Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 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!

Kicking Back on the Kawishiwi II (2013)

by thlipsis29
Trip Report

Entry Date: May 21, 2013
Entry Point: Lake One
Exit Point: Lake One (30)
Number of Days: 6
Group Size: 6

Trip Introduction:
We originally had planned to go to Horse Lake via Mudro on May 15, but given the late ice out conditions we decided to postpone the trip one week and simply find an entry point with an available permit for May 22. Two of us in the group had done this trip back in 2011 and given our success then, we figured it was certainly worth repeating. Besides the change in dates the other curveball I had to deal with was that this would be the first time in 13 trips that I wouldn't be with my regular canoe partner, Buzz17, who couldn't make it because of scheduling conflicts, but I'd survive somehow.

Day 1 of 6


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

We left Rochester in the early afternoon and made it to Ely in just over five hours. Stopped at Spirit of the Wilderness to pick up our permit, one canoe and some other miscellaneous gear. It turns out that one of the group members went to high school in Rochester with Steven Nelson (owner of Spirit) back in the late 60's, though they didn't know one another then. Eventually we made it to Sir G's for dinner where we met a friend of mine from Ely who had just gotten out from a four or five day trip and he gave us a report of the weather and fishing. They apparently never took their rain gear off the whole time they were in and started growing gills. I was hoping the five day forecast that didn't include any rain would hold true. We then headed out to Timber Trail Lodge's bunkhouse for the night. It's a VERY nice facility.

 



Day 2 of 6


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

We awoke at 4:30 and were to Britton's by 5:15. Ate a hardy breakfast as always, and then stopped at The Great Outdoors to pick up our minnows. Always good to chat with Jim and get the latest fishing updates. We then headed to our entry point, and arrived just before 8:00 a.m. The weather was cool, but dry and for the first time I think we had both the current and wind working in our favor for the trip in.

The trip was going very smoothly until after our last portage before the split in the Kawishiwi. As we paddled past a past a rocky point at the end of the rapids had just portaged around we saw an empty canoe floating in the middle of a small bay. We didn't know if someone had a medical emergency and fell out of the canoe or if it had drifted from a campsite up the river, though that seemed unlikely given the current and wind. We rounded up the canoe (note the BWCA.com sticker on the bow) and one member started blowing an emergency whistle to try to get the individual's attention, assuming nothing had happened to him/her. After a few minutes a solo tripper came around the point and expressed his appreciation for corralling his loose canoe. He had stopped to take some pictures of the rapids and it had blown off the shore. Because I didn't get his permission, I won't share his screen name, but after I got home I looked him on the site to find out he lives just west of Rochester. Small world.

We made it to our camp site on the north branch of the river just past the split by 10:00 or so, got camp set up and then went out fishing. My canoe partner for this trip, Brett, and I started fishing at the base of the first set of rapids on the south branch of the Kawishiwi, and on my first cast with a light action rod, 6 lb test and a 1/8 oz jighead I managed to land a 35" northern. A great start to the trip. Brett managed to catch a few northern from camp on a slip bobber and cisco and Gary hauled in a 20.5" small mouth. While the fisher weren't jumping into the canoes, this seemed like a very good start.

 



Day 3 of 6


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Unfortunately, the fishing started out very, very slow. Brett did manage to find two walleye in the channel between the split in the river and our campsite, but otherwise none of us had anything to show for our efforts. Thankfully things changed in the evening after dinner. Our depth finder had been marking fish right at the split in the river so we paddled to that spot and in the course of two hours or so I limited out on walleye and Brett managed to catch a walleye, a small mouth and a 13" crappie, a perfect trifecta!

My biggest concern when we got back to camp that evening was the forecast. Gary had brought a weather radio and the temp was to drop to 25 degrees. My new 15 degree bag and Exped SynMat 7 were going to get a real test. Thankfully I stayed quite comfortable, but it was cold.

 



Day 4 of 6


Friday, May 24, 2013

Although it was cold, thankfully the sun was out and we could warm up with the fire and a hearty breakfast. We eventually made it out fishing by 9:30 or so and by then it had warmed up into the low 40's. Brett managed to snag two walleyes and I found three in the mouth of the North Kawishiwi. Nathan, one of the 14 year old boys on the trip successfully landed a 37" northern at camp on a slip bobber and cisco, and this was the largest fish of the trip. He also produced two very nice walleye later that morning. And Gary continued to pound the smallmouth, landing two fish in the 4-5 lbs range.

 



Day 5 of 6


Saturday, May 25, 2013

Saturday morning wasn't as cool as Friday, but there was still a chill in the air. The morning fishing was SLOW, and Brett and I paddled up to the 210 rod portage just past Conchu only to catch nothing. We didn't bother doing the portage, but it was a beautiful area of the river. If we weren't catching fish, at least we had a nice sightseeing trip.

As had been the pattern, however, the bite picked up after dinner. Brett and I returned to the rapids and found the walleye once again. While the bite wasn't aggressive, it was consistent and we found some really nice fish. About 9:15 or so I snapped my line on a snag and because neither of us had brought headlamps with us, I couldn't see to tie on a new jig so we figured we needed to call it quits. While we both really wanted to limit out, four walleye each wasn't a bad night.

 



Day 6 of 6


Sunday, May 26, 2013

I overslept on Sunday so we got a later start than I had wanted, but we managed to breakdown camp and get the fish cleaned and out of camp by 9:30. I figured even though we were paddling upstream, we could still make it to the entry point before noon. Things were going as planned until the next to the last portage. Brett and I got our canoe loaded and started to paddle away from shore when I made one very critical mistake: I started paddling on the wrong side of the canoe and got the bow of the canoe out into the current and the next thing I knew the current turned us 180 degrees and we were headed straight down the rapids we had just portaged around. This is when I was suddenly thankful for the four days of rain just before we entered because the rocks that are normally above the surface were at least a foot below the surface of the water. Even so, the entire time we're running the rapids I was thinking to myself, "I'm going to be buying a canoe, and my wife is going to kill me. I'm going to be buying a canoe, and my wife is going to kill me." Thanks to some nifty navigating on Brett's part we successfully made it through the rapids with the canoe intact, though we nearly swamped it trying to turn around in the current to get back to the portage. It was the wildest 20 second ride I've ever had in a canoe. Needless to say, the second time around I was very conscious of paddling to keep us out of the current.

Overall, a very good and relaxing trip, though it was much busier this time around. In years past we go in the Wednesday after opener, but going in over the Memorial Day weekend all but guaranteed we'd see more people. Glad we got the site when we did because we saw at least five or six groups scouting for a site on Friday and Saturday. But if you're looking for a place with decent fishing that's fairly accessible, this is a great destination.

 


Routes
Trip Reports
a
.
Routes
Trip Reports
Routes
Trip Reports
Routes
Trip Reports
.
Routes
Trip Reports
Routes
Trip Reports
x