BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 25 2024
Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1497 feet
Latitude: 47.8452
Longitude: -90.8169
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Sawbill to Phoebe
Entry Date:
June 09, 2011
Entry Point:
Sawbill Lake
Exit Point:
Sawbill Lake (38)
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
We started out at Sawbill Lake, setting off northwest on calm waters from EP#38. We paddled across the lake to the easy 30-rod portage into Alton Lake. We paddled down Alton to descend a comfortable 140-rod portage to Beth Lake. Beth was beautiful with picturesque views all around. We heard there was great fishing to be had there as a fellow paddler reported he caught 100 little bass the day prior. From Beth we embarked on a 285-rod portage to Grace Lake, thankfully this portage was relatively flat and rock free. After catching our breath, we paddled across Grace to a connective stream bringing a series of three short portages and paddles, a couple of which were difficult to find on the way in due to new beaver dams and fallen trees, but thankfully more clear on the way out-mucky appropriately describes this leg of the trip. After a swift 85-rod portage into Phoebe Lake, we began looking for our new home for the next couple nights. We landed a great site on the southwest shore of Phoebe with a view of numerous scenic islands. It was a bit difficult finding a proper tree for the bear pack; we went past the latrine, and with my husband’s skill got the rig setup.
Rest day. We did not fish much, but did catch one smallie from the shore of our site. We paddled around and checked out the lake, seeing a couple cormorants, as well as two other canoes who were fishing. The weather was perfect, down in the high 30’s at night, and sunny in the low 60’s during the day. A fearless loon came and visited our shore that evening. It rained during the night, nothing terrible, but enough to bring the rest of the mosquitoes out.
On the way out, after portaging the 85-rods out of Phoebe toward Grace, and jumping through the hoops of the three short portages to get to the lake, we veered north on Grace Lake to the more northern 147-rod portage to Ella Lake…Damn Ella! The shore of the portage was rocky and jagged; make that the entire portage!! It was quite steep in some areas, horribly buggy, and rocks galore!! My husband had been double portaging the entire trip with the canoe, and a pack, with myself carrying the other pack, paddles, and a small seal line bag. This was a trying portage; I ended up rolling my ankle twice (29 years and I had never done that)! We were eaten alive, and a bit winded after all gear was on the shore of Ella. Once paddling, we were only in the canoe a matter of minutes before reaching the southern shore where the next 90-rod portage awaited. This portage was thankfully less buggy and rocky, and all over more manageable. This brought us to the northwest shore of beautiful Beth Lake, where had my ankle not been throbbing and growing in size, I would have insisted we stay a night. Many sites were taken; no doubt due to the great fishing and scenic well positioned sites. After paddling the length of Beth to the eastern shore, we portaged a comfortable 140-rod descent to Alton Lake. We paddled up the east side of Alton to the easy 30-rod portage back into Sawbill Lake, where it was immediately evident we were coming into civilization.