I am wanting to hike the pow wow trail in late August and do a lot of berry picking along the way. I haven't been able to find much current information about the state of the trail. I understand that dead snags continue to fall across the trail but didn't know how successful volunteers have been at combating new growth and fallen trees.

Any up to date information would be appreciated!

I would suggest contacting the USFS for the best information.
Isabella Work Station:
Phone: 218-323-7722
Address: 3989 Forest Service Dr., Isabella, MN 55607
Tofte Ranger District:
Phone: 218-663-8060

Summer: May 1 - September 30, open daily 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. Winter: October 1 to April 30, open Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Federal holidays: Open Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. Closed all other federal holidays.
Operated By: Forest Service
Information Center: Phone: 218-365-7600 Address: 1393 Hwy 169, Ely, MN 55731

I was on a trail clearing trip with BWAC in mid May and I can tell you that about half the trail is currently passable. From the entry you can get to Quadga, and then you'll have to bushwhack about a third of a mile, and you'll have another two or three miles of clear trail on the other side. Alternatively, if you paddle in to the northwest corner from Lake Three you'll have a few clear miles. On the cleared parts it's like a city park - easy, smooth hiking. But the uncleared sections are maybe a mile an hour max, if you're flexible and have lots of energy. The whole north side is currently uncleared, though that's BWAC's fall goal.

If you're interested in the trail, I highly recommend volunteering to help clear it - it's a lot of work, but it's a huge sense of accomplishment.

Note that the rangers don't really have a good sense of the trail's condition; the volunteers are doing the vast majority of the work.

Tom, who would I contact regarding volunteering this fall?

Perhaps through the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee website?

CityFisher74: "Tom, who would I contact regarding volunteering this fall?"

They have a meetup site, that's definitely the best way to get in touch. You can find it at Meetup: Friends of BWCA Trails . They also have periodic info sessions at Midwest Mountaineering.

Here's a (really low quality) picture I took with my phone of their map showing progress on reopening the trail. Sector A is pretty much cleared, and has been maintained fairly consistently for the past few years. Sector B has been the big push this spring, and hadn't been maintained since the first year or two after the fire, so it was in really rough shape; it's now mostly cleared, but my understanding is that the space between the two southernmost former campsites on the west side is still nearly impassable. I understand Sector C to be currently impassable and probably not even marked, so travel there this summer would be essentially impossible. That's the big goal for the fall, though personally I hope they finish off the remaining spots in Sector B first.

Oh, and for those wondering, no it doesn't really take ~5 hours to go the 6.7 miles of Sector A that lead to Sector B. That's a pretty easy 6.7 miles of hiking.

No info on line of how much progress was made. Can someone in the know give an update?

Contact the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee and the Friends of BWCA trails (linked above). They ran a handful of Pow Wow trail trail marking and clearing trips this fall and will have the most up-to-date information.

Yeah, unfortunately I didn't get out to volunteer this fall but the quick and dirty version is that the northern stretch has some long uncleared parts, and the western stretch has some short uncleared parts, but the south and east are almost entirely cleared. To actually hike it you need more specific notes, which BWAC can provide. A dedicated hiker could certainly do the whole loop at this point, but there would be several miles in the north that were essentially bushwhacking.

TominMpls: "Yeah, unfortunately I didn't get out to volunteer this fall but the quick and dirty version is that the northern stretch has some long uncleared parts, and the western stretch has some short uncleared parts, but the south and east are almost entirely cleared. To actually hike it you need more specific notes, which BWAC can provide. A dedicated hiker could certainly do the whole loop at this point, but there would be several miles in the north that were essentially bushwhacking."

That northwest part was the tough part when you did have a good trail.