BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 18 2024
Entry Point 39 - Trout Lake
Trout Lake entry point allows overnight paddle or motor (25 HP max). This entry point is supported by La Croix Ranger Station near the city of Cook, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 30 miles. Access from LakeVermilion via 60-rod canoe portage or 180-rod portage that allows the use of portage wheels. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 12
Elevation: 1381 feet
Latitude: 47.9144
Longitude: -92.3220
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
Number of Permits per Day: 12
Elevation: 1381 feet
Latitude: 47.9144
Longitude: -92.3220
Summary: A 5-day loop from Baker up the Temperance lakes to Cherokee, and back through Sawbill and Smoke lakes back to Baker. A fairly difficult trip.
Day 0: We drove up from Stillwater in the morning and camped at one of the 5 walk-in campsites at Baker Lake, and it was nice.
Day 1 (Baker to S. Temperance) - A beautiful day, we decided to paddle all the way to South Temperance the first day which was a great paddle with easy portages except for the last one. We picked the campsite on top of a huge rock that was close to the middle of the lake. Tried fishing some but no luck
Day 2 (Rest) - In the night, we encountered the worst storm of the entire season. While we were there 19 people had to be rescued from the BWCA. We had about 50mph straightline winds, and I'm still surprised that the huge tent we had stood up to it. We slept in and took a rest day because of the intense winds. Amazingly beautiful sunset.
Day 3 (S. Temperance to Cherokee) - We left as early as we could to beat the heat, but it was no good. The lengthy, hilly portages were challenging and by the last portage we were pretty beat. We overpacked and single portaged which led us to speedier exhaustion. Still amazing weather. North Temperance was a beaut- I wish we had stayed there instead of South. We took the southeasterly facing campsite on Cherokee on the southeastern skinny island. Neat little site.
Day 4 (Cherokee to Sawbill) - Left a little later in the day but it was ok. We took our time going down the river letting out of the southwest part of Cherokee and it was a great area. BEWARE: The area between Ada and Skoop Lakes appears to be floatable, but a dam built recently has made the portion impossible to float. Be prepared for a long portage through muck and water. A guy that we saw there said he had been going to the BWCA for 40 years at least once per year and it was the worst portage he had ever seen. By the time we got to Sawbill it was pretty hot. We paddled all the way down to the site next to the portage onto Smoke.
Day 5 (Sawbill to Baker) - Cooler, cloudier weather for the first time on the trip. We were pretty hungry (I underpacked food a little and I felt really bad) and we were taunting each other with vivid descriptions of the burgers we were going to eat ASAP after getting out. We paddled back to Baker and returned our gear to Sawtooth outfitters.
Overall great route.
One to remember
by Buck47
Trip Report
Entry Date:
June 08, 2022
Entry Point:
Saganaga Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
Originally we planned to get to Ester and try our hand at catching some trout. It was also an introduction to the bwca for my buddy, but things didn't quite go as planned.
Day 1 of 3
Wednesday, June 08, 2022 Slept in my truck in Grand Marais the night before and got up nice and early for breakfast at South of the Border cafe, always so good. Went up the Gunflint to Seagull Outfitters and got a tow to American Point. We were able to make good time down to Ester and set up camp at the first site on the east side, by the portage to Ashdick. It's a nice campsite, we had room for our two hammocks, but there probably wouldn't have been room for more hammocks. There would be plenty of room for 2-3 tents. The mosquitoes on the portages and in camp were unreal. If you had any flesh exposed you got swarmed.
Day 2 of 3
Thursday, June 09, 2022 Tried our hand at trolling for some trout, we've never really fished trout before so just using spoons deep etc. After moving around and seeing the cliffs the wind started coming up so we headed back to camp. My buddy proceeded to get his finger in the way of the hatchet and sliced it to the bone. It was too late in the day to get out and he kept passing out so we cleaned and dressed it did our best to just rest it and get camp packed up for the next day.
Day 3 of 3
Friday, June 10, 2022 We got up early and packed up to head out. We made good time and were very thankful that we had the wind at our back. We had hoped to see a shuttle boat and get a tow back but no luck. Eventually after about 8 hours of paddling and some wrong turns we were able to get back into the river and get picked up. We got cleaned up and made our way back down the Gunflint and made it quite aways before the water pump went out on my truck. We were able to limp into Grand Marais but couldn't find anyone that would work on my truck at 4:45 on a Friday. I was finally able to bribe someone with an extra $100, but we needed to get moving so we were very thankful he helped us out.
All in all it was a good trip, just ended a little early. The mosquitoes were the worst I've experienced, I can't really speak about fishing since we didn't try too hard and we have zero experience fishing trout. My buddy kept his finger but probably won't ever be able to straighten it again.
discuss this trip report (8 comments) - last post on July 11, 2022