BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 27 2024
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!
Awesome week on Horseshoe Lake
Entry Date:
July 02, 2016
Entry Point:
Lizz and Swamp Lakes
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
6
[paragraph break]
Lizz was an easy paddle, and the portage to Caribou was fairly easy also. We got thru Caribou fairly quickly, and the portage in to Horseshoe was gravy. Once on Horseshoe we decided if either of the 2 sites were open that we like we would grab them and pass on going to Vista (we were getting a bit tired). The 2 we wanted were both taken, so we paddled to the one between them, campsite 674. There was a couple that were just getting ready to jump in their canoe so we thought "rats, its occupied". Turned out they just stopped there for lunch and were leaving so we got the spot! Dan and Diane checked over the site, and they loved it. Plenty of room for 3 tents and a pretty nice latrine area, and the exit and entry for our canoes was shallow and easy to maneuver. We loved the site!
[paragraph break]
Day 3-5 One thing I noticed was there were alot of mayflies floating on top. This proved to be the reason why the fishing was tough, and the fact that every day had a post card sky, bright blue and lots of sun. We all went out fishing and we caught a few walleyes but nothing real big. Duane caught what I think was a sauger, it had dark blotchy spots on it. When we got back from the trip I did some research and I guess a walleye has a white tip on the bottom of the tail and a sauger doesn't. We had a ton of turtles hanging out around the site; some very large snappers who were loving the mayfly buffet and some painted turtles that came up on our rock every evening to try and lay their eggs. At times there were 3 or 4 at a time, as soon as one of us would get up out of our camp chair they would scramble back in to the water. I caught one decent walleye that was just over 23 inches, and it fed the group that night.
[paragraph break]
[paragraph break]
We had wonderful days with great food (Diane is an exceptional cook, everything was well planned out and delicious) and occasional naps in our hammocks; life was definitely good. We day tripped down to Vista; the portage was short but very rocky. We had lunch at the 5 star site; it was nice but we all liked our site on Horseshoe better. Here is a pic from the Vista site.
[paragraph break]
[paragraph break] Here are some early morning pics from our site on Horseshoe. [paragraph break]
[paragraph break]
Day 6 Wednesday was a day I'll never forget, it was like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom! The guys got up at 4:30am to go fishing. Dan and I were heading towards the west side of the lake when we saw a cow moose with twin calves swimming from the north shore to the south shore. She was out there quite a ways, so we decided not to paddle towards them. A short time later while were fishing I heard something behind me. I turned around to see another cow moose with a single calf; and they were close!
Then, after they swam by I noticed across the lake in the bay there were 3 other animals standing close the water. We paddled over and it was a cow elk and twin calves! I only had my GoPro so I couldn't zoom in on them. They all walked behind the bushes/trees so I couldn't get a decent shot. We could see the face of the mother thru the trees; she just stood there and looked at us; it was definitely an elk, so cool! Ok, it gets even weirder now. So we head back over to the north side because it has some nice structure. I'm throwing a roadrunner type jig with a white gulp twister. I toss it up close to shore by a log and something smacks it, my line is pealing off and I try to flip the switch so I can backreel. I'm thinking it's a big northern because it starts to tow the canoe! I look to the left where the line is being taken and a freekin beaver surfaces! What the! Dan and I just look at each other in shock. I was able to break the line and let it go. I didn't see my lure in its mouth but the way it hit it right away I'm thinking it may have went after it. Crazy stuff. We caught a few fish and headed back to tell the girls of our escapades that morning. They both wished they would have came out also. That afternoon we were hanging out by the campfire grid and talking. I was standing there and a large hare ran right between my legs! Everyone's like whoa that was a close encounter. I started to walk back to our tent area and a pine martin ran right in front of me! We thought maybe it had scared the hare into running thru our camp. To top off the day and the trip we were all sitting around the cooking area around 8pm when a pack of wolves started howling. It was so cool! They howled off and on between 8pm and 4:30 am the next morning. It sounded like they got within an 1/8th mile or so. That was my favorite part of the trip as I have never heard wolves in the wild before. Day 7 We headed out around 10am, it was our first cloudy day of the week, but it was fairly calm. It was an easy paddle, and we returned back to our trucks at the entry point 47 parking lot. We didn't catch a whole of fish but still had a great time. I think Horseshoe has a fair amount of good size walleye and northern in it. It's a very nice lake and campsite; I would recommend it to anyone looking for fairly easy portages and wildlife viewing.