BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 26 2024
Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1497 feet
Latitude: 47.8452
Longitude: -90.8169
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Wood Lake May 2014
Entry Date:
May 22, 2014
Entry Point:
Wood Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
4
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Day 2 we got up to a little fog, and prepared some instant oatmeal and coffee. 
[paragraph break] Our focus today was to go work the East side of the lake, including the little bay that appears to be very shallow on all the maps. The wild rice was already up halfway, but the pike were everywhere! After a few hours of catchin', we headed back to camp for lunch. 
[paragraph break] After lunch, everyone hid from the sun for a while (some of us even squeezed a nap in). Did a little more fishing after sleepy time. Then we headed back to camp, geared up for bobber fishing and then started working on dinner. It again didn't take long for results. 
[paragraph break] Made a dinner inspired by similar dishes I had seen recipes for on this site. Fish tacos! Opened a box of Cajun Shorelunch and added about 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning. Then we chunked up the fish, cooked it pretty hot to the point of a little char. Then we added the fish, coleslaw, chipotle mayo, and lime juice to tortillas. We served it with a side of red beans and rice. It was amazing! 
[paragraph break] We ended the evening with some more walleyes, a campfire, and some very good sleep.
We awoke this morning and made a huge batch of just add water pancakes. Everyone ate until they were uncomfortable. The plan was to calorie up for a day of tripping to a few close lakes. We weren't very keen on what the weather might do, so we climbed the rock hill behind our site and checked the weather and radar on our cell phones. Since I had cell reception, I did check in with my wife and tell here we were having a wonderful time. She let me know she was busy spending money on furniture while I was gone. We decided to stick close to home today and focused our efforts on the Western side of the lake. A couple of views from "Reception Hill:": 
[paragraph break] The day consisted of a variety of northerns, smallmouth, and even a day-time walleye. After another great day on the water, we made our way back to camp and prepared a tin foil dinner, consisting of: fish, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions (for those that liked them...). 
[paragraph break] We wrapped up the night with some walleye fishing and a little bit of bug slappin'. They progressively thickened every night we were there. They were still very mild at the end of our trip, but you could tell all those 80 degree days were bringin' them out. 
Woke up on Day 4 and started by preparing another dish that was inspired by a recipe I saw on this site. Made a big breakfast of Cheesy Hashbrowns with Spam and dried apricots. Very hearty meal to start the day! 
[paragraph break] The weather was looking pretty good, so we decided to try and journey out to some different lakes today. We headed out for the portage to Hula Lake and enjoyed all the bald eagles all over the place! 
[paragraph break] We spotted the portage to Good Lake, but we decided to see what lies ahead on the river. Our original plan was to take the river to Indiana Lake and then portage over to Good Lake. Several rapids, beaver dams, and ridiculously shallow spots in the river, we gave up on our pursuit of Indiana Lake. By then, we were so wet, sore, and defeated we did not even want to try and get to Good. We had heard that people catch pike in Hula so we paddled down to the Southwest corner and starting catching northerns at a pretty good pace. As we move back toward the portage to Wood, the pike fishing got better and better, to the point where we enjoyed about 3 straight hours of non-stop pike action. Nothing really huge was caught, but it sure made us forget about our failed journey just hours earlier. 
[paragraph break] We did decide to break for it back to camp to allow half the day's worth of sun to dry our boots, pants, and what-nots. After a light lunch, we decided it was time to truly focus on the smallmouth bass we had been catching all over the lake. We geared up and went out, with nothing but smallies on the mind. We were not let down! 
[paragraph break] We experience some of the greatest smallmouth bass fishing I have ever been a part of! 
[paragraph break] We went to shore to make the "last supper" as our time was quickly coming to a close. We fried up a large batch of fish and then cooked up everything in our food pack that wasn't for tomorrow's breakfast. A feast was had! 
[paragraph break] One last night with a little bit of fishing and the slow, sinking feeling of knowing the trip is nearly done. Went to bed a little on the earlier side tonight, the little bit of travel did 2 things: 1) just plain tuckered us out and 2) took away from our designated nap time in the afternoon. 
The only rain of the trip came down heavy during the night. We awoke to a campsite full of puddles. We had done a decent job of covering everything the night before. We quickly boiled water for instant oatmeal, then got the last pot of coffee on. We wolfed down breakfast as we crammed and packed everything into their rightful place. We clocked how much time it took to go from site to vehicle, and it was an hour and 5 minutes. The trip overall, was good on all fronts: successful fishing, beautiful weather, and just being back in the wilderness. I thought of this trip as a scouting trip, as my 4 year old is going to want to join me on a trip very soon. This obviously wasn't a huge trip into the BWCA, but every minute of it felt like the Boundary Waters. We did see other canoes every day, but that is to be expected on an entry lake. Can't wait to get back up here in September. Thanks for reading! 