Angleworm Lake (EP20) Gear Checklist

What shapes your gear on Angleworm Lake

The carry: five different lengths

The Forest Service lists the carry as 640 rods. A BWCA directory says 716 rods and calls it almost two miles and one of the longest in the wilderness. A paddling planner site measures 714 rods. A Friends of the Boundary Waters page for the hikers' loop says 600 rods or about two miles. An older paddlers' post gives 640 rods again. The directory describes the trail as mostly flat with a couple of small climbs.

From Superior National Forest (USDA Forest Service): Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Entry Points, BWCAwild.com, Paddle Planner, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and QuietJourney: Entry #s 20 & 21 to Angleworm (Summer 97 post)

The lot and the first fork

Entry 20 and the Angleworm Trail share one small lot on the Echo Trail. The directory sets a daily quota of 2 for the paddle entry, notes a campsite-style restroom, and says the lot can overflow on nice fall weekends. The carry starts just left of the bulletin board. A November 2020 visitor says to stay left at the first junction.

From BWCAwild.com and Paddle Planner

The Spring Creek boardwalk, year by year

Visitors in 2013, 2015 and October 2017 called the bridge or boardwalk nice. A December 2019 visitor still called it the biggest boardwalk on the trail. By late August 2020 people were stepping off the rotten spots. In June 2023 a visitor found it dilapidated and flooded behind a beaver dam, about a mile in, with a wobbly submerged plank. In September 2025 a group floated the canoe across because the boards were unusable.

From Paddle Planner

Time on the trail

A September 2025 group single-portaged. The first mile, mostly downhill, took about 20 minutes. The next mile and a half, with more climbing and a couple of splits, took nearly 50 minutes. They found the second half far hillier than the first.

From Paddle Planner

The landing and the lake

An August 2020 visitor says the portage landing on the PaddlePlanner map is wrong and lies in a tiny inlet on the far west side of the southern bay, not between the campsites. One older post counts 4 known campsites on the lake. A group in another older post found none open and wandered in and out of Home Lake before finding a site on Gull Lake.

From Paddle Planner, QuietJourney: Entry #s 20 & 21 to Angleworm (Summer 97 post) and QuietJourney: Entry #s 20 & 21 to Angleworm (Summer 00 post)

What hikers carry on Angleworm Lake

• A pack light enough to single-portage

  The 2025 group crossed in about 70 minutes of walking by carrying everything in one trip. A May 2017 commenter advised trimming weight and taking a break at the pond partway. An older post urges packing light, pacing yourself and taking one step at a time.

  From Paddle Planner and QuietJourney: Entry #s 20 & 21 to Angleworm (Summer 00 post)

• Footwear that can go in water

  The June 2023 visitor says you will get wet at the flooded boardwalk and may fall in chest deep if balance on a wobbly plank fails. Reports from 2015 and 2017 also mention poor footing in rain and wet stretches.

  From Paddle Planner

• A map, and a GPS to back it up

  A 2020 visitor calls the trail confusing in a few spots and recommends a GPS. They met a solo paddler who thought he was nearly at Gull Lake but was close to Angleworm again, after a night out. A 2023 visitor counts several intersections. The Forest Service calls a compass and accurate map essential on this trail and says to carry them even with a GPS.

  From Paddle Planner and Superior National Forest (USDA Forest Service): Angleworm Hiking Trail

• A canoe you are willing to shoulder for two miles

  A December 2019 snow hiker says they would not want to carry a canoe over it. The author of an older post carried a canoe over it three times, once alone, and found it worth the effort. The Friends page jokes that the carry is the price of reaching the lake by canoe.

  From Paddle Planner, QuietJourney: Entry #s 20 & 21 to Angleworm (Summer 97 post) and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness

• Yellow-tailed spinners for walleye

  An older post describes the lake as long, thin and nearly a river. Its author casts yellow-tailed spinners at fallen timber for walleye, while pike of small to average size sit in the weed beds.

  From QuietJourney: Entry #s 20 & 21 to Angleworm (Summer 97 post)

• Water treatment for the trail itself

  The Forest Service says the lakes along the trail are the water sources after the first two miles and that Spring Creek is generally not reliable because of beaver activity. It tells hikers to boil or filter.

  From Superior National Forest (USDA Forest Service): Angleworm Hiking Trail

Gear questions for Angleworm Lake