How do I locate the Baker Lake Entry point? Is it at the Baker Lake Campground?

Planning on base camping on one of the lakes before S. Temperance (not going to the fire lakes) with my family of 5. It’s my youngest first trip ever so wanna keep it easy. What lake / campsite would your shoot for to stay at?

Yes. It is at the campground.
If I was traveling there, especially with how extra busy it appears to be this year I would definitely take the 1st available site you find starting at Kelly. Last year there were multiple stories of people not finding sites between Kelly and North Temperance.

It’s a great area for seeing moose. I camped on Jack a few years ago near the end of June with my then 9 yo daughter and it was a very memorable trip. Kelly was full so we moved on to Jack and had the less desirable of the 2 sites. We saw 5 moose between Petersen and Jack and saw moose multiple times each day on Jack. We also caught a lot of walleye on Jack.

Yep, and from google maps it looks like it's a drive right to the edge of the water landing so that's always nice. (I've never been there, just snooping from above)

I have read stories of that entry being so busy. dont want to risk getting a bad site / not a site at all.

thinking of switching my permit to Hog creek.

Any experiences with that area?

Hog Creek takes a lot longer to paddle than it appears it will because it’s so twisty.

Perent Lake is a nice lake. Several nice island sites. And eater size walleye are pretty easy to catch. My older daughter did her first bwca trip there at age 5 and she caught plenty of walleye.

Perent does get nasty on a windy day. So a young one in the bow of the canoe could be troublesome. Just thought I’d mention that since you didn’t state ages of the kids and canoe situation.

Thanks

3 kids total. And a wife lol.

Two older kids (14 and 11) have been on many trips before. Taking the 5 year old up on her first trip.

I think I’m going to just take the chance and stick with Baker entry and hope for the best.

I you can grab the first site on South Temperance it is a real nice one.

scramble4a5: "I you can grab the first site on South Temperance it is a real nice one."

+1

I did Hog Creek into Perent last August with my dad (66) and two sons (6 and 8). It was my boys first BWCA trip and my dad hasn’t been there in 25 years. It was a great first time experience! Fun paddle down the creek with good sites and a few beaver dams the kids enjoyed hopping over.

There are 3 good island campsites on the east side of the lake that are well protected from the wind. Lots of good structure on the lake. We had bad winds for two days but the island protected enough water that we could cruise around in the canoe and it was also big enough to do some fun exploring.

The lake can get really choppy with a strong wind out of the west. I’d also check on the flow in Hog Creek before going. If it’s low you’ll end up doing a lot more walking the canoe then paddling.

Baker sounds great, but Perent is also a great option.

Baker is a great entry I have been to several times and have generally not had a problem getting a site(once on the way out we had to stay at the less than desirable Peterson Lake site). But I have also read reports of that problem. Once you get halfway up Kelly you should probably be willing to take an open site. If you go on to Jack the peninsula site is pretty nice and the Weird Lake site would do in a pinch. South Temperance is beautiful if you had to go that far but that makes it a considerably longer trip in, although definitely doable.

Just a heads up that on the north end of the portage from Kelly to Jack there is a short trail leading to the left which goes to an old abandoned gold mine. Kind of cool to see and lots of artifacts lying around.

We have stayed at the Baker Lake campground a couple times the night before our trip. The launch is right there, about a 30 second drive from the campground.

Have never gone in on Baker, but we covered this area in our long trip (see trip report). Had multiple moose sightings on Weird Lake. The campsite is small, but we were having such a good time spotting moose we stayed an extra day.

Kelly and Jack are known for moose sightings, too.

Have a good trip!

Just wanted to add a plus one on the first site on South Temperance.
Spent most of a week there last year and only saw a few other canoes, so you never know how busy it will be.
Get an early start for the portage to South Temperance, for some reason it seemed much longer than the map shows. Probably because I’m 70.

I was at the southernmost site on ST two wks ago - we saw a moose and her calf two days in a row. Didn’t think much of the site. Trees have grown so the view isn’t that great - it’s not even in my favorites