BWCA So how low does Hog Creek get in late August? Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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      So how low does Hog Creek get in late August?     
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Bromel
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03/12/2023 12:37PM  
I am an experienced BWCA trip leader, but I have never been down Hog Creek to Perent Lake before (EP 36). I will be taking my geriatric older brother and my kids who are 12 and 8 entering on August 22. We don't mind getting out here and there to pull our canoes a little. Just wondering how impassable it gets in late August? What can we expect? If it is going to take 4 hours to get to Perent Lake, then I will find an easier entry point.
 
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03/12/2023 03:29PM  
I went to Perent in early September 2020, and water levels were good. No poling required. Two small beaver dams to ford. The initial rapids just a few hundred feet from the entry point were impassable though. There is a short up a hill and down the hill portage around the rapids though.

I liked Perent a lot. Very windy though. I had to undo my CCS tarp for a couple of days it was so windy.

Tom
NEIowapaddler
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03/12/2023 07:41PM  
Well, I spent 5 days there in early September last year. There were strong thunderstorms that dumped a bunch of rain on the morning of the day I put in, so the creek was elevated. Consequently, the paddle in was easy. Just had to pull over the aforementioned beaver dams and do the short portage.

By the time I left the water level had dropped, and the mile closest to Perent Lake was absolutely awful. The hardest paddling I've ever experienced. Not because it was too low to float the canoe, but because the thick grass floating on the surface of the water made paddling almost impossible. I considered getting out and walking the canoe along, but there were deep spots regularly. So I just ground my way through it. It was one of the hardest upper-body workouts I've ever had. Once I got to the lowest beaver dam, the grass thinned out and the going was a lot easier.

All that said, the paddle in took 2 hours, and the paddle out only took 2.5. So it shouldn't take you 4 hours even if you run into grass or low water. I don't want to scare you off from doing it. It was a cool paddle, although I'd rather not have to paddle through grass like that again. The outfitter said there was more of it than usual last year because of the wet year.
straighthairedcurly
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03/13/2023 09:04PM  
My husband did Hog Creek to Perent early last September as well. He said the paddle in was about 2-2.5 hours. He did not experience any issues with the grass described by NEIowa.
marrowoflife
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03/18/2023 11:20AM  
NEIowapaddler: "the thick grass floating on the surface of the water made paddling almost impossible. I considered getting out and walking the canoe along, but there were deep spots regularly. So I just ground my way through it. It was one of the hardest upper-body workouts I've ever had. Once I got to the lowest beaver dam, the grass thinned out and the going was a lot easier.


All that said, the paddle in took 2 hours, and the paddle out only took 2.5. "


Same for us during the extremely low water of early August 2021. The going was extremely slow to start. After the first hour we checked our map and estimated it would take 6 hours to reach Perent Lake at the pace we were going. Needless to say, we became a little discouraged as we pulled through the muck and weeds. During these water conditions it would start to get deeper before the beaver dams and make it a little bit paddleable... A false hope, for when you would go over the dam, you would find mud-surfaced swamps for a few hundred feet. As you trucked along, a trickle of water would appear again, eventually growing to small pools, then a stagant creek, and finally enough water just so puddled in consecutive spots to let the canoe bear it's own weight; and after some more deep breaths our weight too. It was fun. As we neared the end, the water in the creek really was sourced as an extension of the lake and was navigable. In the end, it only took us about 3.5 hours, and the lake opened to us providing a wonderful refuge.

03/21/2023 03:54PM  
I went through there a few years ago in June so my water level was good, no slogging. There were the beaver dams mentioned. One slightly different question. Are you planning two shorter canoes for the 4 of you? If you were thinking 1 long canoe for the 4 of you I would discourage that, it would be REALLY difficult making all of those turns in a long canoe.
 
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