BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 03 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!
Hog creek to Isabella
Entry Date:
August 03, 2021
Entry Point:
Hog Creek
Exit Point:
Isabella Lake (35)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
1
I traveled Hog Creek to Isabella, August 3rd to August 7th, and now am back in SWFL. Another person here on BWCA named "Jaywalker" provided me with cautions which were very appropriate. Sadly - I missed or did not pay close enough attention to one very important note. My travel was EP #36 Hog Creek to exit #35 - Isabella Lake. Hog Creek was a genuine pain with a number of beaver dams, mud based "liftovers", and lots of twists and couple of false left turns. It was doable. Still, I and another couple ahead of me weren't onto Perent Lake until about 3pm. I spent two days at an excellent island campsite (#991) due west of the Hog Creek entrance to the lake.
The third morning, I packed up early and had planned/hoped to push thru to Isabella Lake. Two areas of the Perent River enroute to Isabella were what I would refer to as moderately hazardous for a solo canoeist, given the low traffic and low water levels. On the route, I only saw 4 humans, and not much evidence of landings or footprints. The four people made up a single group of 4 healthy young men who had apparently given up and reported that they were returning to Perent Lake. They labelled theroute as "slogging", with little chance to get through in one day.
Between Portage #224 and #807 (I think) there existed a rice paddy about 1000 feet long which was not "paddle-able". The location is southeast of Snusbox. I had to get out and push a great part of it, trying not to lose my boots in the muck or to fall on my face. This area is, I believe, east of "campsite 1995" as marked on the map. Campsite 1995 was not found. Also, I could not find campsite #990. While in the rice, clouds built up and thunder was heard. It was raining hard when I made it to a patch of open water and then to shore. I spent about 50 minutes under the canoe, off and on as I would flip the canoe to catch rain water to drink from the hard plastic seat where it would quickly accumulate.
The sun came back out and I made it to portage #225 at around 9pm. There, the bivouac (well, I did use the tent, so was not technically a bivouac) was with the tent straddling the trail onto a tiny area not too hilly or rocky for my tent. A 6ft alder located about 30 yards away from my tent was what I could manage for a "bear hang".
The next morning, I proceeded south of Snusbox along the Perent River. There was a large area of boulder strewn river. This is one which Jaywalker labelled as "50 rods", I note after the fact, that Jaywlker reported the portage as being "south of the river and little used/overgrown". I believe this to be portage #676. Despite looking at both ends of the "portage" on the north end, and scanning the south sides, I found no evidence of any trail. I hauled my two packs and canoe across the boulders. The note about the portage being on the south of the river, had I paid closer attention, or had I actually discovered a trail to the south, might have saved me a couple of hours of very risky work.
Bottom line - it was not until about 6pm on the 4rth day that I did make it to EP #35 portage @ Isabella Lake, where I made camp for the last night. Joel (Jaywalker) did a great thing in cautioning me, and I thank him.