BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 18 2025
Entry Point 30 - Lake One
Number of Permits per Day: 13
Elevation: 1230 feet
Latitude: 47.9391
Longitude: -91.4792
My son Remy and I, and my friend Keith and his son Charlie put our canoes into Lake one at 9:30 Monday morning after dropping off a car at the Snowbank Lake landing. Lake One can be tricky to navigate. On our way to Lake Two we turned East too early and ended up paddling about a mile out of our way into a dead-end bay before we realized our mistake. We blamed the fact that Lake One was split between Fisher Maps #10 and #4 for our error. If the entire lake had been visible at once on a single map, we would not have made the wrong turn. Once we got back on course we portaged the 30 rods into a pond and then portaged the 40 rods into Lake Two. The weather was nice, and there was a bit of a tail wind out of the West. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Lake Two. After lunch we canoed through the North end of Lake Three and into Lake Four. We stopped for the night at a campsite on the West shore of Lake Four, just North of the channel heading toward Hudson Lake. We had to battle swarms of mosquitoes as we set up the tents. We then had a nice refreshing swim. Because we had brought steaks along for the first night, we didn't go fishing.
On Tuesday morning we had a bacon and eggs breakfast then packed up camp and headed out in our canoes. As we canoed past our campsite, we realized that Remy & I had left our hammocks pitched between trees. We landed again and quickly packed them up. Once again we had beautiful weather. We paddled East and completed 3 short portages before entering Hudson Lake. The 105 rod portage into Lake Insula was exhausting! Lake Insula is a large gorgeous lake broken up by multiple islands and penninsulas. We had lunch at a campsite on a large island just East of Hudson Lake. It felt like we had a tail wind as we were heading East, and then as we turned North it seemed like the wind shifted and was at our backs once again. We navigated Lake Insula flawlessly and camped for the night on the island just West of Williamson Island. After setting up the tents and a refreshing swim, Remy & I got back into the canoe and tried to catch some fish. We had no luck! At 9PM that night, just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled through. That night I was awakened several times by the loud croaking of bullfrogs from the shallows around our island. What noisy neighbors!
By Wednesday morning the weather had cleared, but the wind was now coming from the Northwest, pretty much in our faces. We paddled to the North end of Lake Insula and tackled the largest portage of our trip. The 180 rod walk to Kiana Lake actually seemed easier than the 105 rod carry into Lake Insula. We headed onward into Thomas Lake where we really started feeling the headwind. We finally made it to the campsite just Northeast of the portage into Thomas Pond in time for lunch. After lunch we proceeded across Thomas Pond and into Thomas Creek after hiking across the famous Kekekabic Trail. We managed to easily run the rapids in Thomas Creek and avoid the 2 short portages. We camped for the night on Hatchet Lake at the northern campsite. It was cool and windy, so we didn't swim. There was lots of threatening weather going by to the North of us, but we stayed dry. After supper we canoed back to Thomas Creek to fish and look for moose. No luck on either count, but we did see a beaver swimmming.
The weather was nice again Thursday morning, but the wind was out of the West which was the direction we were heading. We portaged into Ima Lake and canoed across it. Before portaging into Jordan Lake, we watched a bald eagle sitting in a tree get harrassed repeatedly by a seagull. The narrow channel leading into Jordan Lake is quite beautiful. It is narrow like a river with big rock outcroppings. We paddled across Jordan, Cattyman, Adventure, and Jitterbug Lakes. We found the Eastern campsite on Ahsub Lake taken, so we camped at the Western campsite which had a great place for swimming in front of it. There was a very brave loon in front of the campsite who didn't seem to mind if we got close to it. We tried our luck at fishing, but only caught 1 smallmouth which was too small to eat. Between 5:00 and 7:30 that evening we saw a number of canoes heading across Ahsub Lake from Disappointment Lake to Jitterbug Lake. We weren't sure where they were planning to camp, but it was getting late.
