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

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 28 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!

Kawishiwa River Fishing Opener 2017

by Trapper7
Trip Report

Entry Date: May 12, 2017
Entry Point: North Kawishiwi River
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
When you have a cabin on Garden Lake that is about a 40 minute paddle from the BWCA, how can you not go on a camping trip for fishing opener?

Day 1 of 4


Friday, May 12, 2017

What an advantage it is living on a lake that is only a 40 minute paddle to get into the Kawishiwa River. I get to lay out all my gear in the cabin the day prior to entry, which allows me to make any last minute changes. Examples; I downsized my tackle box for this 4 day trip. The weather called for no rain so I ditched the rain gear. There was only my buddy Dewey and I going, so there was no need for the 6L water bag. Temperatures looked good so I left out a couple articles of clothing. Once the pack was "fine tuned", I organized everything in the proper packs, and got things tied down into the canoe. I have always used little bungees and rope for tying misc items but have read a lot of reviews from the bwca.com members about these BDB things. I thought I would give them a try. I was immediately sold on them! If you are reading this and do not have any BDB's, you need to get some. We pushed off at about 9:00 am. We were able to paddle past the first portage that is NW of Clear Lake, but the current near the second portage, more to the east, was too strong and we had to portage. We decided to double portage because we were using my old alumacraft canoe which weighs 84 pounds. We expected about a 5 hour trip to get to our destination at the south point of the Kawishiwa triangle. We made it in 3 hrs 15 minutes to the Hilton. I had camped here previously, many years ago. Once with my dad and brother, and once with 3 high school friends. Both of those trips were in the mid 1990's. The site was just how I remembered it. Personally, I think it is a little overrated. I like that it sits right along the narrows which provides a soothing sound of running water at night, but it does get quite a bit of traffic past it. We got camp set, and paddled around the area scoping out some potential fishing spots for the weekend. After scouting was done, we came back to cook up our ribeye steaks and mashed potatoes. I felt a sense of guilt for the rest of society as I bit into my medium rare, campfire cooked, ribeye steak, while watching the sun set over the calm waters. Most people will never get to experience this.

 



Day 2 of 4


Saturday, May 13, 2017 I slept great in my Bear Butt hammock. I didn't wake up until the birds sounded. We got up fairly early to make some oatmeal and coffee before we headed out for some morning fishing. Water temps were in the mid to upper 50's. The weather was beautiful yesterday, today, and the forecast for tomorrow was the same. Monday there was some expected rain coming, but we would be heading out Monday morning anyway so that didn't really matter to us. We caught a handful of walleyes in the morning and had a shore lunch back at camp, followed by a nap. We headed back out for the evening and caught some more walleyes for supper. We fished shallow (4ft-6ft) in the current and also drifted into some deeper (18ft-20ft) areas. We didn't seem to do better in one area versus the other. I was surprised that we caught as many as we did in the deeper areas.

 



Day 3 of 4


Sunday, May 14, 2017 We slept in a little bit today and lounged around camp. There was a little bit of wind this morning which made it more difficult to fish once we headed out. I brought a wind sock with but the wind direction and speed wasn't cooperating with the breaks we were trying to fish so we just put it away. I have never used a wind sock before. I am hoping I will have a better experience next time. My buddy Luke and his step son were coming through the area today so we were kind of staying close to camp as to not miss them. They met up with us a little after noon and decided to camp with us for a night. We set out for some more evening fishing and caught plenty for a meal again. It is tough to beat fresh walleye battered in Andy's Red fried in a little squeeze Parkay.

 



Day 4 of 4


Monday, May 15, 2017 The dreaded departure day. The only good thing about leaving is that a much needed shower/sauna was going to take place today. Hardly a justifiable excuse to be paddling out, but it is the best I can come up with. The mood as we paddled out is hard to describe. It was quiet. Somber. Just trying to soak it all in as best as we could because who knows when the next trip will come. As we neared the exit point, we could hear the motor boats. Then we saw them. Then the wakes from them made us adjust our paddling. Then we heard the backing up beeps of construction equipment. Then we heard the jack hammering of some road construction. Then I turned my phone on to all the missed phone calls, voicemails, text messages, emails........... Welcome back to civilization. I can't wait until my next bwca trip.

 


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