BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 26 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!
Expedition 2007--Snowbank to Ima and back
Entry Date:
July 22, 2007
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
3
After a restfull night before at the VNO bunhouse........
Our 2007 trip started out with the tradition of breakfast at Vertin's and then stopping back at VNO to pick up the leeches and recheck the canoe, making sure it was secure.... 18 miles later we pushed off from #27 into the cool waters and sunny skies of Snowbank Lake heading towards the first of 2 portages to Disappointment Lake via Parent.
We opted for the 2nd site marked on our map mainly because of the shade it provided....set up camp and 
I relaxed at camp taking a well deserved nap on the canoe while the sons tried their luck at shore- fishing the rocks in either direction from camp..... 
Later we cooked the traditional 1st meal of rib-eyes, mashed potatoes, and vegetables and then launched the MN III for an evening of fishing.... Nick caught the 1st fish 
BUT Disappointment was a disspointment as far as big fish---many, many SMALL mouth.
Monday started off great with our homemade bisquits and gravy and we packed the gear into the canoe for day 2 into Ima....BUT....a dreaded BWCA mistake was about to overtake the expedition....reading the map incorrectly.... After portaging back into Parent we realized the error of our map reader,that being me....
So, with much disgust, we paddled back across the entire length of Disappointment...and into Ashub, Jitterbug, Adventure, Cattymann and its waterfall, and finally Jordan.......deciding that the 90+ degree temps had taken a toll on all of us.....
We searched out the 1st available campsite on Jordan and would you believe.....it had a beautiful sand beach just waiting for us.....we all shucked our shorts and swam in our boxers, relaxing and cooling off in the aptly named "sky blue waters". 
After swimming, we set up camp, and had something to eat and drank our fill of electrolyte propel/ filtered water...
Jordan was also a disappointment for fish ( one hammer-handle northern) but the campsite outweighed the no fish and we stayed two nights..
Explored Jordan cliffs for the pictos, swam, relaxed, and after a meal of tacos and blueberry cheesecake we ventured into Ima Lake to try fishing there.
Several nice smallmouth , a nice walleye and a nice northern rewarded our patience and paddling into another lake just to fish...
That evening the loons of Jordan serenaded us with much calling.... We got great pictures of them and were within 8 ft of them all across the lake back to camp...
Oatmeal and coffee gave us the energy to make our way back to Disappointment to find a "good" site to spend our last two night .....we were packed and paddling by 8:30 am.. Back through Cattyman, Adventure, Jitterbug, and Ashub.......we pushed for the island site on the southern end of Disappointment...
It was open, so at about 10:00 am we set up our final camp on a really nice island site and relaxed and swam and fished from the shore this afternoon....
Adam, the oldest son, fished leeches on a slip bobber setup, hooking and landing many SMALL mouths again....his presistance paid off when he hooked into something of some weight....A nice 30" pike.....supper was procurred...... 
and cleaned on the canoe bottom....
The pike, with mashed potatoes,and peas and carrots and banana cream pie was a great meal and we were all satisfied...
A campfire and good talk around it set the way for a good night's rest.... 
Thursday started with a really neat sunrise.......
we fished early and caught fish including a nice walleye 20"+
....then the storm clouds moved in and midday-early afternoon the skies turned from sunny to rather threatening... 
Later, that afternoon we fished some island shorelines and a couple and nice lillypad bays and channels picking up a number of fish which we again released... We took some group pics and that evening some sunset shots.... 
Friday morning, we awoke early, both anticipating the trip home and regretting that the expedition 2007 would soon be over..... We packed and pushed off towards our Snowbank exit .... We had another great and memorable trip to our beloved BWCA and I sure we are all anticipating the next one 
Once again after the return of the rental canoe to VNO, the NEEDED-REFRESHING shower, the BEER, and of course another great Bucky burger meal at The Ely Steakhouse ......Nick and I said farewell to Adam and the BWCA until next we are on Expedition!!!
Woodpecker 8/03/07