BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 26 2024
Entry Point 30 - Lake One
Lake One 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 21 miles. Access is a canoe landing at Lake One.
Number of Permits per Day: 13
Elevation: 1230 feet
Latitude: 47.9391
Longitude: -91.4792
My son Remy and I, and my friend Keith and his son Charlie put our canoes into Lake one at 9:30 Monday morning after dropping off a car at the Snowbank Lake landing. Lake One can be tricky to navigate. On our way to Lake Two we turned East too early and ended up paddling about a mile out of our way into a dead-end bay before we realized our mistake. We blamed the fact that Lake One was split between Fisher Maps #10 and #4 for our error. If the entire lake had been visible at once on a single map, we would not have made the wrong turn. Once we got back on course we portaged the 30 rods into a pond and then portaged the 40 rods into Lake Two. The weather was nice, and there was a bit of a tail wind out of the West. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Lake Two. After lunch we canoed through the North end of Lake Three and into Lake Four. We stopped for the night at a campsite on the West shore of Lake Four, just North of the channel heading toward Hudson Lake. We had to battle swarms of mosquitoes as we set up the tents. We then had a nice refreshing swim. Because we had brought steaks along for the first night, we didn't go fishing.
On Tuesday morning we had a bacon and eggs breakfast then packed up camp and headed out in our canoes. As we canoed past our campsite, we realized that Remy & I had left our hammocks pitched between trees. We landed again and quickly packed them up. Once again we had beautiful weather. We paddled East and completed 3 short portages before entering Hudson Lake. The 105 rod portage into Lake Insula was exhausting! Lake Insula is a large gorgeous lake broken up by multiple islands and penninsulas. We had lunch at a campsite on a large island just East of Hudson Lake. It felt like we had a tail wind as we were heading East, and then as we turned North it seemed like the wind shifted and was at our backs once again. We navigated Lake Insula flawlessly and camped for the night on the island just West of Williamson Island. After setting up the tents and a refreshing swim, Remy & I got back into the canoe and tried to catch some fish. We had no luck! At 9PM that night, just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled through. That night I was awakened several times by the loud croaking of bullfrogs from the shallows around our island. What noisy neighbors!
By Wednesday morning the weather had cleared, but the wind was now coming from the Northwest, pretty much in our faces. We paddled to the North end of Lake Insula and tackled the largest portage of our trip. The 180 rod walk to Kiana Lake actually seemed easier than the 105 rod carry into Lake Insula. We headed onward into Thomas Lake where we really started feeling the headwind. We finally made it to the campsite just Northeast of the portage into Thomas Pond in time for lunch. After lunch we proceeded across Thomas Pond and into Thomas Creek after hiking across the famous Kekekabic Trail. We managed to easily run the rapids in Thomas Creek and avoid the 2 short portages. We camped for the night on Hatchet Lake at the northern campsite. It was cool and windy, so we didn't swim. There was lots of threatening weather going by to the North of us, but we stayed dry. After supper we canoed back to Thomas Creek to fish and look for moose. No luck on either count, but we did see a beaver swimmming.
The weather was nice again Thursday morning, but the wind was out of the West which was the direction we were heading. We portaged into Ima Lake and canoed across it. Before portaging into Jordan Lake, we watched a bald eagle sitting in a tree get harrassed repeatedly by a seagull. The narrow channel leading into Jordan Lake is quite beautiful. It is narrow like a river with big rock outcroppings. We paddled across Jordan, Cattyman, Adventure, and Jitterbug Lakes. We found the Eastern campsite on Ahsub Lake taken, so we camped at the Western campsite which had a great place for swimming in front of it. There was a very brave loon in front of the campsite who didn't seem to mind if we got close to it. We tried our luck at fishing, but only caught 1 smallmouth which was too small to eat. Between 5:00 and 7:30 that evening we saw a number of canoes heading across Ahsub Lake from Disappointment Lake to Jitterbug Lake. We weren't sure where they were planning to camp, but it was getting late.
On Friday we awoke again to good weather. We paddled the length of Disappointment Lake and portaged into to Parent Lake and then on to Snowbank Lake. It was July 4th, and as we entered Snowbank Lake the sounfd of firecrackers reminded us we weren't in the wilderness anaymore. After a brief splash war on our way across Snowbank, we made it to the landing and our car was still there. What a great trip!
