BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 18 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!
Isabella River, Quadga Lake, to Bald Eagle lake (mentions Fourtown, Hegman as well)
Entry Date:
September 15, 2014
Entry Point:
Isabella Lake
Exit Point:
South Kawishiwi River (32)
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
2
Our 2nd trip this season.
The portages were well marked. We saw no one for three days. Quadga Lake is a gem. This route goes through the Pagami burn area of three years ago. Many campsites are apparently closed for restoration. From Isabella Lake the next open campsite was shortly before the portage into Quadga Lake. (don’t know if the Rice Lake sites are open) Two of the campsites on Quadga were closed. The first site to the East and then the Northwest (also has access to the Powwow trail) were the open ones. We had good fishing for northern and bass on Quadga, a delightful encounter with three otters, who next morning were off our campsite point, giving us a look see. [paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] On one portage, up the steep bank, there was deadfall over the entrance, initially leading us to think someone was trying to tell us something; so we bushwhacked around it, up and over a rise. On the 2nd pass though we just cleared it off and carried the canoe over the portage. [paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] For those who like canoeing the rivers, this is must if you haven’t done it. We should have stayed a third night at Quadga, but we thought there was more bad weather in the offing. We enjoyed the beavers swimming by our campsite, the trumpeter swan honking by, the low flying formation of noisy geese, and the loveliest sunsets with the rays of light. We enjoyed our smoked Zup’s sausages on our first night & fish on the 2nd. The wind blew hard enough on our layover day there, so we didn’t try for walleyes, on the receiving end of that. Our family favorite is fish cakes for breakfast; the leftover northern deboned & flaked into mashed potato cakes, fried in oil, tasty indeed! [paragraph break] 
[paragraph break] The Pagami burn presents an interesting landscape, with the lush regeneration underway, and lots of down trees for easy firewood. This would have been more shocking if I hadn’t canoed in the Cavity fire burn in past years. No hanging packs in this environment.
No moose seen, but one foot print. The bass and northern seem to like crayfish.
This was our 2nd trip this year, having ten days earlier canoed Fourtown Lake up to Gun Lake. Fourtown had lots wind and waves, and cold weather. We liked Fairy Lake the best and stayed there two nights. We got close to two trumpeter swans and two beavers who slapped their tails for us. Caught one fat walleye & a bass for otherwise mediocre fishing. The long Mudro portage is challenging, especially for the smooth wet rock faces, where I almost slipped…
We’ve developed a preference for smaller lakes and rivers, over the big ones, so I’m looking for future routes of that variety. I am interested to know more about the Little Isabella River that comes in from the south; and best small river routes with moderate portages (maybe asking too much :)
Did two really nice day trips as well (Hegman Lakes & Homer Lake with the mini-loop at the far end). A review of best days trips is good topic for a future discussion. [paragraph break] 
Naomi and I left Oregon for Minnesota on August 25th, along the way hiked in the Grand Tetons & Theodore Roosevelt National Parks. We made our mandatory excursion (lovely fall colors hike in the George Crosby State Park on the way) to Grand Marais for two dinners at the legendary Angry Trout Café for fresh Lake Superior whitefish & lake trout.
Thanks to Steve Nelson at the Spirit of the Wilderness outfitters for our new (used) Bell Northwinds canoe and the shuttle to Isabella Lake. This canoe is the best!
Driving home across North Dakota experienced the effects of blowing wind sideways on our car with the canoe on top, wow. And gas mileage on our Prius dropped from 44 mph to 34 mph, which surprised me, shows the effects of wind resistance.
For more information about Isabella River portages:
Quietjourney.com, Canoe Routes (and Portage Database in lower right), great summary of these portages.
BWCA.com, Go to “Entry Points”, Isabella Lake, Portage Comments, scroll down to Beaver’s comments on Isabella Lake, click on View point, his info opens in a pop up, which you can then print.[paragraph break] We'll be back next year.