My wife and I are planning a trip going in Entry 37 in late August. We will be base camping at Malberg or beyond. Any advice on lakes to base camp at, campsites, any lakes that might have descent fishing this time of year, daytrips, etc. Thanks for any and all information.

Malberg would be a great place to base camp. Malberg Lake is a crossroads of the BW. I will leave the fishing advice to others.

Day trips:
Southwest - Fishdance Lake for the Pictographs. The portage to Alice Lake also follows a scenic stretch of the Kawishiwi River.
Northwest - Boulder/Adams loop for solitude
Northeast - There is a nice canyon and falls along the first portage off Malberg Lake. Trip to the cliffs on Makwa Lake.
East - Along the Louse River to Frond and Boze Lakes for solitude and some great river paddling (lots of beaver dams).
For a bit of off the beaten path - stop in at the beach on Amber Lake right next to the first campsite on the right as you enter the lake.

Campsites
The site next to the mouth of the Louse River is a nice 4 star site. Lots of space, but it gets a lot of use.
The site on the south shore along the eastern channel is a nice spot with a gravel beach. Some rate it only a 3 star, but I thought it deserves a 4.
The site at the end of the western channel is small but serviceable. Not much of a view though.
Avoid the site on the north east bay on the route out of the lake to the northeast. It is on low ground, small, and shrubby with no view.
There are sand beach sites on the lake. Others may describe their whereabouts.

Hope you have a great trip!

Great information that I will definitely use. Is August here yet?

I've got a trip report posted from 2018, my wife and I went there for a week. We base camped on Malberg for 5 nights, then one night in Polly on the way back out. Very cool area, as for fishing you can't go wrong with the current areas into and out of Malberg. Same with narrow spots on the Louse river. Make a lap north of Malberg, you'll see some good spots.

Nice trip report, I enjoyed reading and very helpful as well. I seen when discussing your trip, you mentioned a bear report during the time frame you were there. Where did you see the report and do you know if this is an on going issue. I've read that several years back the bears were a big problem in the Polly area. I figured this had worked itself out.

Malberg would be a great basecamp lake. I wouldn't recommend the southwestern site. Though the landing is nice, it's very small. Plenty of other good sites on Malberg.

Another nice lake there, in my opinion, is Pan Lake. Only two sites on the whole lake and, though it's been quite some time, I liked the one on the northeast side. I assume it's still a nice, somewhat secluded, site.

Thanks for the reply, sounds like this area will be a great trip for us.

deancamp: "Thanks for the reply, sounds like this area will be a great trip for us."

We spent 9 nights on the farthest west site before the portage into the Kawishiwi River. It’s a fantastic site with a sand beach, good fishing right in front of camp and we were treated with a sighting of 3 wolves across the bay on the 7th evening

Very cool. Do you mind sharing any day trips you took?

Bear report for us was Polly. We didn't see it or have any issues but it seems like that's a common spot for them at times in reading other reports and comments.

Here's another trip report from that area with some fishing info and photos. We really liked River Lake and the site we stayed at, the Amber lake site is really nice too.

Kawishiwi entry

I stayed for 5 nights in a south bay on the eastern end of Malberg in 2009. It's a nice high site with a sand beach landing. I remember the lake being crowded with most all camps occupied. If you can't get a decent site I would push up into the Kawishiwi River area north of there. That's a nice day trip loop from Malberg to the river and around.

I enjoyed the trip report with great pictures. Thanks to everyone for the information and advice. This really helps with the research part of the trip. A back up plan sounds like a good idea as well.

We did a day trip on the river north of Malberg. It's more of a lake but called the river I guess. We went counterclockwise so we went with the flow of water. Portage out of Malberg to the NE is sweet. Portage in NW corner can get muddy and sometimes has a pond in the middle to walk through.

We also did day trip to Makwa and back. Not for the faint of heart but really cool area. Another day we paddled up the Louse river since our site on Malberg was right where it emptied into the lake. Very cool narrow river and secluded

I would recommend going a bit further to Adam's Lake. Not so crowded . Try the island site.

Our hopes would be to make it to our camp with one days travel from the entry. Further than Malberg would be nice, but our energy level will dictate that.

Cyclones, do you have general idea on the length of the trip to Makwa and back?

Does anyone know if the stream from the Kawishiwi River into the South end of Amber Lake is passable?

Yes, you can paddle into Amber Lake from Kawishiwi River.

Round trip from Malberg to Makwa, single portage is roughly 10 miles, give or take a couple of miles, depending on exactly where you start from on Malberg.

That's good news.

Any ideas of where to spend the night prior to entry? We would prefer a room of some type as opposed to a campsite. Don't like packing up and hustling around for an early start. I also understand that a room might require a longer drive to the entry that offsets the not packing up.

I usually just stay in Grand Marais the night before and drive there in the morning. Also options in Tofte and along the shore.

I've only been to that area a couple times. I prefer a bed the night before too. We stayed at the Cliff Dweller in Tofte. It's about an hour drive from the entry point, which makes getting a dawn start a little tougher. But there aren't a lot of closer options for that area.

Funny, we are just the opposite. We prefer to camp the night before somewhere near the entry point, have a good meal and do last minute tweaking of gear. You hear about it taking a day or two to get into the "rhythm" of the woods, by camping the first night we feel like we get that rhythm sooner.

If you are interested, there are several NFS campgrounds in the area including a very nice one at Kawishiwi Lake but is often full. Baker Lake is not far, rustic and quiet but only a few sites. Not too far past Baker is Crescent lake which is a large and beautiful place, might be a good option....if you decide to camp.

One thing we do sometimes for the first night is bring a different tent to sleep in. that way if it rains you don't have to pack up wet gear heading in. It's worked out well a few times.

Thanks again to everyone for the great advice. The NFS campground is sounding like a viable option to keep the morning drive to a minimum.