Number of Permits per Day: 13
Elevation: 1230 feet
Latitude: 47.9391
Longitude: -91.4792
My son Remy and I, and my friend Keith and his son Charlie put our canoes into Lake one at 9:30 Monday morning after dropping off a car at the Snowbank Lake landing. Lake One can be tricky to navigate. On our way to Lake Two we turned East too early and ended up paddling about a mile out of our way into a dead-end bay before we realized our mistake. We blamed the fact that Lake One was split between Fisher Maps #10 and #4 for our error. If the entire lake had been visible at once on a single map, we would not have made the wrong turn. Once we got back on course we portaged the 30 rods into a pond and then portaged the 40 rods into Lake Two. The weather was nice, and there was a bit of a tail wind out of the West. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Lake Two. After lunch we canoed through the North end of Lake Three and into Lake Four. We stopped for the night at a campsite on the West shore of Lake Four, just North of the channel heading toward Hudson Lake. We had to battle swarms of mosquitoes as we set up the tents. We then had a nice refreshing swim. Because we had brought steaks along for the first night, we didn't go fishing.
On Tuesday morning we had a bacon and eggs breakfast then packed up camp and headed out in our canoes. As we canoed past our campsite, we realized that Remy & I had left our hammocks pitched between trees. We landed again and quickly packed them up. Once again we had beautiful weather. We paddled East and completed 3 short portages before entering Hudson Lake. The 105 rod portage into Lake Insula was exhausting! Lake Insula is a large gorgeous lake broken up by multiple islands and penninsulas. We had lunch at a campsite on a large island just East of Hudson Lake. It felt like we had a tail wind as we were heading East, and then as we turned North it seemed like the wind shifted and was at our backs once again. We navigated Lake Insula flawlessly and camped for the night on the island just West of Williamson Island. After setting up the tents and a refreshing swim, Remy & I got back into the canoe and tried to catch some fish. We had no luck! At 9PM that night, just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled through. That night I was awakened several times by the loud croaking of bullfrogs from the shallows around our island. What noisy neighbors!
By Wednesday morning the weather had cleared, but the wind was now coming from the Northwest, pretty much in our faces. We paddled to the North end of Lake Insula and tackled the largest portage of our trip. The 180 rod walk to Kiana Lake actually seemed easier than the 105 rod carry into Lake Insula. We headed onward into Thomas Lake where we really started feeling the headwind. We finally made it to the campsite just Northeast of the portage into Thomas Pond in time for lunch. After lunch we proceeded across Thomas Pond and into Thomas Creek after hiking across the famous Kekekabic Trail. We managed to easily run the rapids in Thomas Creek and avoid the 2 short portages. We camped for the night on Hatchet Lake at the northern campsite. It was cool and windy, so we didn't swim. There was lots of threatening weather going by to the North of us, but we stayed dry. After supper we canoed back to Thomas Creek to fish and look for moose. No luck on either count, but we did see a beaver swimmming.
The weather was nice again Thursday morning, but the wind was out of the West which was the direction we were heading. We portaged into Ima Lake and canoed across it. Before portaging into Jordan Lake, we watched a bald eagle sitting in a tree get harrassed repeatedly by a seagull. The narrow channel leading into Jordan Lake is quite beautiful. It is narrow like a river with big rock outcroppings. We paddled across Jordan, Cattyman, Adventure, and Jitterbug Lakes. We found the Eastern campsite on Ahsub Lake taken, so we camped at the Western campsite which had a great place for swimming in front of it. There was a very brave loon in front of the campsite who didn't seem to mind if we got close to it. We tried our luck at fishing, but only caught 1 smallmouth which was too small to eat. Between 5:00 and 7:30 that evening we saw a number of canoes heading across Ahsub Lake from Disappointment Lake to Jitterbug Lake. We weren't sure where they were planning to camp, but it was getting late.
On Friday we awoke again to good weather. We paddled the length of Disappointment Lake and portaged into to Parent Lake and then on to Snowbank Lake. It was July 4th, and as we entered Snowbank Lake the sounfd of firecrackers reminded us we weren't in the wilderness anaymore. After a brief splash war on our way across Snowbank, we made it to the landing and our car was still there. What a great trip!
