BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 06 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!
Snowbank to Thomas 2020
Entry Date:
June 15, 2020
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Exit Point:
Lake One (30)
Number of Days:
8
Group Size:
2
We decided to take the single portage to Disappointment. At the end of that first portage, I ate some of the grapes I brought with and proceeded to regurgitate them. Peter thought I was sick and wondered if we should continue. I assured him it was just what it was, and I was fine. No more trouble the rest of the trip. Long paddle across Disappointment (as if there is a short paddle option). We proceeded through the small lakes to Jordan, then through the Jordan narrows to Ima. We had not seen any open campsites to this point. We met a family with younger kids before Jordan, and they were tired and looking for a campsite. There were some open sites on Ima and the family seemed in good spirits. We continued across the big lake and then struggled to find the portage to Hatchet, but found it we did. It is a tough portage, but rather enjoyable, from the narrow opening in the cliffside, to the steep climb and then the stone steps down to Hatchet Creek. 
It was after 8pm and I was getting tired, but we were so close and Peter convinced me to push on. We made it by the first portage on Hatchet Creek without finding it, and then came to the short one at the bend by the short rapids. Quick pullover and then a few more portages brought my first view of Thomas Lake into sight. 
It was 9:30 as we started paddling towards our destination campsite. About twenty minutes later we pulled ashore, relieved that the site was open. This would be home for the next 5 nights. After setting up camp, eating a good meal, and cleaning up, it was bedtime. I was exhausted and ready for sleep when peter said he saw lights (UFO?). I said I was too tired to visit with Aliens and to just say hi for me before drifting off to a good night’s sleep. It had been a long day!
We ended up fishing along the South side of the islands down the middle of the lake and also the south shore down to the narrows to Fraser, while stopping at the campsite 1186 in a SE bay tucked away. It had a decent landing and an elevated kitchen. Decent site that I wouldn’t hesitate staying at for a night or two. 
Fished over to the narrows and then went through and back as I had never been through there and it looked cool on videos I had seen previously. We then headed North up the East shore of Thomas and the first campsite had many people there having a good time, or so it appeared from the canoe. We fished the North side of the islands until we got back to camp. It was another long, hard day of fishing with little to show for our efforts after breakfast. Peter prepared the hamburger with vegetables and potatoes. That is turning into an easy meal and quite filling and rejuvenating after a long day on the water. While eating, a visitor entertained us by depositing some eggs in our campsite. We cleaned up and headed to bed before the mosquitos got bad. 
It was an awesome morning sharing a pancake breakfast and just kicking back enjoying some camp camaraderie. We had planned to start back towards our exit (same as the entry) today but by the time we packed up and were on our way it was late morning and the southwest breezes were picking up. After we left Jordan, a side-trip to view the falls between Cattyman and Gibson Lakes put us still later into the day before we turned south and the wind had picked up a bit more. By the time we got to Jitterbug and Ahsub there was some significant chop, even though these are pretty small lakes. When we got back to Disappointment we could see that this was going to be work. And work it was, but not impossible. We dug in as needed to keep moving forward and quartered the bow as needed to keep from catching any waves broadside. We aimed for a campsite about a mile from the portage on the northeast section of the lake and by the time we got there it was time for a break. The rocks on the shore and the waves made landing a bit tricky but we navigated the canoes to safe ground and checked out this site as a possible home for the night. While we thought it would do OK, we decided to check out the nearby island site as well. By now the waves were big enough that we were going to get a little wet but the site was not far away and our direction would take us straight into the wind--no quartering needed. When we landed at this site it did not show much for shade and the best tent pad looked quite small. I then noticed that the pad actually wasn't that small but that it was half-covered with a freshly-fallen tree. I remembered that when we came in through Disappointment the morning after the storm, this site was occupied and I wondered how those campers fared if they had their tent on this pad and if the tree had fallen on them! Given the conditions of this site, we opted to go back to the first one.
