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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 25 - Moose Lake

Moose Lake entry point allows overnight paddle or motor (25 HP max). This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 21 miles. Access is an boat landing or canoe launch at Moose Lake. Many trip options for paddlers with additional portages. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

Number of Permits per Day: 27
Elevation: 1356 feet
Latitude: 47.9877
Longitude: -91.4997

Third times a charm.

by Topher
Trip Report

Entry Date: August 17, 2008
Entry Point: Moose Lake
Exit Point: Snowbank Lake (27)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 4

Trip Introduction:

Part 1 of 2


Before I give the report for this(the third trip) I will summarize the first two trips. All three trips have been on the same loop. the first year we had seven people. we made it five days out of our seven. on the fifth night we stopped at boot lake. the portage to boot lake took a bit of a toll on the group. everybody on the lake before boot and three of us took an empty canoe to boot to see if there were any empty sights worth leaving the site we were at. I happen to be unbeatable at paper scissor rock and got to be the one left on boot to save the spot,and do a little skinny dipping. in hindsight I have felt lake a jerk for doing this and not returning to help because as I said this portage took a toll on the group. well we started to make camp and Cameron decided to start the fire. while blowing on the small flames to introduce a little oxygen, we think he hyperventilated because he stood up and spoke something in gibberish smiled real big and fell backwards down hill landing with his head on a rock. it split it open. and we were all scared. luckily two of us were pre med and im a volunteer fireman. so we had a pretty good group for this to happen to if there is such a thing. we cleaned him up layed him in a canoe and three of us rowed like hell to get him out of there. the other three had the harder part getting all the gear out with one person by himself rowing a three person canoe full of gear across snowbank. luckily there was a group camping there with a motorboat who towed the exsausted trio the rest of the way. all ended well with some staples. the second year went much smoother with the biggest problem being one of my friends "whittling" and I use this term loosely and slicing his finger pretty severely, luckily after the year before and a pre trip accident on my part we had a very nice first aid kit and with some superglue , a popscicle stick and some gauze we remedied the situation. so aside from all the rain we got it was much better a trip.

 



Part 2 of 2


The third year was much better. we only had for people and everything was much easier(cooking, cleaning, traveling). We stayed at Canoe Country Outfitters' bunk houses on moose lake saturday night, so we were able to get up early sunday load the boats and get towed the eight miles across moose lake were we started on splash lake. after a quick row we were on ensign. The weather was gorgeous and there was very little wind. about halfway we stopped at a campsite so i could use the fascilities and we set up our poles. it didnt take long and my buddy caught the trifecta, a small mouth, a northern, and a walleye, all released. we made it to ashigan in good time were we stopped and had an early lunch, by this time the wind had picked up and of course was blowing straight at us, despite this we made pretty good time acrooss ashigam and made the long portage into gibson after this 105 rodder, i decided it was time for a quick dip and jumped into the water. cooled off and feeling better than ever we crossed gibson.at this portage we hung out a while and viewed the cattyman falls. after a little climbing and some good group photos(thanks to another group passing) we crossed catyman. the portage from catyman to jordan went well and i made a few casts waiting for the girls to finish their second portage and caught a small pike. then we were off. i love the large rockfaces going through the channel on jordan so we costed slowly and being the only smoker on the trip i enjoyed a bit of the green stuff. we made it pretty quickly across the five rodder to ima and we were nearly home for the day. we packed the canoes and were heading to our favorite spot in the boundary waters. we stayed at this spot the first year and loved it. unfortunately on the second year it was taken and we were hoping very much that this year it would be open. we rowed across and rounded an island nearly standing up with antisipation to see. it was open we were home. after a long day we unloaded made camp and went swimming. we spent two full days on ima and im pretty sure we fished the entire lake and most of hatchet catching very little except for some decent northern so we decided to headout on wednesday and head to dissapointment knowing we would probably not find a site that compares but hoping the fishing would be better. it was a long day with some wind and a good bit of traveling and dissapointment was pretty ful. after the first six sites being ful we were getting a bit discouraged by the time we got to the seventh but it was open. we hopped out and were very pleased with the spot so we made camp and and went out to try the fishing. we caught a few smallmouth and cleaned them then went back for dinner. the next day we got up early and tried again it was a little windy and i was happy that my buddies makeshift anchor was up to the task of holding us strong . we quickly caught a few one of which i caught was a nice three and a half pound smallmouth, i fought like hell and was a blast to catch. i took a picture threw him back and went back to catching the 12 to 14 inchers that fill the skillets. everyday on dissapointment was about the same with some good fishing and beautiful weather all but the last night when it stormed like hell. so we all packed into a tent with our rum and kool aid and played some euchre.at around ten o clock it cleared up and we went downt to the shore for an awesome view of the stars. the next day we got up and headed out. it was very windy and we stalled a bit before deciding to try and head out. we made it across dissapointment in decent time made the 140 rods into snow bank and just stared. the wind was blowing hard as ive ever seen. two foot waves with white caps and all straight at our face. we should have stayed and waited but we thought it was doable. it was doable but not very.this was the hardest i have ever rowed. every stroke seemed to move us an inch, so with two miles to row i was getting a bit discouraged but we managed to keep the nose into the wind and three hours later we made it to the truck, very tired, sore, and ready to spend the six dollars on a hot shower. despite the last 18 hours of wind and rain we had the best time we have ever had. the weather was perfect the water was plenty warm the food was great and the company couldnt be beat.

 


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