BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 26 2024
Entry Point 39 - Baker Lake
Baker Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Tofte Ranger Station near the city of Tofte, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 26 miles. Access is a boat landing at Baker Lake with a 10-rod portage into Peterson Lake to reach first campsite. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
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.
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.
August 2017
by stephenladd
Trip Report
Entry Date:
August 24, 2017
Entry Point:
Morgan Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
4
Trip Introduction:
Day 2 of 4
Thursday, August 24, 2017 We made it to our entry point (after a few delays due to car problems) around 2pm. The mile long portage to Morgan Lake was a little tougher than expected, but we were able to haul all of our gear and canoes in one trip. We paddled across Morgan and missed the first portage landing, and started heading down a creek instead. We realized our mistake a little too late and had some trouble getting back to the lake to find the portage, but we made it unscathed. The portage to Jake was a piece of cake after the 1 miler to start, as well as the paddle across heading to Vista. Once we made it to Vista, we set up camp on the southwest side campsite, which we thought was pretty nice. It had a great view of the lake due to the tall climb up to the campsite. Later that evening we went out fishing and found a few nice spots where the walleyes and smallmouth were hitting.
Day 4 of 4
Friday, August 25, 2017 We woke up to some chilly temperatures, which created some beautiful fog coming off the water. We saw a group leave the campsite on the south side of lake, so we decided to move camp over to that site, as that was our desired campsite to begin with. We were glad we made the move, as that site was very nice. We had a beautiful sunny day, which we spent most of it fishing. We caught enough fish to have a nice fish fry for dinner. We saw quite a few people coming through on Vista this day.
Day 6 of 4
Saturday, August 26, 2017 We woke up to overcast skies and wind. We made a day trip up to Caribou Lake which took about a couple hours. On our way we stopped to fish on Horseshoe Lake, which was not very successful. Not a single fish decided to join our boat. By the time we had made it to Caribou, the winds had pick up, so we found a clearing to land at and have bite to eat. After lunch, we headed back to Vista and upon our arrival the rains started and didn't let up until we left the next day.
Day 8 of 4
Sunday, August 27, 2017 We woke up to wet soggy conditions. We gathered up camp and started our trip back to the entry point. The trip back took about 2 hours from campsite to parking lot. Some trip notes/highlights: -The mile long portage to Morgan is tough but doable. -The fishing on Vista was decent if you could find the right spot -The campsites we used on Vista were both very nice -Vista, Horseshoe, and Caribou seem to get a lot of traffic -The forest roads leading to entry point 45 were quite rough and flooded in some spots. A 4x4 vehicle with good clearance is highly recommended.
discuss this trip report (2 comments) - last post on August 28, 2017