The front of THIS site was pretty open to the lake which made for nice views but also meant we caught the full wind. Setting the tent up was quite the adventure. The site did have some great sunning rocks so once we got the tent up and fed ourselves, we all caught a snooze in the sun. The wind continued all afternoon and into the evening so there wasn't much to do but sit around. It really wasn't even possible to fish from shore since you could not get a decent cast out without it being blown back at you or having your lure drift away from the desired spot in no time. This meant we were going to have to eat the freeze-dried stuff we had brought along as back up. This actually wasn't too bad--Mountain House beef stroganoff and sweet/sour chicken. I had eaten some Mountain House meals before and did not remember them being as tasty. We did find ways to entertain ourselves by hiding items from each other's gear and even making different shadow puppets near sunset on the sun-lit screen provided by the side of the tent!
The wind today made things, at times, less than fun. But each time I am challenged by the BWCA, I am amply rewarded for accepting and dealing with those challenges. As darkness fell the wind finally subsided and we were again able to enjoy a nice evening fire. Then we noticed a faint light on the horizon that soon grew to one of the most spectacular displays of Northern Lights that I have ever seen. This show of the Aurora Borealis was a first for Scott and probably one of the best ever for the rest of us. We sat out on the rocks watching the show for hours and all thought, "Wow! What a way to spend our last night of the trip."
Once again, the coolness of the evening provided for a comfortable night's sleep once we all turned in. 
After a while we came back to camp for a rest, and I again searched for the White Throated sparrow. I could hear him but could not get a picture. As usual, the squirrels were everywhere (I see squirrels) and I took several pictures as proof. 
About 11, we headed out looking for the elusive trout, and after several hours Peter felt a tug on his line and pulled in a nice Laker. 
We got back to camp about 2pm and had trout and corn cakes for dinner. About 5pm we went back out and fished the rest of the evening. We got back to camp and immediately took refuge in our tents. I think I updated my journal, but it had been a long day and can’t recall for sure. It was time to work our way out of the BWCA. The plan was to get to Lake 3 or 4 and then get out on Monday. Of course, plans are always subject to change when in the BWCA.
The sun was out and the campsite was beautiful. Soon I was taking pictures of flowers and insects, even though I had no idea what their names were, I captured a Clear winged moth and a common threaded-waist wasp. Still not sure what the flowers were, but some day I will be more interested in that. After having another great dinner and getting set up for the night, we went out for some evening fishing. As we paddled out from the beach, I cast into about 2 feet of water, and as Peter said “you won’t catch anything up there”, I hooked a 20” walleye and he shortly caught another. We worked around the corner we had come from into the Kawishiwi river channel and Peter hooked something big, but we never did see it, and the bite ended. We got back to camp and slept our final night in the BWCA for the trip.
After traveling through Hudson, we stopped for a quick snack on the Lake Four side (a small pond) and we saw a group paddle around the island, go by us, and keep going. It appears they thought we were on a campsite and ended up doing a full circle plus. Fortunately it was a small pond. We made it through lake four and when we hit lake three, Peter asked if I could paddle on the right side. I switched, took two strokes and said “no” as I switched back to the left side. We continued on lake three to campsite 2220, where we stopped to filter some water (sure wish I had my Sawyer filtered bottle to drink as I go) and stretch our legs. We contemplated staying for the night and paddling out on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we made the wrong decision and paddled on. On Lake Two, we paddled on top of a slightly submerged table rock and were stuck. I froze, not knowing what to do, and Peter said “don’t do anything, I will get us off”. Being the nimble one, he was able to free us without an unplanned swim and soon we were on lake one. Again we discussed staying for the night, but we were so close that we just pushed on, getting to EP30 just after 7:30pm – 11 hours. Our trip was a total of 15.7 miles paddling and 2 miles of portages, which had an estimated time of 7.5 hours, and I thought we were cruising. Too much enjoying the journey and not enough going hard. We loaded up and drove to EP27 to get Peter’s truck, loaded everything in the right vehicles and headed for home. We learned our decision was bad as Peter pulled over and took a long nap before getting home, and I stopped at a rest area outside of Grand Rapids and slept for two hours, getting home just after 3am. Last lesson of the trip, “it really sucks driving in the dark, and extends travel time driving 40 mph through deer country!” PS – Lesson didn’t stick, as in 2021, we did the same thing, paddle from Fraser to EP27 and drive all the way home with a nap in Grand Rapids – some things never change!