2nd Solo to Insula and a bit beyond
by crumpman
Trip Report
Entry Date:
August 27, 2017
Entry Point:
Lake One
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
1
Trip Introduction:
I didn’t take a canoe trip in 2016, due to the death of my father and father-in-law. I knew I not only wanted to go in 2017, but also needed to go. I thought about going with a friend, but going solo was always a possibility. I invited a couple of friends to go, but job constraints prevented them from going so I went on my 2nd solo. I wanted to go into either Mudro or LIS, but I was late in deciding and the permits were gone or too limited for my dates. I put out a question the solo tripping forum of where to go, on the solo forum, and Insula was suggested. I took a look at the map, checked on permits and a trip to Insula became a reality. I knew Insula was popular after having read so much about the area. I did not realize the extent of the fire in 2012, but that was OK.
I made ready to leave. I was using a new hammock, an Amok, for the trip. I hung it in the back yard to make sure I knew how to hang it…more on that later. I bought very little in the way of new equipment. I’ll mention the new stuff at the end of the report.
My niece moved from Southern Ohio to Minneapolis in January, so I had a place to stay on the way up from Cincinnati. The drive up was uneventful, even the traffic through Chicago was easy. I made it to my niece’s house with no problem. I did swing by Northwest Canoe to talk to Dennis about some fixing of a Bell Morning Star, which I left with my niece.
I hit Ely around 2pm and got my traditional Walleye Sandwich at the Moose, poked around various shops. I checked into Paddle Inn and set the alarm early for breakfast at Brittens.
Day 2 of 4
Sunday, August 27, 2017 - Rain I was up at 5:30 and made my way to Brittens. It appeared that I had beaten everybody else there. Others started rolling in around 6 as I was leaving. I went back to the hotel, finished up at the hotel, and took off for the entry point. It had rained all night, hard at times, and there was still a light rain when I hit the river. This was the first time I have started in the rain and I wore my rain gear all day. The paddling was easy as I made my way through Lakes 1-4. I was interesting to see the burn area emerge as I paddled along. At the portages into Hudson I encountered 2 fathers who were taking their 4 sons, 2 each, into Insula. The oldest kid was around 12 and they were having a good time exploring the portages. Part way across Hudson, one of the fathers mentioned how pretty Fire Lake was. He said few people stay they because everybody is heading for Insula. I had a camp marked on Fire so I pealed off and made my way to Fire. The southern, wide, part of Hudson had been burned, but as I entered the narrow part to the north that all changed to the typical lushness of the BW. I made my way to Fire and camped at the site (1372) at the east end of the lake. Nice site. That evening I enjoyed a meal of my wife’s homemade vegetable soup. I did this on my 1st solo too. I think we have a tradition started. 
Day 4 of 5
Monday, August 28, 2017 - Rough night My sleeping pad had a slow leak! The Amok hammock requires a pad for support, and as the air drained it became obvious how important the pad was. I got up at least 4x during the night to blow up the pad. I am glad it was a slow leak and not a full-blown tear. On top of that, it was on the cool side that night. I made a mixture of soapy water, and found the leak and fixed it. I was very happy to find the leak. I spent the rest of the day paddling around Fire. I ran in to 2 guys doing a day trip and I think they were surprised that anyone was staying on the lake. It’s a nice lake and I am pretty sure I was the only one camped on the lake during the two nights I was there. I paddled up Drumstick Creek for a ways. There is Willow on both sides and I started thinking about jumping a Moose, so I turned around and paddled out. That evening I started carving on the chunk of basswood I brought along. Carving was my go to occupier of time on my first solo. I decided to carve a Loon…it’s a work in progress 
Day 2 of 5
Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - Cold night It got pretty cold last night, but my pad was working. The Amok still didn’t feel right but I couldn’t figure out what might be wrong. I had decided to break camp and head to Insula. I spent the early morning allowing the dew to burn off the tarps. Whiling away the time I did a lot of thinking about my dad and a friend whose wife is dealing with breast cancer. I talked to God for a while. For me, spirituality is enhanced in the wilderness. I am not a very spiritually demonstrative person and the wilderness helps me to loosen up and just talk with God. I got away mid-morning and made my way to Insula. Soon I was on the lake and was grateful that one of the dads had pointed out the un-marked portages on Insula. I made my way to the campsite (1337) that I had marked on my map. I was happy to see it was unoccupied. This campsite has to have one of the best if not the best landing area in the BW. I had the choice of 2 small sandy landings; it couldn’t have been easier. The only down sides of the site were; a large dead tree that made hammock placement a bit dicey, and chipmunks that were pretty habituated to humans. While cooking and eating, I had to keep a constant eye on my food. The night was nice and clear and the stars were on good display. 
