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Date/Time: 03/28/2024 03:28PM
EP 31 Farm Lake question

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Previous Messages:
Author Message Text
andym 06/25/2020 12:07AM
I’m surprised by the large waves on the river. Farm, however, can definitely get rough. A friend who used to own an outfitting company on White Iron would routinely go out and fetch people on windy days. There are some bad spots that kick up pretty bad. I should have thought of that in my post.
jhb8426 06/24/2020 01:26AM
andym: "A nice thing about Kawishiwi triangle is it is small water and so it won't get too rough. There could be times when the wind is in your face but you shouldn't have waves."


Don't count on it. We were on the south side of Clear lake a few years back. We decided to bail a day early because the wind out of the north was relentless. Pretty heavy waves across Clear to the portage. Figured when we got to the Kawishiwi river it would be calmer. Wrong again. The wind was blowing straight east up the river with large waves. My theory is that regardless of the general wind direction it tends to blow up or down the river channel. The waves on the river were about 2 ft high. We struggled to get to the entry point and looking at the waves on Farm we decided we would stay at the entry point overnite if need be. Turns out a guy who got there before us called the outfitter to pick him up. He sent a large jon boat and we all went back in it. Waves on Farm were 3-4 ft. Quite an exciting ride.

BTW, the decision to leave was the wrong one and I regret it to this day. It wasn't unanimous, needless to say.
andym 06/23/2020 08:17PM
A nice thing about Kawishiwi triangle is it is small water and so it won't get too rough. There could be times when the wind is in your face but you shouldn't have waves.


I wonder if, in theory, you could do Farm Lake to Fall Lake by invoking the leaving and reentering the BWCA solely to connect a route principle that gets used in other places. Actually that seems like a stretch because you would have to paddle across Farm, enter the Kawishiwi River and then come back out of the BWCA the same way and that seems like cheating. Darn. Because mostly, I just want to see someone portaging a canoe past Kawishiwi Falls.
pswith5 06/23/2020 03:25PM
Travel early in the day. Don't wait too far into your day to grab a site. Early July can be pretty busy. Also, watch your weather forecast. It can also be stormy in July .
TuscaroraBorealis 06/23/2020 02:05PM
One vote for the Kawishiwi triangle
Fall exploration of the Kawishiwi triangle
Igor 06/23/2020 11:00AM
Thank you!
inspector13 06/23/2020 10:45AM

You can’t travel up to Fall Lake when you have an entry point permit for Farm Lake. Fall Lake is a separate entry point (EP 24). You will have to travel east into the Kawishiwi Triangle area. It’s a nice area. You should be able to do the whole triangle in that time period or travel down to Gabbro and Bald Eagle Lakes and back.

Igor 06/23/2020 09:35AM
Hello everyone!
4 people, July 1-5, fitness: mid-level; BWCA Experience: none; handling canoes - mid-level.
A question about the route: which way and route do you recommend to take from Farm Lake? To Fall Lake ->Basswood Lake or KAwashiwi River? The plan is to have 2-3 campsites along the way...

Thank you!