BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 26 2024
Entry Point 61 - Daniels Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 1
Elevation: 1427 feet
Latitude: 48.0727
Longitude: -90.4358
Daniels Lake - 61
Fur Trades and Waterfalls
Entry Date:
August 24, 2020
Entry Point:
Clearwater Lake
Exit Point:
South Lake (58)
Number of Days:
7
Group Size:
4
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On the way up the Shore on August 23rd we drove the 7 Bridges route in Duluth and ate smoked fish at Lou's. We then buckled down all the way to CR Magney State Park to enjoy Devil's Kettle lower falls in the heat of the day. Our final destination for the night was Gunflint Lodge's bunkhouse, where we arrived in time for our evening dinner reservation. Consciously noting that the Hazy IPA I was sipping on would be my last one for a week made it taste even that much better. It was the perfect compliment to my walleye cakes from the menu. Even if a group has all of their own gear, I recommend staying at Gunflint before a trip. The inexpensive bunkhouse lodging is adequate, the food before the trip is great and the shuttle price for a drop is more than reasonable.
The next morning we took said shuttle to Clearwater Lake, getting on the water by about 10AM. For the next 7 days there would be no clocks or electronics in my life, besides my handheld GPS, and that's just the way I like it.
Knowing that Clearwater is an easier lake to access we wasted little time choosing one of the first 4 campsites instead of gambling with the 3 on the eastern end of the lake which would have been more convenient for the next day of our trip. The site we choose was the second site from the west, and had a great rock landing and views of the palisades. Unfortunately, we also had a view of existing homes and traffic, which I was eager to put behind me soon.
We set up camp, ate lunch and took off on an ambitious day trip from our site to Pine Lake and Johnson Falls. From the campsite we chose, we had a few miles of paddling just to get to the first portage into Caribou. We had a great time hanging out at the falls, but watched the sunset on the paddle back on Clearwater. While eating and doing dishes in the dark on the first night, I had no idea that would be a theme for the rest of our trip.[paragraph break]
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~Clearwater Lake, Caribou Lake, Little Caribou Lake, Pine Lake, Little Caribou Lake, Caribou Lake, Clearwater Lake
But there was an afternoon of stoking to do before that evening's delight. George and Leslie were beginning to prepare their backyard brick pizza oven for a pizza party that would be 2 nights away. The Northhouse Folk School had a class in their back yard a number of years ago and built the most wonderful brick oven. George and Lesley were truly experts at this kind of party prep. Lesley had been making pizza dough for 16 pizzza crusts, as well as preparing all the fixings for a party of 12. George now had to start this 2 day process of warming the layers of bricks so that the inner layer and outer layer were both about 600 degrees F. George and I painstakingly threw logs in the brick fireplace for about 4 or 5 hours, talking about everything we felt like talking about, and drinking a few Bent Paddle beers while doing so. It was tough work, but it had to be done. And we would have to do more of it the next afternoon! We finished our work at about 4:00 and got ready to drive about 30 miles up the Gunflint. Beautiful late afternoon for a drive. We arrived at Tuscarora Lodge and enjoyed a brief walk around the shoreline - the lodge is a very beautiful place. Jerry Vandiver, "One Match," had been out canoe tripping, finished his solo paddle, and was ready to perform for the community before continuing his short summer tour of the north country. As we finally went into the dining area where Jerry would be performing, we met Jerry and talked a bit. What a great guy! We quickly found our seats as the dining hall was being transformed into a music hall. Not as nice as the Gand Ole Opry, but Jerry would do his thing regardless. For the next few hours I was just in Country heaven. Jerry sang a number of songs as he talked and explained to us how he was driven to write many of them. His paddle songs really tell the story of what we all enjoy so much on our paddling trips. He then introduced 2 college-aged young people who were going to jam with him for the rest of the evening. The young man was an excellent mandolin player and just loved what he was doing. The young lady was a concert violinist who had not done country before their afternoon rehearsal. For the next hour or so we were treated to a jam session that I can't say enough about. They played together like they'd been together for years. Please pardon me for not remembering their names, but I'm pretty sure we'll be hearing more about them. George and Lesley and I headed back to their home that night with the contentment that has to be felt and not explained. I was also thinking about tomorrow's last day in the north country and the work we'd have to do again sitting around George's campfire circle warming that brick oven and drinking more Bent Paddle. I was confident that I was up to the task![paragraph break] So I retired that evening and read in bed for awhile. "White Fire," a Pendergast mystery, was getting very exciting and it would be fun finishing it when I got back to St Louis. The next morning we got up late (at least I did), and had some fruit and toast on the deck for breakfast. The party was to start at 6:00, so we had the entire afternoon to get that brick oven perfect for cooking those pizzas. I also finished packing my car for the next day's drive home. Lots of good conversation, a good beer or 2, and I also prepared George's fire pit for a party campfire. His in-ground pit is simply a semi tractor-trailor wheel that is buried and lined with some rocks around the edge - a very novel idea and looked perfectly in place inside some split log benches that surrounded it along side the brick oven. Lesley had prepared tables on the huge screened-in deck for everyone to make their pizza and take it out to the oven, where Lesley would then cook it. As everyone arrived that evening, the pizza-baking process began and worked like clockwork. 