Are you required to take the 320 rod portage into meeds lake if you get a permit for entry 48 or can you access from lizz and caribou lakes instead

If you have a permit for Meeds you have to enter via the long portage. You can get a Lizz lake permit and head over to Meeds and all is good. The portage is not that bad, just steep uphill at the beginning.

Meeds trip report

You are required to enter the BWCA at the entry point designated on your permit. If you have a permit for EP 48 you can NOT enter at EP 47 regardless of your intended destination.

It's the trick with multi-entry lakes like Poplar or Round. I've run into groups on Meeds that specifically confessed to coming in via Lizz for the very reason stated: to avoid the portage. It seems innocent enough at the surface "if I end up in the same place, what's the harm?" However, the rules are very clear that you must enter at the date and lake designated on the permit which does mean that you have to take the longish portage into Meeds with a Meeds permit. The quota is in place to reduce traffic on the short Lizz Portages and the number of groups specifically camping on Caribou and Horseshoe. Even just entering at the Lizz portages has the chance to clog up the portages and make traveling tougher for other groups, thus the rule.

On the bright side, I've always found those short portages on the way over to Meeds from Caribou to be intolerably rocky and muddy depending on the season, so maybe the longer portage is actually easier?

Yes, you must enter at 48 Meeds with that permit.

You may exit through Lizz 47 if you would like. On the trip I entered at Meeds we spent our last night on Horseshoe and exited through Lizz.

I’ve heard stories of Rangers checking permits in between the Poplar to Lizz to Caribou portages because it is known that people enter that way with a Meeds permit.