Temperance River / Frost River / Kelso River
by Hamstirly
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
06/08/2025
Entry & Exit Point:
Sawbill Lake (EP 38)
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
7
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (3 messages)
Part 2 of 7
Day 1 - Sawbill to Brule: Campsite #957
We awake with a problem: there’s little wood at the campsite, and it’s all wet! No worries, we’ll just use the camp stove! But… the butane can we’ve got doesn’t fit the camp stove. Good thing we’re figuring this out at Sawbill before we go into the BWCA! We eat some premade cheddar bay biscuits for breakfast instead of the eggs and bacon we’ve brought in cooler bags. Unfortunately that meant we had to carry the cooler bags for them with us. We have another problem: the handles on one of the tent bags are completely ripped off! We solve this by tying thick rope in dual clove hitches around the bag to make a DIY handle/shoulder strap. This also doubles as a containment mechanism for the tarps we’ve brought. Two birds one stone! This is the straw that makes me bring a tote we called “the rope bag.” It ends up being super useful later for clotheslines and for tying down the rain flies on the tents.
Next we headed to the Outfitters to pick up the overnight permit, the two canoes we were renting, butane that’d fit our stove, and some extra carabiners. They didn’t have a butane can that fit our stove, but they did have camp stoves that fit our butane can so we opted for that. We rented a kevlar Wenonah Minnesota 2 and a Minnesota 3, to go with my Northstar B16. The B16 is an aramid composite and weighs 60 pounds. We decided after the trip that that was way, way too heavy for the portages we were doing. We also brought a LOT of bags: each of the seven carried their own backpack, the two person canoes carried a 35 L food dry bag and shoulder cooler bag each, and the three person carried the tent bags, the rope bag, a shoulder cooler bag, a food tote, and a light food backpack. While we were inside the outfitters getting the permits, it DUMPED rain outside, but managed to stop just in time for us to get on the water!
The group before the trip
In our group maybe half had canoed before and only two of us had been to the BWCA, so there was a pretty steep learning curve to steering. After launching at Sawbill and messing around for a while, we made it to our first portage to Smoke lake and it was quick. We made a big mistake here though--we thought it would be easier to tie the sleeping bags onto the canoe seats than to carry them, but that threw the weight distribution in the canoes way off and made them super hard to carry. It got better once we pulled the sleeping bags out, but the rope holding them in stayed attached the whole week as a reminder.
The first portage
Just as we got out on Smoke there was a tiny shower and cracks of thunder. Here I was super worried--were we going to have to pull up onto the shore? Was our trip going to end before it started? Luckily the meat of the storm never came near us and a couple minutes later it was beaming sunny again.
Smoke Lake!
One more portage to Burnt Lake and we stopped for Naan, Humus, and dried tomato lunch. I led the charge on the 206 rod portage to through rocks and mud to Kelly with the canoe and tried to tough it out, but I had to trade off with my canoe partner halfway. When we finally got to the end everyone was just wrecked. We sat there at the end for ages. The extra long Kelly lake (part of the Temperance river!) was a MUCH needed reprieve. People took their shoes off for a long paddle north and as we passed campsite 824 on the peninsula we saw not one but TWO moose! No antlers unfortunately but still majestic.
Moose!
Still reeling from the 206 rod portage from Burnt, the group decided to line the 71 rods to Jack. Except for a couple high flow spots this is pretty shallow and an easy task. Waist deep at the worst but MUCH more fun than the portage. We paddled up Jack to Weird and attempted to line that portage too. The first rapid was easy to cross but the second demanded a portage. Luckily the portage was close by.
Slow but very fun
At the top of Weird there are some clearly bad rapids and we had to take the two portages back to back to South Temperance. The 225 portage was by far the most grueling of the trip (and we ended on a 480 portage!) and my partner and I swapped twice -- me starting and finishing -- and the rocky portage on the far end in the late hours of the day was just about the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The mosquitoes were relentless but sitting there by the glass water it was hard to tell. As soon as we launched there were two loons sitting out there with us.
South Temperance Lake in the waning hours of the day
One more quick portage to Brule and we were nearly at campsite 957 on the island at the west end of the lake. It was pretty late by then--7 or 8pm--and maybe 10 minutes before we landed at the site the sky opened up and dumped rain on us for half an hour. It stopped not long after we got into camp, but everyone was soaked and shivering. Having a dry jacket in my bag here was a lifesaver (my rain-resistant one was sopping wet). We put up the tents and made a fire but it was grueling work. All the wood was completely wet and I had to whittle it down to dry cores. Our lighter bag ripped and got wet so the only working firestarter we had that night was a flint and steel. Even so, we managed to cook three steaks that night, and damn if that wasn’t the best steak I’ve ever had. The night was cold, but keeping the sleeping bag and fleece in a garbage bag worked surprisingly well and I slept dry, but unfortunately I ripped the bag opening it. I decided to pack the fleece in my bag from then on. It was a tough night after a tough day.
