Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 4 - Crab Lake & Cummings Lake

Crab Lake and Cummings from Burntside Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 23 miles. Access from Burntside Lake with a 320-rod portage to Crab Lake. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

Number of Permits per Day: 3
Elevation: 1406 feet
Latitude: 47.9337
Longitude: -92.0269
Crab Lake & Cummings Lake - 4

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.

 


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