Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 55 - Saganaga Lake

Saganaga Lake entry point allows overnight paddle or motor (25 HP max). This entry point is supported by Gunflint Ranger Station near the city of Grand Marais, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 55 miles. No motors (use or possession) west of American Point. Access to Canada (the Crown land and Quetico Park). Large lake with many campsites and easy access. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

Number of Permits per Day: 15
Elevation: 1184 feet
Latitude: 48.1716
Longitude: -90.8868
Saganaga Lake - 55

red rock

by blake
Trip Report

Entry Date: August 09, 2007
Entry Point: Saganaga Lake
Number of Days: 3
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
growing up in michigans upper peninsula ive spent a lot of time in the great outdoors,but allways wanted to do a trip to the bwca

Report


so what do i do,wait untill im 45 with one bad knee and two bad elbows,my brother recently got hooked on fishing and i was trying to find a trip we could do together,originally think the boundry waters would be to hard on my broken down body i dismissed the idea,but after some research found a base camping trip that would acomadate my out of shape self,,so i talk to my brother and he says yes,{i include very few details of what the trip will be}knowing he has limited camping experiance and zero canoe time under his belt,well i book a trip with seagull outfitters and were all set,,he shows up at my house the day before and i tell him we have to be up at 5am,,allready he doesnt like it,but i tell him he can sleep the first few hours and i will drive,i currently live in appleton wisconsin,fugure 8 hr drive from here,,,,well we take off wihtout a hitch,,,drive goes by fast,,see some great scenery,and arive late afternoon,get our gear stowed away and go out for some dinner,,after we arive back we go to the dock at seagull and proceed to catch some small bass and northerns,,were off to a great start,untill i start feeling a little queesy in the stomache,i blow it off and go to bed,,two hours later i wake up really feeling bad,,walk down the fifty steps to the parking lot,,cross it to the bathrooms,and procede to empty my stomache in the porcelin,,this is preety much how the entire night went for me,,up and down those steps all night long,now its 5am and im telling myself thers no way i can go,,thinking of what i can do to make it up to my snoring brother in the bunk next to me,,i go outside and get some fresh air and decide just to tuff it out,,but change our trip from five days to three,,so we get our gear together and catch out tow to red rock bay,,the fresh air in the boat ride making me feel a little better allready,,we get to our portage,i grab a couple packs,the guy in the boat comments that we have packed very light,im suprised to hear this because i have all the comforts of just aboute any camping trip ive been on,he says most peoples idea of packing light is numerouse light packs!!!!so were double portaging and i get two poacks across{very short portage}and on my wya back here comes the boat driver with my canoe and a duluth pack on his back!!!!what service!!1we get into red rock and i give ny brother a feww canoe instructions and were off,,we have to paddle into the wind,,,ibe allready picked out a campsite for us and wont you know its all the way on the other side of the lake,,after being sick all night im tireing easily but plod on,,we get to the campsite where i wanted to stay and it totally sucks,,very small,no good trees and genearally just looked like hell,,i sit down,,exausted and try and convince myself to paddle back to a nicer site,,this being all new to my brother he had no opion at all on what to do,,i finallly tell him were going back to another site halfway back up the lake,,im lucky my brother has never been a complainer because that would have put me over the edge the way i was feeling,,we get to the other campsite and it rocks,,were both glad we made the decision to move,,we set up camp and do a little fishing,,my brother has a hard time getting comfortable in the canoe so we just fish around camp a bit,,we cook some dinner and i still cant eat,,darkness falls and we sit fireless in the dark,,metorite showers are suppose to be in the east and thtas the way our campsite faces,,my brother drinks vodka and lemonade as i wait for the shower..i jusy wat to see one i tell myself,,and there it is,,streaking across the sky,,good enough for me and straight to bed i go,,as my brother sits in the dark drinking i can her him oooing and awwwingas they streak across the sky,,smiling to myself,,im glad hes having a good time,,i knew he would either hate this trip or love it,,we get up the next moring and im feeling much better,,go fishing,,my brother hooks a nice 20",and i catch some small ones adn a big northern,,we have a good day,,catching many fish,,next moring we have to leave allready,,tow is supposed to pick us up at noon,,the wind has switched and we have to paddle into some preety good white caps to get out,my brothe rloks worried but i tell him it will be fine we will just go straightinto the to the oposite shoreline and hug it the rest of the way out,,we get around the point and hit the waves and he starts paddling like a madman,,whooo broo ,,i say slow it down we have a ways to go here,,we get into a slow steady stroke and make it across no problem,,this has increased his confidence in his canoing and he tells me so,,for being a novice,he has the best center of gravity for anyone i have ever canoed with,,i never once felt like we could even come close to tipping over,,we catcj out tow back and im dissapointed were leaving allready,,then thinking back,,i can never remember being sick in a strange new place and not haveing the constant thought of,,i just wish i was home on couch right now,,the thought never crossed my mind once,,we have allready booked a trip for 2008 and cant wait to be up there in good heath

 


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