BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 26 2024
Entry Point 29 - North Kawishiwi River
Number of Permits per Day: 1
Elevation: 1249 feet
Latitude: 47.9543
Longitude: -91.5641
North Kawishiwi River - 29
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.