3 people at a time went up to the deck and got their pizzas fixed up with about 2" thick of goodies to bake on Lesley's prepared crusts. Lesley then had 3 pizzas baking at a time, and one looked more scrumptious than the next - works of art they were. Pizzas were done in about 5 minutes. We filled up and enjoyed our conversations for the evening. Some folks had driven all the way from Chetek, WI for the party. They parked their big camper in George's driveway and spent the night right there. I went to bed earlier than the rest, as I had a 4:30 get-up time and was driving on the road by 5:00 am. It was an uneventful safe drive home and I was back in St Louis by a little before 6:00 pm to get into Club Fitness just before they closed to the $10 a month members.[paragraph break] This year's trip was one I'll never forget, and throwing the Jerry Vandiver night and the pizza party night into the wonderful canoeing and fishing experience will keep me content for another long winter and also looking forward to my next visit to God's country. I have to give a public holler to my wonderful friends and hosts, Geroge and Lesley, for having me in their wonderful home again. God bless them!
We took a layover day on this day. We hiked on the border route trail that intersects the portage between Mountain and Clearwater and ate lunch at the Mountain Lake overlook. Back at camp we fished some more and spent time reading and relaxing.
I brought a great book to read on this trip, THE EPIC WANDERER, a book about Canadian fur trader, land surveyor and explorer David Thompson. What a great book! He had many great experiences and I had a great time reading about them. Relationships between natives, Canadians and English were so interesting to hear about from this time. And there is a section where he works out of the big trading post at Grand Portage and moves through the BWCA and Lake of the Woods.
Today was the most trying day of the trip. We had single portaged a couple times, but did not on the Long Portage. Doubling back on this portage made for a six mile walk! We thoroughly enjoyed paddling from Mountain to Watap to Rove lakes, and the Long Portage was long- but then it was done- and it was an accomplishment for our group.
The thing that took the wind out of our sails was passing campsite after campsite on Rose Lake that was occupied. Such a beaituful lake, maybe my favorite in terms of scenery, and again, it had been over twenty years since I was last in this part of the BWCA and was looking forward to staying here.
With the main lake full, and the sun starting to get low, we had the choice to do the stairway portage into Duncan or keep moving towards South. We decided to continue towards South and were lucky enough to get the campsite at the Rat Lake portage. I had stayed here years ago and remembered it being mosquito infested and busy with through paddlers portaging through. Lucky for us there were no groups (they must have already all arrived!) and no bugs. We made camp and looked forward to another day off tomorrow. ~Mountain Lake, Watap Lake, Rove Lake, Rose Lake
A fun day today going to check out Rose Falls and the border route trail heading east from the stairway portage. The hike is a bit challenging, but well worth the overlooks of Rose, Rat, South and North lakes. We had originally planned to get back to camp earlier in the afternoon and move sites to South Lake so we would be able to fish for smallies and trout there in the evening and next morning. However, we got back to camp a little bit later in the afternoon and decided to stay put. I am glad we did, as it clouded up and downpoured a few times into the evening and into the night. What a relief to have stayed in camp and stayed dry, even though it was not our favorite site for swimming, fishing, etc...
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Fishing on South Lake was not in the cards for us. We woke up after all of the rain to heavy winds howling through the trees. As we were deciding whether to move or not, after breakfast, the winds seemed to have calmed a little bit. We decided to make a run for it and get all the way to Gunflint so we would be positioned for an easier out tomorrow.
South Lake was headwinds and whitecaps the entire length of the lake. We all dug in and did a great job! It felt good to get through the lake, and there was not much need for quartering or zig-zagging.
As we exited the BWCA in North Lake my wife found some fresh and delicious lobster mushrooms to have with our dinner. We had a nice lunch on at a campsite on a point on North before heading into Little North, Little Gunflint and finally Gunflint where the first island campsite was open and waiting for us! This campsite is great!
~Rose Lake, Rat Lake, South Lake, North Lake, Little North Lake, Little Gunflint Lake
We were able to paddle out after a quick breakfast, back to Gunflint Lodge for an early lunch. After getting back we had some hot showers, cold beer and lunch! What a great trip, and I am already looking forward to the next one!
