BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 01 2024
Entry Point 30 - 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!
Island River to South Kwishiwi
Entry Date:
July 20, 2014
Entry Point:
Island River
Exit Point:
South Kawishiwi River (32)
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
4
Up at 6am after spending the night in the bunkhouse provided by our outfitter: Jordan's Canoe Outfitting, Ely, MN. Mark Bland is the owner and he does an excellent job of getting things ready and although this is only my second trip, I'm planning a third using Mark again.
Breakfast at 7am, pancakes and sausage. Load up and head to the EP.
We entered on Island River, knowing we would paddle through the area of the Pagami Creek fire, but we were interested in seeing the burned area and it's regrowth.
The day was very sunny and hot, we briefly considered a trip south on the Island River to view some pictographs, but I was overruled by the kids, they just wanted to get going and didn't want to backtrack right away.
We didn't paddle too far the first day. The campsite was just past Rice Lake, but on the Isabella River, this was the first campsite along our route that was not closed due to the Pagami Creek fire. The site would have been fine, except there was NO shade and it was a hot sunny day. By sunset a giant boulder was throwing some shade on our tents. The tent pad was grassy, not much use I'm guessing, and had enough room for two three-man dome tents.
The night was hot, but our New York Strip steaks were great cooked on the fire grates.
The night was very still and hot. Sleeping was not great that first night. The bugs were tolerable, but got worse as it got dark.
We got up around 7am, some coffee for me and hot chocolate for my oldest daughter. The other two were adjusting from their routines of going to bed at 4am and sleeping till noon. That only took one day. :D
We had french toast that morning, it was quite good.
We paddled and paddled that day. Many small portages and one longer one. It was very hot and sunny. The kids just wanted to see some trees that were not burned.
As we pasted Quadga there were some green trees. Almost like a line was drawn through the wilderness. Green on one side, burned on the other.
We had lunch at a small site on Isabella. Summer Sausage sandwiches. We considered staying here, but there were lots of bugs and no breeze. So we decided to push-on, to the last site on Isabella River, just before the portage to Bald Eagle. We figured we be rested for that 140 rod portage the next day.
Once we got there, we didn't like that site either, and we knew (Mark showed us) that there were some prime sites on the south end of Bald Eagle.
So at 4pm, we started the 140 rod portage into Bald Eagle. It was hot, humid, and generally miserable. We made it, triple portaging, out by around 4:45.
We got the second sight from the south on the east side of Bald Eagle. It was a very nice site. Camp was made with the intention of laying over the next day. We all swam that night and had a little BWCA bath. :D
Beautiful sunset that night. 
We had a small garter snake that lived in the rock pile wind break for the fire pit. He left when we showed up. The mosquitos came out at dark and were fairly intense, so we went in the tents. There was terrible wind that night. It sounded as if someone was driving a train off the lake into our campsite. We had no rain and no downed trees that night. Later I learned that several people were airlifted out due to tree falls.
We were wind bound, but had planned a layover day anyway. We spent the day playing cards and Yahtzee under our tarp. 
The day was windy, but dry.
We paddled out of Bald Eagle into Gabbro Lake today. Found a nice site that Mark had indicated on our map.
It was a splendid site. Great water entry point. We swam all afternoon. In the evening we were watching a Bald Eagle have it's supper out on some flat rocks off shore. A couple of brave seagulls were harassing it.
A long day of paddling. We went all the way to our last site of the trip. A site high on a bluff over the South Kwishiwi river. It was a nice site as well. The breeze kept the bugs away during the day.
BUT at dusk....mosquito-apocalypse started. Nothing stopped them...we were driven into the tents and you could just lay there and still hear them buzzing. I think they would have carried off the tent if possible.
Layover day, lots of time in the hammock reading and playing cards with the kids.
Short paddle out on a beautiful morning. The 140 rod portage out was not nearly as hard as the one into Bald Eagle. I think it was a bit more level and the temperature was more tolerable as well.
There were several downed trees, from the wind storm a few nights earlier I suspect.
A hot shower at Jordan's and then into Ely for a burger and fries at The Rockwood.
Overall a great trip, but the 17 year old daughter says she is never going again...she really doesn't like camping, but loves canoeing....