BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 04 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!
3-day out-and-back to Fraser Oct. 2017
Entry Date:
October 09, 2017
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
By the time we had portaged to Disappointment, it was full daylight and the wind was strengthening out of the northwest. For most of the morning, it seemed like the sun was racing increased clouds from the southeast, and losing. After a mostly clear start, it turned into a mostly cloudy day.
The lakes were empty as we worked our way toward Hatchet, and our only encounter with other paddlers was a young couple, homeward bound, at the lift-over between Jordan and Ima. They warned us that, "that last lake (Ima) was a real struggle." With the wind at our backs, we had no trouble.
The baggage for this trip was two Duluth packs, neither terribly heavy, in our Wenonah Jensen 18. On all but the shortest portages, we each started off with a pack. At the halfway point, I would leave my pack to the side of the trail, and return for the canoe; meanwhile, Tammy completed the portage and then retrieved the mid-portage pack.
Our plan was to camp on Hatchet, but because neither site offered shelter from the cold wind, we pushed on to Thomas. There we took a right turn out of the portage bay, and set up camp at the first site (No. 1680), which was nicely sheltered. We changed into warm camp clothes and spent a couple pleasant hours by the fire before an early supper and then bed about 6:30 p.m.
We rekindled the fire, and took our time making coffee and oatmeal, enjoying the sun and slowly peeling off layers of down and fleece as the day warmed. Tammy read by the fire, and I enjoyed packing up camp at a leisurely pace. We were on the water at 10:30, paddled the channel from Thomas into Fraser. We paused for water and trail mix on a small island that offered a nice view, shelter from the northwest breeze, and plenty of sun.
As we snacked, we reached a near-simultaneous conclusion that this -- enjoying the view, sitting comfortably in the sun -- was our new plan for the day. We paddled about 5 minutes back to a campsite (No. 1395), unloaded the canoe and began gathering firewood. It was not yet noon. This is not our typical trip pattern; usually, we are up early and travel most of the day. As we discussed this change, Tammy and I realized just how tired we had been for the past few months, and gave ourselves permission to simply relax. Because I enjoy making camp, I worked slowly at that during the afternoon while Tammy finished her book sitting in the sun. We enjoyed our usual freezer-bag supper, took an evening paddle around a nearby bay, and sat by the fire for a couple hours in the evening listening to a ruffed grouse drum in the woods behind camp. 
As we traveled back toward Snowbank the lakes remained empty except for a couples of distant eagles, an occasional raven, and a few last ducks in the marshy areas. As we paddled down the handle of Hatchet we heard the flat report of a shotgun somewhere to the south -- a hunter, perhaps after grouse or ducks.
Our plan had been to get only to Ima. But when we stopped there at a south-facing island campsite, we realized we were enjoying the rhythm of paddle and portage on this day. We resumed our journey toward the entry point and it was not until we were near the end of the portage from Disappointment to Snowbank that we suddenly felt physically spent. We had a snack, drank some water, and braced ourselves for a windy paddle back to the landing, which we reached about 4 p.m.
This was not the trip we had envisioned when we left home, but we agreed it had been enjoyable, with satisfying measures of hard work and relaxation. We had sought quiet, and we had found it, seeing only one group on Day 1, and another outbound on Disappointment on Day 3. We treated ourselves to dinner, spent the night at Ely's Adventure Inn, and the next morning headed east on Minnesota 1 toward the north shore, where we walked the Superior Hiking Trail for a couple of days. 
