrack, Swamp, Saganaga We wake up to thunderstorms this morning. but broke camp quickly to get a good start to our day. We plan to paddle to American Point on big Saganaga today. Noah, Joel and Q will lead our crew today and work on their navigation skills. They do a great job, and continue to impress me with their abilities in the wilderness. Monument Portage is really cool. We take several photos, and even a video crossing this portage from Ottertrack to Swamp. 
We pulled over our canoes from Swamp into Saganaga instead of a short portage. Once on big Sag, is when the fun started. The wind picked up out of the northeast and we were paddling into the wind, with whitecap waves. It was a difficult paddle, but we were able to make our way to American Point as planned. We stopped for the night at site #2072 
We were all wet and tired from our paddle today, some of us took naps. We were wind bound, so we hung around camp, and set up a clothes line to dry our gear. We boiled water, made coffee and spiced chi, and set up camp. We built a fire, warmed up, dried out and hit the sack. There is a cold chill in the air tonight. The wind from the northeast is bringing in colder temps. Everyone was tired and fell asleep pretty quickly. The sky is clear tonight, and I hope that means the rain is done for the rest of our trip.
We pulled over our canoes from Swamp into Saganaga instead of a short portage. Once on big Sag, is when the fun started. The wind picked up out of the northeast and we were paddling into the wind, with whitecap waves. It was a difficult paddle, but we were able to make our way to American Point as planned. We stopped for the night at site #2072 We were all wet and tired from our paddle today, some of us took naps. We were wind bound, so we hung around camp, and set up a clothes line to dry our gear. We boiled water, made coffee and spiced chi, and set up camp. We built a fire, warmed up, dried out and hit the sack. There is a cold chill in the air tonight. The wind from the northeast is bringing in colder temps. Everyone was tired and fell asleep pretty quickly. The sky is clear tonight, and I hope that means the rain is done for the rest of our trip.
Day 8 of 9
Sunday, June 30, 2024 - Saganaga This morning is a bright sunny dry morning. We made vegetable soup for brunch, and take our time breaking camp. 
We have a nice easy paddle over to Clark Island, were we find another nice site #362. This site has a really great place for a few hammocks or tents if you climb up the rocks south of the firegrate to a nice elevated area with a great view of the lake. There is quite a bit of motor boat traffic, but other than that this site is very nice. There are even some places to jump off the rocks into the water. We take advantage of the beautiful weather today and jump off the rocks and swim most of the afternoon. It's fun to watch everyone having so much fun and enjoying the wilderness as much as I do!
We have a nice easy paddle over to Clark Island, were we find another nice site #362. This site has a really great place for a few hammocks or tents if you climb up the rocks south of the firegrate to a nice elevated area with a great view of the lake. There is quite a bit of motor boat traffic, but other than that this site is very nice. There are even some places to jump off the rocks into the water. We take advantage of the beautiful weather today and jump off the rocks and swim most of the afternoon. It's fun to watch everyone having so much fun and enjoying the wilderness as much as I do!
Day 9 of 9
Monday, July 01, 2024 - Saganaga - Seagull River - Gull - Seagull Another beautiful day today!! We take our time breaking camp again today and enjoy the sunny warm weather. The last day of any wilderness trek is always bittersweet. I'm never in a hurry to leave this beautiful place, but I also realize we must eventually return home and our responsibilities there. We efficiently paddle south towards our goal of Seagull Lake. As we paddle down the Sea Gull River we decided to stop in and have a beer at Voyager Outfitters. This place is AWESOME! After a few days out in the wilderness, a nice cold beer really hit the spot. This will be a new tradition for future trips if we exit out of Sag this way again. Great people, great facility, just awesome all around. After out stop at Voyager, we paddle south again, through Gull Lake, portage through Trails End Campground, and paddle onward to Sea Gull. We take our time paddling and enjoying the day all the way back to Seagull Outfitters, also an AWESOME place! The staff at Seagull Outfitters is top notch, and has the canoes on the wash racks in no time. They are all friendly and helpful! We turn in our rented canoes, put the rest of our personal gear in our vehicles, take hot showers, and talk about our trip before beginning our drive back home to Indiana. 
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