BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 23 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 Paddleboard Day Trip
Entry Date:
September 14, 2020
Entry Point:
Sawbill Lake
Number of Days:
1
Group Size:
1
I've done a fair amount of paddling on my SUP, which is a Surftech Generator 11'6" "all around" model. I did one 17 mile paddle last summer on the Saint Louis River, some paddling on Lake Superior, and a couple other lakes around Duluth and NE MN.
I am a big fan of long days and big miles, having completed a handful of ultramarathon runs, 100k+ gravel bike rides and races, a speed-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail, so my goal was speed and distance, but also to see some sweet lakes and get a taste for paddleboarding in the BWCA.
I initially wanted to go today, as I write this, because of a brief warm spell, but decided to go back one day because the wind forecast was much more favorable. I think it was a good idea.
I plotted a loop from Sawbill, north to Ada Lake, Cherokee Creek, across Cherokee Lake, through Town Lake to Gasket and Cam Lakes, then the very northwest corner of Brule Lake, onto S Temperance Lake, snaking south to Kelly Lake, then back northwest through Burnt and Smoke Lakes. Back to Sawbill and I was home!
My GPS plotted 30 miles with the paddling and portaging all in one. It took me 12 hours and I barely made it with the daylight available. The distance was really difficult, plus I had my 70lb dog Diamond with me on my board the whole time!
Given that I don't have much canoe experience, I am looking forward to trying an overnight trip on my paddleboard. It is definitely do-able to paddle big miles and portage on a stand up paddleboard. If I did some grip strength training, the portages would be substantially easier, and my hand/forearm burning on the portages was the hardest physical challenge, I think.
Luckily I didn't experience too much wind. Based on my estimates, and historical weather data, I think I dealt with a few hours of 7-10mph winds, and that made paddling in a direct headwind fairly difficult. Really, not that bad, but to check my map or briefly stop would cause me to float backwards.
All in all, I averaged 2.5 miles per hour. Here is my GPS data: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/5538267919. I'll post a full trip recap with pics on my blog site: www.mikeward.cool/blog.
~Sawbill Lake, Ada Lake, Skoop Lake, Cherokee Creek, Cherokee Lake, Town Lake, Vesper Lake, Gasket Lake, Cam Lake, Brule Lake, South Temperance Lake, Temperance River, Weird Lake, Jack Lake, Kelly Lake, Burnt Lake, Smoke Lake.