BWCA Campsite 1717 on Gabbro

Site is very nice. Lots of tent pads, but most are small. Plenty of hammock hangs all around. Easy to walk the entire area. Decent fishing in the bay to the north. This is not an island and doesn’t appear to have been for quite some time. Water was low but landing is still very good.

First camp site after a short portage from Bald Eagle Lake into Gabbro Lake. It is on a small wooded island with good views all around. Rocky landing site. Good swimming. Canoe traffic between the lakes. Firewood available in the area. Fishing was slow. Beautiful sunset.

Didn't get to enjoy this campsite unfortunately, as we had to paddle across bald eagle and cross the portage in the dark, thanks to our group leader..., but when the sun rose in the morning I was able to see what this site had to offer, and will say that I was very pleased with it. Pretty nice and fairly level tent pads, which are sheltered by the pines, and cedars. Good fishing not too far away from camp. Good kitchen area. was able to find a little bit of firewood on the island.

Really good camp site! Verging on great! 3 very nice flat tent spots close to the fire pit. The one past the latrine had tons of fish bones etc. all over it. Great spot to tent, but someone cleaned their fish there and just left the bones and guts on the tent spot. Damn it! We were on this island when the big wind hit....about a dozen trees on this island down!!! One between the 2 tents our kids were sleeping in, one across the latrine path....the tip of the tree only 1 foot from a tent! The trees did protect us from the wind. You could tell it was blowing, but it wasn't smashing the tents or ripping them apart or anything. Best part about this island...if you go around the island to the south and head east to portage 925....GREAT SWIMMING! The rapids there make for a refreshing swimming hole and ride through the rapids using our life vests. This was the best fire pit of the week. Plenty of air getting to it so the wood would burn. Cooking was great. Unfortunately Gabbro Lake is a large lake and we had to canoe the length of it against the wind with waves to get here. Then against the wind to get back to our exit on Little Gabbro Lake. We did canoe to Bald Eagle Lake to fish. Did catch 1 small mouth bass but the wind was just toooo much for fishing. Blueberry bushes growing everywhere on this island. If you are coming here in the middle of July, bring pancake mix for blueberry pancakes!!!

The landing is sandy gravel and easy. The first thing that struck me about the site is the seagull poop that was everywhere. Otherwise it was a decent site. There are a couple of tent pads by the kitchen, but the others are scattered throughout the woods surrounding it. One of the tent pads is past the latrine. Sloping rocks lead to the water in front of the site. The site faces west and is protected on the other sides - though since the island is close to the western shore, that side is fairly protected as well. As a bonus, there is a trail leading to a great vista of the rapids on the southern tip of the island.

Uneven tent pads