BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 26 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!
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!
First Solo - EP 27 Ambitious trip
by 30Smoke
Trip Report
Entry Date:
May 16, 2017
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
1
Trip Introduction:
Two boundary water items on my bucket list – Isle of Pines and Kekekabic Lake. It’s a long trip with tough portages going from Snowbank EP27. I started with a day paddle on May 11th, then got to Piragis on May 16 at 6am to pick up my permit and any additional equipment I forgot.
Report
I started my trip five days early with a daytrip to Sawbill – beautiful weather & great paddle. I thought I was ready. I was at the Snowbank Entry EP27 by 7am on May 16th. I was expecting poor weather but believed my training and gear would get me through the trip. An ambitious trip going from Snowbank-Boot-Ensign-Vera-Knife-Eddy-Kek ponds-Kekekabic-Strup-Wisini-Amakose-Gerund-Fraser-Thomas-Ima-Jordan-Cattyman-Adventure-Jitterbug-Ashub-Dissapointment-Parent-and back to Snowbank EP27. 
I made it to Ensign – was rained in for a day and turned around. Positive things – I made the Boot-Ensign portage with 200 lbs of gear. I had good gear – good boots – underarmour cold gear pants and shirt – layers of clothes – and rain gear – good stove – and plenty of food. Negative things – Too much weight – that’s why people on the solo forum always talk about taking less and lighter. If you have to do a quad portage – you will not get very far – negative weather – poor attitude. Steven Seagal has a movie where he says they are going to win because of “Superior Attitude – Superior State of Mind” – I had neither! Day 1 starts at work – got off and on the road about 8pm. Drove to Independence MN rest area and slept in back of truck for a few hours. Got up and made it to Piragis in Ely by 6am. Got my permit and made it to Snowbank by 7am. Took an hour and a half to load canoe and hit the water. It seemed beautiful but overcast. 
Paddled to the Boot Portage, two short ones. This is where I realized there was a problem. The first portage took 4 trips. I was hoping for an easy three. The next portage was a real short one to get into Boot. By the time I crossed Boot and made it to the portage it was about noon. It would 5 hours later and a quad portage with all my gear, alumacraft 70lb canoe, two granite gear packs, the superior and quetico (loaded to 45 & 55 lbs) and a day pack of 30 lbs plus misc fishing gear, net, tacklebox. It also started misting at about noon. By the time I made it to the first camp to the West on Ensign, it was getting cool and I was soaked. After getting the tarp up with tent next to it, I was too tired to even eat. 
The thought of making food, cleaning, etc. was too much, so I hid the food pack in the woods (as bears are excellent climbers) and got into warm / dry clothes and went to bed with a negative attitude and defeated. The Kitchen had a beautiful view, but was underwater, wet, windy, unusable. 
Day 2 started with continued overcast, mist/light rain, and the firepit was a mud pit. I did not want to be there, and all I could think of was I did not want to see my name in the paper as canoeist needed rescue in boundary waters! So I sucked it up, hoped my clothes would dry out, as I was not leaving camp until I had extra dry clothes in my pack, and at four good meals throughout the day. Nothing was really dry in the wet humid weather, so I turned in at dark and hoped for the best to start Thursday! Day 3 started horribly, as I awoke to a strong wind and knew the stove would not work in this wind, so I took a nap and woke up about 9am. The wind was still blowing strong, but I saw a few other canoeist at this point and decided I was packing up and heading home. I knew the weather would break and I would get out. I was back on the portage to Boot, and the sun broke out about noon. I got to Boot with a triple portage in 3 hours and contemplated staying on Boot for a couple nights, but I remembered the weather forecasts were miserable for the whole week. 
I then continued on to Snowbank and as I got on the big water the wind picked up, but never got too strong and the Alumacraft is a very stable canoe. I was on the road and in Ely by 7pm. Lots of lessons learned, but I did not want to head back up to the BWCA again this year. Postscript: I had planned a trip with my Cousin for June 6 to 11th and I really did not want to do it. I talked to him several times and made it known if he could find somebody else, I’d be fine skipping a year. But he kept me in the game and we had a great trip – I will post that later. I still questioned whether I would want to go alone again, but I really want to go to the Isle of Pines and Lake Kekekabic, so about the middle of September I decided a 7 to 14 day trip would be nice, and for work, the 2nd half of September would work out really well. So I am planning to try this again in September of 2018. This time lighter gear, less gear (watch weight) and keep a SUPERIOR ATTITUDE. If you don’t want to be there – it won’t be any fun.
discuss this trip report (10 comments) - last post on October 22, 2017