BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 25 2024
Entry Point 30 - Lake One
Number of Permits per Day: 13
Elevation: 1230 feet
Latitude: 47.9391
Longitude: -91.4792
My son Remy and I, and my friend Keith and his son Charlie put our canoes into Lake one at 9:30 Monday morning after dropping off a car at the Snowbank Lake landing. Lake One can be tricky to navigate. On our way to Lake Two we turned East too early and ended up paddling about a mile out of our way into a dead-end bay before we realized our mistake. We blamed the fact that Lake One was split between Fisher Maps #10 and #4 for our error. If the entire lake had been visible at once on a single map, we would not have made the wrong turn. Once we got back on course we portaged the 30 rods into a pond and then portaged the 40 rods into Lake Two. The weather was nice, and there was a bit of a tail wind out of the West. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Lake Two. After lunch we canoed through the North end of Lake Three and into Lake Four. We stopped for the night at a campsite on the West shore of Lake Four, just North of the channel heading toward Hudson Lake. We had to battle swarms of mosquitoes as we set up the tents. We then had a nice refreshing swim. Because we had brought steaks along for the first night, we didn't go fishing.
On Tuesday morning we had a bacon and eggs breakfast then packed up camp and headed out in our canoes. As we canoed past our campsite, we realized that Remy & I had left our hammocks pitched between trees. We landed again and quickly packed them up. Once again we had beautiful weather. We paddled East and completed 3 short portages before entering Hudson Lake. The 105 rod portage into Lake Insula was exhausting! Lake Insula is a large gorgeous lake broken up by multiple islands and penninsulas. We had lunch at a campsite on a large island just East of Hudson Lake. It felt like we had a tail wind as we were heading East, and then as we turned North it seemed like the wind shifted and was at our backs once again. We navigated Lake Insula flawlessly and camped for the night on the island just West of Williamson Island. After setting up the tents and a refreshing swim, Remy & I got back into the canoe and tried to catch some fish. We had no luck! At 9PM that night, just as we were going to bed, a thunderstorm rolled through. That night I was awakened several times by the loud croaking of bullfrogs from the shallows around our island. What noisy neighbors!
By Wednesday morning the weather had cleared, but the wind was now coming from the Northwest, pretty much in our faces. We paddled to the North end of Lake Insula and tackled the largest portage of our trip. The 180 rod walk to Kiana Lake actually seemed easier than the 105 rod carry into Lake Insula. We headed onward into Thomas Lake where we really started feeling the headwind. We finally made it to the campsite just Northeast of the portage into Thomas Pond in time for lunch. After lunch we proceeded across Thomas Pond and into Thomas Creek after hiking across the famous Kekekabic Trail. We managed to easily run the rapids in Thomas Creek and avoid the 2 short portages. We camped for the night on Hatchet Lake at the northern campsite. It was cool and windy, so we didn't swim. There was lots of threatening weather going by to the North of us, but we stayed dry. After supper we canoed back to Thomas Creek to fish and look for moose. No luck on either count, but we did see a beaver swimmming.
The weather was nice again Thursday morning, but the wind was out of the West which was the direction we were heading. We portaged into Ima Lake and canoed across it. Before portaging into Jordan Lake, we watched a bald eagle sitting in a tree get harrassed repeatedly by a seagull. The narrow channel leading into Jordan Lake is quite beautiful. It is narrow like a river with big rock outcroppings. We paddled across Jordan, Cattyman, Adventure, and Jitterbug Lakes. We found the Eastern campsite on Ahsub Lake taken, so we camped at the Western campsite which had a great place for swimming in front of it. There was a very brave loon in front of the campsite who didn't seem to mind if we got close to it. We tried our luck at fishing, but only caught 1 smallmouth which was too small to eat. Between 5:00 and 7:30 that evening we saw a number of canoes heading across Ahsub Lake from Disappointment Lake to Jitterbug Lake. We weren't sure where they were planning to camp, but it was getting late.
On Friday we awoke again to good weather. We paddled the length of Disappointment Lake and portaged into to Parent Lake and then on to Snowbank Lake. It was July 4th, and as we entered Snowbank Lake the sounfd of firecrackers reminded us we weren't in the wilderness anaymore. After a brief splash war on our way across Snowbank, we made it to the landing and our car was still there. What a great trip!
