What was this like pre-fire? Nice sized lake....winding streams to connect to Perent or head west to Bald Eagle and beyond. Easy portage from the parking lot, but no amenities nearby so it's not like a Sawbill or seagull. It looks like the SE quarter of the lake was spared from fire. Quite a few campsites

How was the fishing? Or is? Since that shouldn't have changed....

Anyone been back? Probably more hikers parking there to use the pow wow trail than use the lake EP I'd guess? Boga just to the east has 2 sites and looks fairly green yet and mostly missed from the fire. But I'm assuming sites are overgrown from lack of use.

Has anyone gone between Perent and Isabella lately? How was that trip pre fire? I know people lately go west but I don't hear anything about east.

The lake was a real gem prior to the Pagami fire, I stayed there in 2007. I haven't paddled it since but have hiked up the Pow Wow trail a few times and hiked to the landing of the Lake quite a few times. The first campsite up the Pow Wow trail is a beauty and was spared from the fire, but it is supposed to be for hikers I think. It is odd that two campsites on the east side are now closed sites 1920 and 1921. I stayed at 1921 in 2007 and it was sweet, it was spared by the Pagami Fire so I can't figure why it would be closed now.
I've never been into Parent lake from Isabella, the 12 portages probably make it unattractive for many paddlers.
I fought the Pagami Fire for 2 weeks and Isabella Lake was in my division, that area got slicked off except the SE part you mentioned, 6 of the campsites on the lake are now closed post fire. Things look pretty good on Boga Lake post fire wise.

A nice sweet campsite is directly of Isabella Lake on Island river in the non-BWCA area. You can get to it from the forest road directly south and west of the bridge over the Tomahawk road. You could probably glass the campsite from the road to see if someone was camped there. Campsite is on the southside of the first portage from the Island River EP. Note that this in the motored area but it is hardly ever used except on holiday weekends. I've stayed at that campsite a time or two. It survived the fire.

Thanks for the info. Any thoughts on the fishing? Or what it was back then. Or in that area in general...the rivers or Quagda or...

cyclones30: "Thanks for the info. Any thoughts on the fishing? Or what it was back then. Or in that area in general...the rivers or Quagda or..."

Went in there on my first solo four years ago. Stayed on the northern site on Boga (#1926), which is a fine site for a group of one. Lots of solitude. Decent walleye selection.

Stayed another night on the SW campsite on the Isabella island (#1917), which is a gem of a campsite. Lovely cedar grove. Large boulders nearby in the woods. Excellent lounging rocks.

Steadily caught pike and walleye trolling the bay to the river on the west side and this was during a hot July.

Going in, it was a windy day, making for a bit of a dicey paddle heading northeast to the Boga portage. Coming back was the calmest, quietist I've ever experienced in the BW. Glass lake, could hear the water droplets off my paddle hit the water like thunderclaps. The absence of big tress on much of the shoreline perhaps means less noise? This all led to one of the most serene moments as I sat in the middle of the lake and could hear almost nothing except those loud drops.

CoffeeInTheWoods: "

cyclones30: "Thanks for the info. Any thoughts on the fishing? Or what it was back then. Or in that area in general...the rivers or Quagda or..."

Went in there on my first solo four years ago. Stayed on the northern site on Boga (#1926), which is a fine site for a group of one. Lots of solitude. Decent walleye selection.


Stayed another night on the SW campsite on the Isabella island (#1917), which is a gem of a campsite. Lovely cedar grove. Large boulders nearby in the woods. Excellent lounging rocks.


Steadily caught pike and walleye trolling the bay to the river on the west side and this was during a hot July.


Going in, it was a windy day, making for a bit of a dicey paddle heading northeast to the Boga portage. Coming back was the calmest, quietist I've ever experienced in the BW. Glass lake, could hear the water droplets off my paddle hit the water like thunderclaps. The absence of big tress on much of the shoreline perhaps means less noise? This all led to one of the most serene moments as I sat in the middle of the lake and could hear almost nothing except those loud drops."

Thanks! Very cool story

I've never gone to Isabella, but have gone to Quadga via Island River and Little Isabella River. Both trips were before Pagami. We thought the Little Isabella River was very cool entry paddle. Very quiet area, remote feel. I don't remember see more than one or two on both trips combined. We stayed at the Quadga site near the Pow Wow Trail and took a nice day hike on it. I don't how it would be now, but think maybe there has been some trail clearing . . . ?

I think there's been quite a lot of work done on the trail itself

The Lake was nice. Isabella was the only lake we ever ran into the forest service and the dude was a jerk.

There were 6 of us, two families of three, moms, dads and our 4 year old sons. We were faster then the other family and shot ahead to scout campsites. We stopped, got out and looked at one site, the other family caught up and we decided to keep moving. We all left, we again shot ahead, skipped another site and landed at a great site on the eastern shore. The site was great, we unloaded our gear and looked down the shore to see the other family not too far behind. We also looked into the lake to see another canoe paddling like mad straight at us.

Both canoes arrived at the same time, one our friends and the other the forest ranger. The guy just starts interrogating us. Accusing us of occupying more than one site at a time, wanting to go through our gear...it was ridiculous. After what felt like forever and alot of back and forth he just decides, ok we're going to do maintenance on this site, grabbed the lacky that was with him and was just generally in our way while trying to set up for the majority of the afternoon.

We did get a fresh latrine and clean fireplace, but it just felt to me like the guy decided to stay and be pain as a result of being shot down on whatever powertrip he was on earlier. Dude was ridiculous.

Jeez, sounds like you're right.

As far as currently closed sites, do you just call the FS? Or if they open some of the old ones?

cyclones30: "Jeez, sounds like you're right.


As far as currently closed sites, do you just call the FS? Or if they open some of the old ones? "

I use this site on BWCA.com

Put it into Satellite View in the upper left corner and you can see the burn scar.

I usually do a few day trips into Isabella during the summer. Last summer the parking lot was completely full. My guess is that a lot of people went in without a permit. I actually saw people leave their campsite then portage out and drive away and return later the same day. If your plan is to stay on the Isabella make sure you get an early start and be flexible in where you stay. There is two sites on Boga but only one is any good. If you head down the river most of the sites were fire affected. Isabella has lots of eater size walleye. and you shouldn't have too much trouble finding them. I've caught them in relatively shallow water. If it'd windy, fish the wind blown shoreline and you will catch fish. There are also decent northern as well. The Isabella River has much larger walleye and northern but you's have to at least paddle to the confluence of the Island and Isabella to find them.

Right, I understand the scar. But like mentioned above, some sites are closed that don't make sense? Do closed sites have a sign? Is the grate pulled out? How do you know it's closed if you showed up to one? Or it's still got the latrine and grate...it's just a mess from the fire. (and slowly growing back)

Or some sites are kind of burned but right around the site was saved or not too bad.

cyclones30: "Right, I understand the scar. But like mentioned above, some sites are closed that don't make sense? Do closed sites have a sign? Is the grate pulled out? How do you know it's closed if you showed up to one? Or it's still got the latrine and grate...it's just a mess from the fire. (and slowly growing back)


Or some sites are kind of burned but right around the site was saved or not too bad. "

Any site that is no longer in use had the fire grate pulled out and latrine removed (if it didn't burn in the fire). These spots are overgrown now and would not be suitable for camping either way.

Sounds good. Thanks everyone! Wish I lived closer....these are the day trips I'd love to do. Or a few days