Whittling logs for steak dinner
~Sawbill Lake, Smoke Lake, Burnt Lake, Kelly Lake, Jack Lake, Weird Lake, South Temperance Lake, Brule Lake
We awake with a problem: there’s little wood at the campsite, and it’s all wet! No worries, we’ll just use the camp stove! But… the butane can we’ve got doesn’t fit the camp stove. Good thing we’re figuring this out at Sawbill before we go into the BWCA! We eat some premade cheddar bay biscuits for breakfast instead of the eggs and bacon we’ve brought in cooler bags. Unfortunately that meant we had to carry the cooler bags for them with us. We have another problem: the handles on one of the tent bags are completely ripped off! We solve this by tying thick rope in dual clove hitches around the bag to make a DIY handle/shoulder strap. This also doubles as a containment mechanism for the tarps we’ve brought. Two birds one stone! This is the straw that makes me bring a tote we called “the rope bag.” It ends up being super useful later for clotheslines and for tying down the rain flies on the tents.
Next we headed to the Outfitters to pick up the overnight permit, the two canoes we were renting, butane that’d fit our stove, and some extra carabiners. They didn’t have a butane can that fit our stove, but they did have camp stoves that fit our butane can so we opted for that. We rented a kevlar Wenonah Minnesota 2 and a Minnesota 3, to go with my Northstar B16. The B16 is an aramid composite and weighs 60 pounds. We decided after the trip that that was way, way too heavy for the portages we were doing. We also brought a LOT of bags: each of the seven carried their own backpack, the two person canoes carried a 35 L food dry bag and shoulder cooler bag each, and the three person carried the tent bags, the rope bag, a shoulder cooler bag, a food tote, and a light food backpack. While we were inside the outfitters getting the permits, it DUMPED rain outside, but managed to stop just in time for us to get on the water!
In our group maybe half had canoed before and only two of us had been to the BWCA, so there was a pretty steep learning curve to steering. After launching at Sawbill and messing around for a while, we made it to our first portage to Smoke lake and it was quick. We made a big mistake here though--we thought it would be easier to tie the sleeping bags onto the canoe seats than to carry them, but that threw the weight distribution in the canoes way off and made them super hard to carry. It got better once we pulled the sleeping bags out, but the rope holding them in stayed attached the whole week as a reminder.
Just as we got out on Smoke there was a tiny shower and cracks of thunder. Here I was super worried--were we going to have to pull up onto the shore? Was our trip going to end before it started? Luckily the meat of the storm never came near us and a couple minutes later it was beaming sunny again.
One more portage to Burnt Lake and we stopped for Naan, Humus, and dried tomato lunch. I led the charge on the 206 rod portage to through rocks and mud to Kelly with the canoe and tried to tough it out, but I had to trade off with my canoe partner halfway. When we finally got to the end everyone was just wrecked. We sat there at the end for ages. The extra long Kelly lake (part of the Temperance river!) was a MUCH needed reprieve. People took their shoes off for a long paddle north and as we passed campsite 824 on the peninsula we saw not one but TWO moose! No antlers unfortunately but still majestic.
Still reeling from the 206 rod portage from Burnt, the group decided to line the 71 rods to Jack. Except for a couple high flow spots this is pretty shallow and an easy task. Waist deep at the worst but MUCH more fun than the portage. We paddled up Jack to Weird and attempted to line that portage too. The first rapid was easy to cross but the second demanded a portage. Luckily the portage was close by.
At the top of Weird there are some clearly bad rapids and we had to take the two portages back to back to South Temperance. The 225 portage was by far the most grueling of the trip (and we ended on a 480 portage!) and my partner and I swapped twice -- me starting and finishing -- and the rocky portage on the far end in the late hours of the day was just about the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The mosquitoes were relentless but sitting there by the glass water it was hard to tell. As soon as we launched there were two loons sitting out there with us.
One more quick portage to Brule and we were nearly at campsite 957 on the island at the west end of the lake. It was pretty late by then--7 or 8pm--and maybe 10 minutes before we landed at the site the sky opened up and dumped rain on us for half an hour. It stopped not long after we got into camp, but everyone was soaked and shivering. Having a dry jacket in my bag here was a lifesaver (my rain-resistant one was sopping wet). We put up the tents and made a fire but it was grueling work. All the wood was completely wet and I had to whittle it down to dry cores. Our lighter bag ripped and got wet so the only working firestarter we had that night was a flint and steel. Even so, we managed to cook three steaks that night, and damn if that wasn’t the best steak I’ve ever had. The night was cold, but keeping the sleeping bag and fleece in a garbage bag worked surprisingly well and I slept dry, but unfortunately I ripped the bag opening it. I decided to pack the fleece in my bag from then on. It was a tough night after a tough day.
~Sawbill Lake, Smoke Lake, Burnt Lake, Kelly Lake, Jack Lake, Weird Lake, South Temperance Lake, Brule Lake
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