On Friday we awoke again to good weather. We paddled the length of Disappointment Lake and portaged into to Parent Lake and then on to Snowbank Lake. It was July 4th, and as we entered Snowbank Lake the sounfd of firecrackers reminded us we weren't in the wilderness anaymore. After a brief splash war on our way across Snowbank, we made it to the landing and our car was still there. What a great trip!
Short and Sweet to Insula
Entry Date:
June 15, 2009
Entry Point:
Lake One
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
1
(Side note: I drove from St Louis the day before and stayed at a bunkhouse room at Timber Trail. They were very good to me when my wife called during my drive and told me I left my half my food at home. They went into town and purchased a blue barrel for me and had it waiting for me in my room so I coulod repack the food that I had to buy on the way up to Ely.)
I drove from Timber Trail to Kawishiwi Lodge at 4:45, and I was able to start paddling before 6:00 am. Getting an early start made it very easy for me at all the portages, and as usual, I was over-packed. Some day I will learn. Also being solo (at least in my mind) makes it more difficult on portages. Nobody to share the load, and the gear is not proportional to the number of campers. In my mind when you're solo you have a bigger load. I worked hard to quadruple portage. I did a little fishing along the way with no luck. Filtered some water and stopped for peanut butter and jelly on bagel. After a full day of paddling and portaging, I ran out of time and camped at the campsite just north of the unmarked moose portage on Insula. I ate my wife's planned meal for my first night of Sloppy Jo - she really fixes it up nice. That and part of a fresh pepper and an apple, and I was happy and filled before and nice coll night in my tent.
Woke up at 4:45, cleaned up camp and got paddling by 6:00. I wanted to see "The Rock" but couldn't find it. I guess it was an island not just a big rock, and I then got a little disoriented, so I stopped at a campsite and asked a couple that I'd seen yesterday at a portage to Hudson exactly where I was on the map. They helped me and I was soon in the narrow channel that takes you to the northwest end on Insula. I paddled through it and made a right turn looking for an open campsite. I could see Williamson Island and it looked empty. I couldn't believe that that campsite might be open. Sure, enough, and when I got out of my canoe I knew I had a home for a short while! Unpacked my canoe and explored a little before setting up camp. What a nice campsite that has just about everything you'd dream of. Maybe a little too much water all around you, but not too big a problem unless a windy stretch of weather was to hit the area. It did get windy that afternoon. Spent the rest of the day reading, napping, eating, and listened to the weather. I'd bought a new emergency weather radio that was nice, except it gave me a potentially bad weather report for the next 4 days, with potential for severe weather. I began to ponder the idea of being solo on this remote camp site with 5 days of food for 6 or 7, by myself. I was now fighting off bad vibes. I thought of scenarios to work my way back to Kaishiwi Lodge during the next couple days, paddling awhile and camping closer to my destination, which was now back where I started. Went to bad at about 9:00, got up a few times (prostate calling).
(Side note: I drove from St Louis the day before and stayed at a bunkhouse room at Timber Trail. They were very good to me when my wife called during my drive and told me I left my half my food at home. They went into town and purchased a blue barrel for me and had it waiting for me in my room so I coulod repack the food that I had to buy on the way up to Ely.)
I drove from Timber Trail to Kawishiwi Lodge at 4:45, and I was able to start paddling before 6:00 am. Getting an early start made it very easy for me at all the portages, and as usual, I was over-packed. Some day I will learn. Also being solo (at least in my mind) makes it more difficult on portages. Nobody to share the load, and the gear is not proportional to the number of campers. In my mind when you're solo you have a bigger load. I worked hard to quadruple portage. I did a little fishing along the way with no luck. Filtered some water and stopped for peanut butter and jelly on bagel. After a full day of paddling and portaging, I ran out of time and camped at the campsite just north of the unmarked moose portage on Insula. I ate my wife's planned meal for my first night of Sloppy Jo - she really fixes it up nice. That and part of a fresh pepper and an apple, and I was happy and filled before and nice coll night in my tent.