BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
December 12 2025
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!
Henry’s First Trip
Entry Date:
June 13, 2025
Entry Point:
Lake One
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
We started out at Piragis to pick up our permit and to get Henry the customary Piragis nalgene bottle. After we stopped at the Frisky Otter for a burger for Henry. I put on a new portage yolk in the motel parking lot. Henry filled the nalgene bottles and mixed the lemonades. The Spring Creek seat/yoke is awesome! Highly recommend!
Got the canoe loaded up and ready to push off when Henry tried putting on a lifejacket on 2 sizes too small. Apparently I didn’t look at the size of the jacket just the weight. So a quick text to Frank at Kawishiwi lodge and down to the boathouse to get one we went.
Henry picked out the campsite, was a nicer campsite than I expected to be as a 2 star site. However I’ve never really had a bad site either. We got our hammocks all set up and with no rain in the immediate forecast we kept the rain flys off. Just sleeping under the stars and one night northern lights as the wind blew through the trees, loons singing their songs and frogs croaking.
We didn’t do much fishing. A handful of hours basically trolling island to island to explore them and find firewood. I did however find enough walleyes pitching a 4 inch slim minnow from shore. Henry may not be into fishing as much as his brother or dad. He however can out eat his brother and dad in the fish department. I’d be willing to bet he can eat as many walleyes as Ronald Matson but not as good of a dish washer as Grandpa, he’ll get there with a couple dozen more trips. Before I knew it he had eaten an 18 and 21 inch walleye before I could blink. And coleslaw. And veggies. And chips. “But don’t worry dad, I left you the cheeks and wings.” So dad had a cup of sw Chipotle chicken soup and some coleslaw.
We caught minnows and tadpoles. We had oliver and frisky the turtles around our campsite. We had a 14 inch pike that I caught trolling back in and released and the thing followed us into shore and then hung out around our campsite another day or so.
Henry also got one of my prized Larson’s custom husky jerks snagged on a sunken log casting from shore. The sheer look of terror in his eyes of seeing his dad strip downn to his Shimano shoes to get the lure back was priceless.
We played war, and go fish, and kings on the corner. We played for a $1 a game and had to have played hundreds of games. At one point we played 3.5 hours straight without taking a break. I only lost a buck so it was a pretty fair time. I think we burned more wood this trip than the 20+ trips combined. The new saw worked great! We stayed up late playing cards inside the bug tent. First time with one and man thatll get packed every time. One night until 11:30 and then up the next day at 4:30. We slept in sometimes, we took naps. We played the floor is lava. We read books, “The Last Entry Point” I thought was a great and somber read.
We talked about life, we talked about everything you could imagine. Without a doubt some of the best times with my boy. We connected. He’s hooked and with his conversations with Frank and me having two kids hooked on going up there. Frank smiling and in a joking tone, I got a SR Quetico 18.5 out back. So, in 39 days from now, we are going back. Not to the same spot, but back into the “magical-ness.” As Henry calls it. Reid, Henry and myself, should be interesting. Need to add another hammock tent and two more under-quilts and we are ready to go.
I also have to laugh, we checked all the boxes according to Henry. 1. Don’t freak out in the canoe. 2. Don’t freak out in hammock. 3. Eat fish. 4. See northern lights 5. Have a fire. 6. Play cards 7. Don’t get hurt.
