BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 24 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.
Brule base camp
Entry Date:
June 14, 2014
Entry Point:
Brule Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
Weather was cloudy and damp after setting up camp we canoed around tried fishing in several spots. We caught enough walleyes for dinner and went back to camp and cooked them up. Due to recent rains we used our propane cook stove all the woods were wet and damp. During the night it rain hard and the next day was misty and light rain off and on We went exploring around and caught enough fish for the next two dinner meals along with breakfast. Use the stove again as the woods were very wet.
Went to bed and woke up about 2am ad the stars were out and bright. Thursday was one of the most best weather days I ever had on any trip. We portage into Echo lake and paddle the length and back. arrived back at camp made dinner over a wood fire and sat around till 830 pm than we went fishing not very seriously until well after dark paddle around in the moon light and arrived back to camp around 11pm.
We woke up made breakfast slowly packed up camp and left around 1020. when we arrived at the landing we talked with a evasive species person at the landing loaded every thing up and arrive back home around 430.
One might ask about bugs what bugs had very few only sprayed up once never had the head nets out. Temperatures were down a bit most likely kept them under control.
All and all a very nice short notice fishing trip.