I plan on taking my wife for the first time and looking at either Hog Creek or Moose river north. I have been the Moose river route one other time about 10 yrs ago with my son so I thought hog creek would a nice easy route for her and a new area for me, plus it seems less busy but I'm concerned about the creek water levels around the middle of September? I have read some reports that were mainly from the earlier part of the season.
Thanks for any advice …. p.s. in our late 50s Tim

I was there twice in June. No problems at all with water levels then. I wish I could help you with Sept. I will tell you I saw Moose on each trip. It's a nice twisty creek.

Sounds like a nice trip Blatz!!
Thanks for the reply...

Anyone been around the area in September.
Does the creek hold good water ?

I remember reading that Hog creek maintains water levels pretty well so i did a quick search. Here are a few quotes from the past:

You are correct, Hog Creek is Spring fed so it maintains it's levels very well,


In some spots, the water depth is about 15"-18" at the lowest. There are 3 significant dams to pull over--but I managed to scoot over the middle one when traveling to Perent Lake. Also, there are 4 minor ones that are negotiated by paddling off to one side as those aren't built all the way across the creek. Paddled it last week, solo.
outbound: Due to lower water level I was able to step out in about 12"-15" water depths to pull the loaded canoe over dams. (Sept 19 trip)

Did Hog Creek and Perent River in late September. Water levels were fine. (10/24 trip)

Hog Creek was up and it was a delight to paddle in the high water. I think it took about an hour and a half to do it. I’ve done this creek a couple times before and this is the most water I’ve seen in it while paddling.(10/8 trip)

We originally wanted to put in at Hog Creek (as we did in '02) but our outfitter warned the water levels can be too low in August. People who posted to this site broke about 2 to 1 in favor of that being true... those believing the level was always high enough maybe got lucky? (mid august trip)

I was on Hog Creek last week and have never seen it lower. Must have pulled over 10 of those flippin beaver dams an slogged through a bunch of mud. Had a great time... :-) (Sept 4 trip)

Seems like it is somewhat dependent on rainfall an the condition of beaver dams. The Tofte ranger station might provide some info as you get closer to the date. It is an interesting paddle(although it gets a bit monotonous towards the end) and Perent is a nice lake.

I'm taking the wife up there on August 9th. Her first Boundary Waters trip, so I picked something easy for her. I'm curious about the water levels as well, but we'll make due either way. We're taking some luxuries, so I hope we don't have to pull over too many beaver dams! I can post an update when we get back.

Thanks Bunker...
I hope your trip is fun !!! Keep her happy and comfortable lol

Parnell: "Thanks Bunker...
I hope your trip is fun !!! Keep her happy and comfortable lol"

Well, we made it! We didn't pack light and that made for some fun as I underestimated the portage. It's short, but rocky on either path so be careful with your footing. There were 2 beaver dams that we had to pull over (one immediately after the portage) and a few more that we were able to paddle over. It seemed to take a lot longer going to the lake than coming out, but the wife was a bit rusty with the paddling and was able to shake it off by the end.

If you fish at all, we caught a bunch of walleyes (lots of small ones, but also some decent ones) on the north side by the camp sites.

Hey parnell and bunker. I've been this way many times. You won't have any issue with the creek water level. Sometimes you pull over one dam and other times it is like 3 but all fairly easy. As bunker said that portage is not great but it is also short.
I agree with the northern side for walleye. Seem to catch a ton up there.