BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 25 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!
No disappointment on Disappointment
Entry Date:
September 25, 2014
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake Only
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
My plan is to propose to my girlfriend. We've been blessed to travel all around the world, to see amazing places, to do amazing things. But we --even before dating-- took camping and hiking trips to some amazing places here in Minnesota. The weather forecast was amazing, so I proposed a last-minute trip to the BWCA as a get-away from work and stress and responsibility. She agreed.
Arrive in Ely fairly late. Pick up permit, hustle to Snowbank entry, drop stuff in canoe. Paddle through Snowbank and Parent, portage into Disappointment, and take the first camp we find. It's crappy, but we plan to move and darkness comes early this time of year. On the way in, we picked up a few chunks of driftwood from the shorelines...this makes for a nice short fire before heading to the tent.
Today is the day.
We sleep in. Drink coffee and hot chocolate in camp. Watch the sun rise in a cloud- free sky. Dawdle some more. No hurry, right? It's late September, and there shouldn't be much demand for campsites. I was wrong...the traffic on the lake was very high, all things considering. I think I counter 14 canoes the first day.
We were lucky to get a campsite on Disappointment, the same lake we stayed at the first night. Almost all the sites were taken (we had arrived late at night and taken the first available). We spent some time wondering why we had tried to upgrade campsites, as the site we found wasn't much better than the one we left.
But--and this is a BIG but--our site faced north. During the day, we trolled some rapalas with no success. We did find lots of driftwood, so we picked up a bunch. It was a good thing we did.
Fire started. Dinner eaten. Proposal accepted. All is good in the world.
And then the northern sky lit up with some aurora borealis. Not much of color, but there were hours and hours of waves of white northern lights with some greens mixed in. We eventually put out the fire, went down on the rock point, and watched the waves in white and green wash over us. Mixed in with the northern lights were numerous shooting stars.
Maybe others of you married folks have had such amazing experiences on the day/night you got engaged, but a night in the BWCA, perfect unseasonably warm weather, green and white northern lights washing over you interspersed with multiple shooting stars...I can't imagine a better setting for such a night. Magic and miracles and grace. Nights like that are a beneficence.
Slept in and, after copious amounts of hot chocolate, reading good books, watching people paddle by, and planning our future, we headed to Cattyman Falls.
Water was low, but the falls were impressive. We sat on a fallen tree beneath the falls, didn't talk much, and just watched the water tumble by.
Night was spent burning up remaining firewood, talking about growing old, planning weddings, and getting to know each other a little better.
Paddled out through Snowbank on a day warm enough to be too warm, calm enough to see reflections of yellow birch, and so full of happiness that trying to explain it would lessen it.