BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 13 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!
First time to BWCA Seagull Lake - Alpine Lake - Jasper Lake
Entry Date:
August 15, 2014
Entry Point:
Seagull Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
3
Sunday, August 17th, 2014 ALPINE LAKE - - > JASPER LAKE - - > ALPINE LAKE Sunday morning was overcast and a little cooler than the previous two days. Dave and I took the canoe out and fished around Alpine, catching the occasional smallmouth and northern – we still couldn’t pull out any walleyes. Next time we’ll be bringing a fish/depth finder for sure… before heading back to the campsite I was able to pull in a fairly large smallmouth bass, one large enough for us to eat so we decided to keep it. At the campsite, we had fantastic breakfast burritos consisting of eggs, crispy hashbrowns, ground turkey meat topped with cheese and wrapped in the flatbread. All of the time and effort preparing most of these meals ahead of time was well worth it as we continued to fill our bellies with great food each day. Today was the day we decided to take a ‘road trip’ and explore the neighboring Jasper Lake which sat a single portage away, to the South-West. We were a little discouraged by the headwinds we would be facing while travelling there but figured the bright side would be a faster return trip since that same nasty headwind would be a fantastic tailwind on the way back… ha! Before getting to the portage we agreed the bass I caught earlier should be our lunch later that afternoon so we stopped at a small, empty island and I began to filet it up. Within a few minutes, a seagull began sounding its food-alarm which then alerted not one, but two bald eagles which landed nearby and intently watched my filet process. When I finished, we figured we should leave the carcass there on the rocks for the eagles. We paddled a short distance away from the rock and watched the events unfold. Eagle 1 quickly flew to the top of the tree directly above where the fish was laying. A few seconds later Eagle 2 flew to a lower branch of that same tree, not too far below Eagle 1. All of a sudden Eagle 1 swooped down and grabbed the carcass and flew off in the other direction. Eagle 2 immediately gave chase and we were all surprised when Eagle 2 suddenly attacked Eagle 1 mid-air and cause the fish carcass to fall to the lake… where the seagull swiped it and flew off before either Eagle realized what had happened! It was amazing to see these giant birds so closely - it felt like we had just taken part in a nature documentary. [paragraph break]The portage to Jasper wasn’t too bad. I carried the canoe while Jess and Dave carried the fishing gear, food bag and campstove.
Jasper Lake itself was a nice and we continued to battle headwinds as we cruised under overcast skies. Just as we passed by our second targeted land point – WHAM! My pole bent down. Finally – fish on! We were glad to see it was a keeper sized walleye! :)
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[paragraph break]We passed through that same area a few more times but weren’t able to hook into any more eyes, so we tried for some laker trout, but didn’t find any of them either. What we did find, was that we were tired of the wind and we were getting hungry, so we headed back toward the portage, stopped at an empty campsite and made piles of fresh crispy, crunchy battered bass and walleye fingers, which tasted amazing – we could barely eat them all.
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[paragraph break]The portage and trip back home were uneventful which probably is a good thing, as we were getting pretty tired from constantly battling the wind for the past six or so hours. Oh, and remember that payoff of putting up with the headwind on the way there because it would be a tailwind on the way back? Yep… that stupid wind changed directions. I still haven’t figured out how it works that way, but we pretty much had a constant headwind no matter which direction we were facing. Now, I wish we would have turned in our seats to face the opposite direction and paddled backwards, just to mess with the wind and see what it would do. Still full from our earlier meal, we decided to skip dinner and enjoy a small fire while indulging in the all time classic camping dessert: S’mores! Delicious!
[paragraph break]Before going to sleep, we noticed that Sirlips (from bwca.com) had arrived at the campsite directly across the lake from us. We figured we had done enough paddling for the day so we figured we’d head over in the morning to say hello before heading back to Tuscarora. Monday, August 18th, 2014 ALPINE LAKE - - > TUSCARORA - - > BLACK BEAR CASINO - - > HOME Having gone to bed somewhat early the night before, we all woke up early and mostly refreshed but we were dreading the long return paddle across Seagull Lake. The skies were cloudy, it was misting heavily and storms were brewing for later that night so we made some coffee and got most of our stuff packed up while Jess did her best to make breakfast using up the remaining food. Breakfast today consisted of turkey hot dogs wrapped in croissant rolls and an extra large pot of turkey chili – a perfect way to get our day started!
[paragraph break] Jess volunteered to do the dishes so Dave and I could head across the lake to meet up with Sirlips. We paddled over, met his crew and gave them our remaining leeches and crawlers which we had managed to keep in pretty good shape all this time. We wished we had just one more day in the BWCA so we could have hung out and enjoyed the company a bit longer. It would also have been nice to learn what we needed to do differently, to dig up more walleye. The truth is that when Dave and I paddled up to their campsite, Sirlips & Co. were so busy reeling in monster sized fish that we really didn’t have much time to talk (told ya I’d tell everyone!)
[paragraph break]All packed up with our packs a bit lighter, we took on the long portage from Alpine to Seagull. Dave volunteered to carry the canoe and no one else tried to talk him out of it. By this time we were experts at packing our stuff and it all went smoothly. Once on Seagull, we were again accompanied by our friend Mr. Headwind. Jess and I seriously prayed for a tailwind, or any wind, that would keep us from being downwind from Dave! It continued to drizzle on our way back and we were really hoping it wouldn’t start pouring rain on us, which is what looked like could happen at any moment. Although the wind wasn’t nearly as bad as the day before it still took us about 3-1/2 hrs to get to the entry point, where we were picked up and brought back to Tuscarora Lodge to separate our gear, pack the car and head out.
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[paragraph break] As we headed back down Gunflint Road, it began to rain hard and we were grateful we weren’t still out on the water. Since we were on the road earlier than expected, we decided to not stay in Grand Marais and instead head closer to home and see where we end up, which ended up being Black Bear Casino, south of Duluth. You really can’t beat a $60 hotel room which includes a hot tub, heated indoor pool and multiple food + fun options… but best of all there was water that came out of a faucet (no pumping through a filter required), and there was a shower! Which we all needed very badly! We enjoyed ourselves that night and made it home the next day before noon. Considering this was my first time in the BWCA, I’d consider it a complete success. There were many lessons learned and on the drive home we talked about what we would and wouldn’t take next time and we all had good suggestions for how we can do things better. I know we are all looking forward to returning. Next time, we will go deeper into the BWCA and see beyond the fire-burned areas. I’ll miss the tranquility of being off the grid, the regular loon calls, the fresh tasty berries. The feeling of sharing such an amazing experience with such awesome people will be a hard one to beat!