Last Spring/Summer I had planned a nice week long BWCA trip starting on Clearwater Lake with my son, his first, before he left for the Navy. Long story short, he shipped early and my trip became a solo.

Jumping ahead, he will have an unexpected opportunity to come home for 10 days this August, during auguably the most popular week to vist the BWCA all summer. Permit availability in that area is slim. Leaving me to consider a loop starting through North Fowl Lake. Is North Fowl as grim as I've been lead to believe? How long will it take us to reach Mountain Lake?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

You could make it to n fowl in a long day, but paddling in along the royal river is awesome. you might want to spend a night exploring north and south fowl and hiking to the top of the ridge on south fowl for a spectacular view, then move on to mountain and explore that area. such a beautiful area. you'll have a great time.

N and S Fowl (along with Moose though it's a different type of lake) are great walleye lakes. N and S Fowl get a bad rap for parties (keggers) since it's technically not in the BWCAW -- but it's still rather hard to get to and most having keggers are locals and rather respectful - since getting a keg or boat into either N or S Fowl from the US is rather difficult.

Mountain is easily doable in a day as long as the wind is not strong out of the W.

It should be about a 5 hour trip to reach Mountain if you go steady. But like Whitewolf said, I too have heard the Fowl Lakes are good walleye lakes. They are darker water with lots of wild rice. The only reason they are disappointing is that they are not the super clear lake trout type lakes that exist to the west.

Beautiful area, I wouldn't hesitate to go. You'll see some
cabins, but they don't detract much from the experience.

I know the Fowl lakes well. Early season it’s super easy to get to, however, if going in August I would be somewhat hesitant. The Royal River and Royal “lake” are choked FULL of rice/reeds and the paddle in and out goes from easy in early season to just plain stupid in August. Even with high water levels, it’s usually choked up by then.
I know permits are hard to come by that time of year, but that’s my .02

There’s almost always another option throughout the BWCA permit system....just adapt and overcome. Hope you guys have a great trip regardless of entry!

Bdubr: "I know the Fowl lakes well. Early season it’s super easy to get to, however, if going in August I would be somewhat hesitant. The Royal River and Royal “lake” are choked FULL of rice/reeds and the paddle in and out goes from easy in early season to just plain stupid in August. Even with high water levels, it’s usually choked up by then.
I know permits are hard to come by that time of year, but that’s my .02


There’s almost always another option throughout the BWCA permit system....just adapt and overcome. Hope you guys have a great trip regardless of entry! "

Thanks Bdubr. That was the type od insight I was looking for. I'll find a different route.

Not sure what week you are going in but there is some decent availability for both Baker Lake and Kawishiwi Lake in both early August weeks. These are both great entries that open up to beautiful country with good fishing and wildlife opportunities. There are loop opportunities to be had from both as well.

From Kawishiwi up to Malberg is a good hard day but then there are lots of options including some pretty remote lakes to the north and NW. Baker north to the Temperance lakes, over to Cherokee and down to Sawbill and out through the Fire Lakes is another possibility.

If you are willing to take a long and somewhat challenging portage into Meeds Lake(permits available), you can then head east into lakes that would usually be serviced by the popular Lizz Lake entry including Caribou, Horseshoe, Gaskin, Vista and the long skinny lakes west of Horseshoe. Nice, but busy area. This one is off the Gunflint but the other two are off the Sawbill Trail which leads to a generally underappreciated area of the BWCA IMO.

Good luck in your research and on your trip!