This weeks entry point of the week is EP 30 - Lake One.

Please share your Lake One entry point experiences or ask your questions about routes.

Lake One EP Map

Lake One EP 30 Trip Reports

Absolutely a great entry for base camping with young grand kids. Will do this for the third time in July with the third different mix of kids. Not much for lunkers for us, but plenty of bass to keep kids engaged near the camps we actually used to base on. Several very acceptable camp sites for this.

Would use this Lake with 2,3 and 4 as backup for anyone needing to base camp with no to minimal portages.

Lake one is a good starting point for groups who do not want or can't do extensive portaging.
The landing is right at the parking lot. There is a lot of water to be explored without portaging.

It's a good starting point for easy access to some longer paddling routes deeper in the back-country.

It did receive extensive burn in the Pagami Creek fire several years ago.

busy area but good times. just pay attention when you launch from the entry point and enter to lake one, I don't know how many groups get to the rapids between lake one and two(east side of lake one) that we have to turn around because they think the portage is right there. So go past kawishwi lodge hang a right then go straight(southwest) . I guess easiest to just say pay attention to your map.
Lots of good camp sites on lake one, a couple not so great ones. My opinion is that fishing can be good on lake one and three. I would paddle through lake two.

The first trip I took was Lake One. I knew very little about canoe trips and used an outfitter for complete outfitting and he suggested this entry. My wife and 2 small sons (5 and 9) stayed on site 1488. It was not the trip I had been dreaming of because I let the outfitter convince me to base camp. It did however get me hooked on bwca. It is one of my favorite areas. I have been thru there several times since that one. I like it because I can start there and loop as long or short as you want around to come out at Moose or Snowbank Lake. Then you are within a short walk to your vehicle. My last time there was 2005 but plan to enter there this year to loop out to Boulder and back.

Ep 30 is what I've got a permit for in August. I'm bringing my 3 kids (ages 5,8,12) and my wife, and I'm the only person with experience in the BWCA. Both adults have canoeing experience, and all the kids have water experience (I whitewater kayak and have a raft for family trips down cl2-3 rivers).

My goal is to slowly paddle into the far end of lake 4, probably taking a night to get there; camping in lake 2-3, and night 2 would be on lake 4.

I expect to see several groups on lake one (and maybe lake two). How busy are lakes three/four going to be?

Squeegee: "Ep 30 is what I've got a permit for in August. I'm bringing my 3 kids (ages 5,8,12) and my wife, and I'm the only person with experience in the BWCA. Both adults have canoeing experience, and all the kids have water experience (I whitewater kayak and have a raft for family trips down cl2-3 rivers).


My goal is to slowly paddle into the far end of lake 4, probably taking a night to get there; camping in lake 2-3, and night 2 would be on lake 4.


I expect to see several groups on lake one (and maybe lake two). How busy are lakes three/four going to be?"

It starts slowing down very noticeably around Lake 3.

My experience with Lake 1 entry point is that it is easy to get to and has a ton of campsites which makes it ideal for beginners or for people bringing young kids on their first trip. However it is insanely busy here during the summer months. If I were ever to go to this entry again it would be late Sept or early Oct.

Back in the 1990s, I went in at Lake One as a member of one men's group trip and led two youth trips that started there. All three times, we turned to the right (west) at the entry point, going through Confusion Lake and the 3 portages, and then on our return, we went around the east side of the point and past Kawishiwi Lodge. I guess to avoid the portages and maybe just to see something different. Each time, we base camped on either Lake Two or Three. I learned a lot of how to do things -- and, in hindsight a lot of how NOT to do things -- on these trips. After a lot of hit-and-miss years in the 70s and 80s, this series of trips set off what would become must-do annual trips. I sort of wonder how that happened, what with our heavy aluminum canoes and big leaky tents, having oatmeal for breakfast, Wasa crisp bread and peanut butter for lunches, and hot dogs for supper. We had to suffer a bit and work hard, but it was a good time.

This EP is touted as a great first trip for beginners, but combining that constant recommendation with the large number of daily permits allowed and the two portages in quick succession between One and Two, it can lead to a lot of traffic bottlenecks. It does, however, offer a vast number of campsite options without further portaging, and that's a big plus.

I've always thought it would be fun to get back to see the effects of the Pagami Creek Fire and how the forest is coming back, but I'm not sure I care to deal with the inevitable crowds.

I've been through Lake One a few times. They were mostly fall trips so the traffic was down quite a bit. Back last century, there weren't nearly as many October trippers as there seem to be these days.

On the initial trip we borrowed most of the gear, threw it and the two of us in the car, the canoe on top and left the cities. We decided to enter at Lake One and exit at Snowbank. We got to the landing, threw all the stuff on the ground, unloaded the canoe and I left my partner there to pack and organize while I drove to the Snowbank landing and hiked back. I wasn't there to see it, but apparently two experienced trippers paddled up to the landing with neat packs and minimal extraneous gear, hopped out of the canoe, loaded up and were gone in about 5 minutes, but not before giving him a look of extreme pity as he sat in the midst of all our gear.

We didn't have a water filter so we planned on boiling water or using iodine tabs. The first night we boiled it, sans lid for that nice smoky flavor. I still remember the taste of that water-like chewing on tinfoil for an hour.

Another trip we headed down the Kawishiwi through Confusion Lake (intentionally) and on around Clearwater and Rock Island for our loop. Found an empty party ball in the woods and carried it the whole trip before we could dispose of it.

The last time we came through Lake One we paddled the whole last day in a snowstorm; of course "whole" and "last day" in October means a late start and pretty dark by 5. When we got to the landing, a party of three was just heading out to spend one last night before one of them shipped out for the military. Almost dark, still snowing, temperature in the 30s and a stack of 5 cases of beer, two boxes of wine, a little camping gear and one canoe. Must have been a helluva sendoff.

I have such a love hate with this entry it drives me crazy. We've taken 4 trips out of the Lake One entry, a loop to Snowbank for our honeymoon in 2005, a out and back with 2 of the kids when the youngest was 2 in 2011 to Lake Two. The two most recent have been base camp trips to Insula with the boys in 2016 and 2017 and we're headed back to Insula this summer.

I love getting to the landing very early just as the sky is turning pink and being able to unload the gear 20 yards from the water in complete solitude. I love getting to the portages between Lake One and Two long before they get busy. I hate the landing on the Lake Two side of the pond between One and Two. I love being able to have a long paddle that thins the crowd a little before portaging again as you leave Lake Four. I hate the log jam that the series of portages between Four and Hudson can be, I've seen things here I still can't believe. I love paddling down Hudson and the south half of Insula and seeing mother nature at work as her forest recovers from the Pagami Creek Fire. I hate the feeling of going from not seeing anyone for a long time and then coming out of the burn on Insula and rediscovering where all the campers are. I love camping and fishing on any of the campsites on the north half of Insula. I love watching my boys swim at any of the many sandy beach campsites that cover Insula. I hate leaving and I especially hate crossing back over the portages between One and Two in the middle of the day.

All in all there is more that I like about this entry than dislike but it certainly isn't for everyone. It is a great spot if your ready to start your canoe camping hobby as there's a lot for everyone.

On a side note has anyone heard anymore if the Forest Service has looked any further into a portage that connects directly from One to Two instead of the current system of 2 portages separated by a 100 yard paddle across a pond?