BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 06 2025
Entry Point 16 - Moose/Portage River (North of Echo Trail)
Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1348 feet
Latitude: 48.1230
Longitude: -92.0991
A favorite route offering many trip options and memorable things to see including;
World Class fishing for all four BWCA Species
Pictographs
Soaring granite hills and cliffs
Small lakes
Small rivers
Tumbling rapids and waterfalls
Wildlife, including Moose
Vistas from high points across the region if you're willing to climb. Rating Easy to Moderate. Day One. Get to EP16 off of the Echo Trail early. The initial portage is long, but well worn and smooth, sloping gently downgrade to the launch area. Load your canoe and head North. You'll be paddling with the slight current on this narrow winding river. The water is clear and make sure to tell the bowperson to watch for looming rocks!
Indian Sioux North Solo
Entry Date:
June 18, 2018
Entry Point:
Little Indian Sioux River (north)
Exit Point:
Moose/Portage River (north) (16)
Number of Days:
13
Group Size:
1
Today I moved on to Oyster. The portage is 320 rods. The first portion of the trail is up hill before leveling off. There was a stretch that was flooded in years past, today it is virtually dry.Double portaging, it takes me about an hour and a half to get to Oyster. I head to the campsite closest to the river portage. There used to be two large white pines on this site. One died as was cut down by the forest service and the other appeared to have been just blown over from a recent storm. There's a couple of good tent pads, good landing area and a great view of the lake. I get my tent and tarp set up, have lunch and get on the lake to do some trout fishing. The fish appear to be in about 45-55 feet of water and with an hour I've landed my first trout. I find a spot along the shore and fry it up. It tasted great! 
I fish all day and finally landed a trout at about 4:00pm. There appears to be storms around me so I hug the shoreline to get back to camp. As it turns out, the storms stay east and west of me and I receive only a few drops of rain. Looks like all the sites are taken today.
3. Kawishiwi Triangle. This is a classic BWCA route SE of Ely. I entered at Farm Lake, which means canoeing past a lot of cabins and boats initially. The Triangle is beautiful route with only two longish portages (that aren’t too bad). The Kawishiwi River splits on the east end and rejoins later outside the BWCA, with portages in and out of Clear Lake providing the western edge of the Triangle. There’s good fishing, especially below the rapids. I took my time and explored Conchu Lake as well. There were interesting log pilings on the North Kawishiwi on both sides of the river near my campsite (adjacent to the Conchu portage); which I think may have been used for log storage back in the logging era (1899 to 1920 or so). I'm reading Miron Heinselman's book (Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem) which has wealth of information about the early logging practices with specific references to the logging between Lake One and Farm Lake.
4. East Bearskin Lake to Alder Lake. Just off the Gunflint Trail, north of Grand Marais. These are longish East West lakes. I camped on a really nice site on Alder Lake, just past the little island, where I was entertained by a family of otters.
This was my first solo canoe outing; I had wanted to find a partner to go into Wabakimi...maybe next year. Next year tentative canoe plans include doing Woodland Caribou with my wife--Leano Lake entry; two weeks with the Wabakimi Project; a possible BWCA (or Missouri Breaks) trip with my brother's family; and another solo outing. I'd love to do interior Wabakimi trip if I find a willing partner.
Lastly, I addressed the threats to the BWCA in my video report. I encourage all those who love this wilderness to support the fight against sulfide ore mining. There’s groups, like Save The Boundary Waters https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/
http://www.miningtruth.org/
And Friends of the Boundary Waters, http://friends-bwca.org