Day 5 of 5
Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - Fishdance Pictos & the Jitterbug that ate my face! I had my second bacon and eggs meal this morning and birded a bit before I made my way over to Fishdance to see the picots. It was a little breezy as I left, but no big deal. I was able to paddle through the second unmarked portage and then paddle to the top of Insula and entered the Kawishiwi River. I enjoy paddling rivers like this. The river paddle was uneventful until I hit Alice. The north wind had picked up and the waves were pretty high at the south end of the lake. Rounding the bottom of Alice was not fun. I was glad to get that behind me and I made my way to the pictos. I bumped into a father and daughter who were coming from the pictos and we had a nice chat. The pictos were nice; I took a few pictures and headed back. I was not looking forward to rounding Alice again. Alice did not seem to be as bad as it was earlier and I blew Alice a raspberry as I finished, she sent me another swell. Back in camp I rested, carved, ate, and fished a bit. I had been hearing surface strikes towards dusk and just after dark so I cast a Jitterbug a few times. On the third or fourth cast I had a strike close to shore, missed the fish, and had applied enough force that the plug came flying out of the water and attached itself to my face. Here is how I described it on Facebook. So, I had a fish strike the lure, I tried to set the lure, missed, and the lure flew out of the water and attached itself to my face. First thought, don't panic, even as you have a rather large lure imbedded in your face...in two places. I mash the barbs down on all of my lures to make it easier to release fish, so I should be able to just back the hooks out. My first try failed, so next is to consider pushing the hook point out and then clip off the hook above the barb and remove, but I had nothing to clip the hook with. I retried pulling the hook out, thinking I could paddle to another campsite to get some help if I failed. (It was getting darker, so, emerging out of the darkness into someone else's site with this thing attached to my face, would be the stuff of fireside horror stories.) I got the hooks out with a stronger tug and was standing there with my face bleeding, which is a good thing because it seemed that bleeding was a way to cleanse the wound. The next issue was how to care for my face without seeing what I was doing. I remembered I had my iPhone (I wanted to see if the gps would work without service. It didn't seem to but it did in Yellowstone on a bike ride.). I got my med kit and phone out, turned on the phone and used the selfie mode to use the camera as a mirror. I was able to care for my face and take a selfie as well. My only regret, other than missing the fish, was that I didn't think about taking a selfie while the Jitterbug was still embedded in my face. I climbed into my Amok hammock on the early side and started to read. My hammock had never been all that comfortable and I would wake up a couple times in the night and find that I had slid down in the hammock. I carefully looked around in my Amok and noticed that the lower pull straps were loose. I tightened them up and presto, a wonderful flat lie hammock. I only took me four days to figure it out! So ended day 4.
Day 2 of 5
Thursday, August 31, 2017 - Fishing day and Awesome Sunrise Today was set aside to go fishing. After and incredible sunrise and breakfast (and new life bird – Red-necked Grebe), I made my way back to Kawishiwi River, but only to the first portage. I fished the riffles below the rapids and caught a couple of small pike. I paddled around and fished the shoreline for a while, with no luck. I started fishing my way back to camp and tried trolling a shad rap, but I got tired of all the snags, so I went to the Jitterbug. There is a tree down near campsite 1322 that has left a fairly small gap between the tree and the opposite shore. Going up river earlier in the day I encountered a couple of otters at the spot. I wasn’t expecting much, but as the lure gurgled through the gap something BIG hit. I had it on for a few seconds before it broke me off. My guess is a large pike. I have caught a couple of large pike and this one felt considerably bigger. I paddled around a bit and in time I found the broken off Jitterbug. I encountered the same father and daughter from the day before and we talked for a bit. They had watched me make my way around Alice the day before and commented on the wave action. They also commented on the large bandage on my face, so they got the story. She is a child psych major at Minnesota, I am a retired teacher so we talked a bit about kid psychology. After our “have a good days” I paddled back up river and dragged a Jitterbug through the same place with no success. On the way back to my camp, I paddled around The Rock. I climbed it and enjoyed the view from on high. Back in camp, I listened to my weather radio and the forecast was 10-15 mph wind the following day with gusts to 25, and cold that night. I decided to get an early start and at least get part of the way back to the EP. I packed up everything except my sleeping stuff and set my watch for 5:30. 
