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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 18 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!

Short and Sweet to Insula

by Dbldppr1250
Trip Report

Entry Date: June 15, 2009
Entry Point: Lake One
Number of Days: 3
Group Size: 1

Trip Introduction:
I really had to try again after my bear scare last year, so I tried Insula this time.

Day 1 of 3


Monday, June 15, 2009

(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.

 



Day 2 of 3


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

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).

 



Day 3 of 3


Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I finally decided to get an early start when I saw a part of a moon and a star-filled sky at 2:30 am. I packed up camp in the dark, and I noticed a mouse running on the rope I used to hang my tarp. We had a staring contest and I put my face about 12" infront of him before he finally made his exit. I left my site at 3:30. Paddling in the dark with the silhouettes of trees on the water was really beautiful. Gradually those silhouettes became real tree lines on the water and I was orienteering with my map and compass to go back down the east side of Insula to make my way back to the Lodge, hoping I could get a good chunk of this return trip before the rain hit. My arms had a day to recover from my ~17 mile paddle the first day, and paddling was with cadence and enjoyable. I hit the portage to Hudson at about 5:45 without too much disorientation - there are so many islands the first timer can have second thoughts about where you are easily. The sun was shining brightly and the sky showed no signs of clouding up, so I just kept on trucking my route, hoping I could get most of the way. I ran into a couple guys while portaging into Hudson, and I asked one of them about the middle portage in the Kawishiwi between Hudson and Four. There were some rapids that I had to really work to get out of going the other way 2 days ago, and I was worried about it. They told me that their group was cut don in size because one of their men swamped his canoe and was injured, lost gear to the rapids, and their trip changed due to that spot. As I talked with the 2 young men, we found out we were all from St Louis - small world! One of the young men said to use the eddy on the other side of the rapid to get across to the portage. I'm surprised I didn't read about that idea on any message boards before the trip, and this spot (to me) is the most precarious spot on the route.

As I continued working my way through this beautiful area, I saw some neat things. As I was paddling along a bank with grass, I got within about 20 feet of a deer and its fawn. They were just lying there with no fear of my presence. I went by quietly and tried not to disturb them. I saw a duck up close with about a dozen baby ducks gathered around her. I also saw a huge walleye in some shallow water when I tried a shallow side of an island as a short cut. I could hear that fish flick it's tail in the water to get away from me. It looked so powerful. I couldn't believe how nice a day it was with the weather prediction I had heard the day before. Now I began thinking I could just paddle out if I got a few more hours of good weather and paddled in the rain for a little bit. Bit by bit, lake by lake, my arms began to weaken. My back became tired, and my ribs began to feel sore. But there was motivation to finish. There were times again when so many islands confused me and I told myself to trust my instincts and my compass. When I got to Lake One, I got about half way to the point where it turns northeast for the final stretch, or at least I thought so. I turned a corner, and paddled into what became a bay instead of a wide channel. And again on the next turn. And again on the next turn. It now had become cloudy and the wind was picking up, and it was hard to use the sun as well as the compass. I saw what was a channel far to the west in front of me, but it didn't make sense, so I back-tracked for about a half hour. Now there was an easterly wind, so when I back-tracked, I had to horse my strokes and I was getting really tired. I kept reminding myself what I tell my students in P. E. class during their workouts - "Think positively about good things and you'll get through the hard times." My mind was now totally confused and I saw nobody at any campsites. That also surprised me because of all the info about Lake One being a crazy area that was over-crowded. When I back-tracked to a place where I knew where I was, I turned around and tried again. This time I saw the same thing ahead of me but as far as I could see I noticed a red tent, and I figured if I wasn't in the right place I'd ask them where I was so I could reorient myself on the map. When I got down there, the islands made more sense on the map and that channel I thought was too far away seemed to look like it might be the one. When I turned that corner, the location of the islands and campsites made perfect sense, and I re-gained my confidence. I think my lost detour took me an extra hour and a half, but I was so tired, it might have been an hour. When I asked Frank at Kawishiwi how far to Williamson Island, he estimated about 20 miles. So I'm figuring that when I landed my canoe at the beach in front of his stack of canoes, I had paddled ~21 miles or more in 12 hours. This workout in my mind was more difficult than my walk to school every year on National Walk to School Day. On that day I begin the night before and walk through the night for 36 miles to my school where I teach. Since I can't run any more (4 knee operations), this is my ay of celebrating my teaching and demonstrating to the student that I can practice what I preach.

I think I learned that the concept of "solo" is not as much fun as with a group. It's much more difficult in work load and there is nobody to help problem-solve. This and last year's bluff-charge seem to make me feel a group thing is right for me in the future. I also prepared well with using permethrin spray on my daytime outfit, spraying with deet at times, and the portable "clip-on Off" was great in camp when I as wearing my off the water clothes. That new item on the market will hit it big and very soon. The critters were swarming at times and I didn't get one bite until I used the shower room back at Kawishiwi Lodge. I learned again that I pack TOO MUCH STUFF! I was very pleased with Frank and Nicole at Kawishiwi, and thanked them before beginning my long drive home. The 820 mile drive back to St Louis won't seem as far as the 21 mile paddle! (Pictures are coming when ready)

 


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