Brief April Solo
Entry Date:
April 10, 2010
Entry Point:
Moose Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
1
By the time I get gear assembled, the house picked up and finish the drive it’s 8:40 when my paddle hits the water. Luck is with me, the wind from the WNW is shaped by the lakes to provide more push than push against and I am able to make Prairie before ten. I am passed by two motorboats heading out and one tow boat heading back.
Birch Lake passes quickly. The portage to Carp is void of footprints. I turn away from the border and make my way to Sheridan. In 83 I took my first “non-organized-group” trip to the Quetico with a college roommate –up the Man Chain and back via the border- figure this is a good opportunity to re- visit “the Men”. The portage to Sheridan is beside a sweet cedar adorned falls. On Sheridan the wind is quite brisk, the lake attractive, clear water and a great rise of rock just to the east of the portage.
I give up on the single portage about halfway to That Man, the footing too difficult to make it worthwhile. That Man begins with a fine vista and the wind picks up as my progress gives it room to run. 2/3’s of the way down the lake I’m surfing on small whitecaps, moving fast but having to paddle hard to keep the boat on point. I pull close to the long thin island to scope the campsite and two guys appear on the shore and hail me as I stream by. The campsite on the next NW point is very attractive from the water but too close to company (the first people I’ve seen in my last six Q trips) to consider.
So it’s on to No Man and then surfing down This Man to a site on a tall shoulder of rock with a nice landing (pebble beach), a bit of shelter from the wind, terrific vistas and a soft level tent site. It’s a bit trampled and afflicted with sawed-off stumps but good enough for the night. The wind steadily increases and by 6:00 is howling down the lake blowing foam off whitecaps.
By dark the wind is a gentle breeze. When I wake near midnight it’s dead calm and way too quiet to fall back to sleep.
Water level is too low to paddle the creek in the middle of the Jasper/Ottertrack portage. Ottertrack (it was named Cypress the last time I was here) begins with a high rock wall opposite the put in. The lake is vast and calm, the ripples of my passage slowly spread and mar the surface. It is not until I begin to travel the border that the breeze emerges again. I take my time along the great cliffs on the Ontario shore, scoot across the border to look at walls of snow and ice that cling to the southern shore.
I cross the long wet and swampy portage to Plough. The stream that flows along the start of the portage is still capped with ice due to the shade of the cedar forest. The portage is beautiful but looks to be quite challenging in wet conditions. I paddle and let the wind push me down Plough admiring the large pines that rise from the steep shores. The portage to Emerald passes through tall cedars, stretched by the lime-rich soil. I stop at the northern campsite on Emerald to make coffee and consider my options and decide to stay for the night rather than push on to Moose lake.
I fritter the afternoon away by exploring the cedar and white pine forest behind the campsite. I climb to the top of the ridge east of the site that falls away in tall nearly sheer cliffs to Emerald lake. Clouds gather and thicken but let go of only a few drops. 
Water level is too low to paddle the creek in the middle of the Jasper/Ottertrack portage. Ottertrack (it was named Cypress the last time I was here) begins with a high rock wall opposite the put in. The lake is vast and calm, the ripples of my passage slowly spread and mar the surface. It is not until I begin to travel the border that the breeze emerges again. I take my time along the great cliffs on the Ontario shore, scoot across the border to look at walls of snow and ice that cling to the southern shore.
I cross the long wet and swampy portage to Plough. The stream that flows along the start of the portage is still capped with ice due to the shade of the cedar forest. The portage is beautiful but looks to be quite challenging in wet conditions. I paddle and let the wind push me down Plough admiring the large pines that rise from the steep shores. The portage to Emerald passes through tall cedars, stretched by the lime-rich soil. I stop at the northern campsite on Emerald to make coffee and consider my options and decide to stay for the night rather than push on to Moose lake.
I fritter the afternoon away by exploring the cedar and white pine forest behind the campsite. I climb to the top of the ridge east of the site that falls away in tall nearly sheer cliffs to Emerald lake. Clouds gather and thicken but let go of only a few drops. 
The wind is up in the morning, though the site is calm I can hear it streaming through the trees on the ridges above. The waves build on the last open water on Emerald and again in the open water on Carp. Birch, Sucker, Newfound and Moose all present challenges more from the power of the wind than actual waves. On Newfound I greet my first loon and another on Moose. There is one truck in the parking lot.
New Terms:
Bungee dealee fumble- when the toggle slips just as you are about to secure your paddles resulting in sudden rupture of silence.
Bungee dealee curse- word or words uttered immediately following bungee-dealee-fumble, number and complexity of structure increases with fumble repetition.