Day 4 of 5
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Jazzywine and I woke up at 6:30 and drove in to Ely to buy leeches. Supposedly Arrowhead Outdoors (the bait shop formerly known as Skube's) was the only place in town to have them so that's where we went. Sure enough, they still had leeches, and a few dozen leeches and three Log Cabin Coffees later and we were headed back to the campground. We found DM and BR stirring when we arrived and started up some hot water for oatmeal. [paragraph break]
Following a quick breakfast we laid out all of our gear, recombined shared items, and packed two Granite Gear packs and a 30L blue barrel with all of our stuff. On our way out of camp we spoke to the camp host about the possibility of entering from the campground and leaving our cars there. He said we could, but we opted for the short drive to limit our paddling on our first and last days. We drove out of the campground and on our way out noted a satellite dish next to one of the RV's -- "nothing says wilderness like satellite television." [paragraph break] The drive down Spruce Road to Entry Point 32 was dry and dusty. There was a group of campers (I assume) doing a run down the road, and I felt bad as the clouds of dust from our cars enveloped them. We drove by slowly to try to keep the dust down. As we passed, we thought about the possibility of copper-sulfide mining in this area. For those who don't know, Spruce Road lies above a portion of the proposed Twin Metals underground mine. It is one of a few different proposals to mine copper, nickel, platinum, and other metals from sulfide ore bodies. While the mine here would be underground, it was interesting to consider the changes a mine might bring to the area, let alone environmental concerns. [paragraph break] The parking lot for Entry Point 32 was mostly full when we arrived, and we snagged two of the remaining three spots left. Excited to get on the water we quickly unloaded the cars, threw the canoes and gear on our shoulders, and headed in. At 144 rods the portage isn't a major challenge, but given that it was the first of our trip my shoulders were sore with the weight of my 16' Old Town Penobscot by the time we were halfway in. Thankfully, eagerness to get on the water carried me (and the canoe) through. Before long we reached the South Kawishiwi River, and we were greeted by bright sun, a nice breeze, and beautiful scenery. The portage landing (which is at a different location than indicated on my McKenzie map) had a fair bit of trash, so I picked up what I could and we got onto the water.[paragraph break] 
With the wind at out backs we cruised up the South Kawishiwi River. Within 45 minutes we had reached the small rapid which we pulled our canoes up without too much difficulty. While wading through the rapid I spied a lure among the rocks and "fished" out a fire tiger Rapala (Husky Jerk perhaps). It had a broken hook and some scratches but it seemed salvageable to I tucked it away for later use.[paragraph break] Soon we had reached a narrows in the river in front of Campsite 1131 where we had two options: A) carry out canoe over a rock garden, or B) power up a small rapid to the right. After some deliberation, we chose option B. With the occupants of the campsite watching, Jazzywine and BR paddled hard up the current and nearly made it but lost momentum. Jazzywine had to jump out and push the canoe the rest of the way through the rapid. With a bit of room to build up some speed DM and I powered up through the current, nearly lost momentum, but managed to push all the way through.[paragraph break] 
We had planned to camp at one of the sites in this area, giving us a relatively centralized location. We paddled a little further upriver to site 1130 which sits on a nice peninsula, and since it was already noon decided to call it good. As we set up camp, we noticed how parched everything looked. The grass was brown and bushes had dry and browning leaves. The reeds to the west of the site changed color about 1.5' above the water's surface. Clearly it had been dry recently and the lake levels were low.[paragraph break] 
After setting up camp we had lunch and then paddled to the next set of rapids upstream, just northeast of the site. With a rod for everybody and a bucket to leeches we set to work. We got a lot of smallmouth action at the base of the falls. DM caught the biggest of the day, which we estimated at 18". We didn't want to eat smallies though, so they went back into the water and after a few hours we headed back to camp for a fishless dinner. [paragraph break]
Despite the lack of fish we had a delicious "Thanksgiving dinner" of instant mashed potatoes, gravy, pre-cooked chicken, and dehydrated veggies. We sat around the fire and relaxed, discussing our plans for the next day. Rain was in the forecast, so we decided we would have a relaxed morning and explore Gabbro Lake. Before long we were tired and headed into the tents. Daily Summary:
Lakes traveled: None, technically. S. Kawishiwi RiverDistance paddled: 4.95 mi
Distance portaged: 0.45 mi (144 rods)
Number of portages: 1
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