a very hot day
I was camping solo on Isabella River, I went to bed and could see smoke about 4 miles away before I went to bed. It did not look to bad.

Got up in the morning it was hot and windy. After a few hours paddling the river, I looked to the west, and it looked like an Atomic Bomb went off. Huge Mushroom cloud reaching high into the sky. I watched it for a while. I was supposed to stay one more night but felt uneasy and temp was 88 degrees F.
Started up the little Isabella River and came around the corner,
there lied a monstrous bull moose laying in the middle of the river cooling off and a cow a short distance away. Waited a few minutes than they left so I could move on.
Got out to the Little Isabella parking lot and here was wide yellow caution tape, do not enter across the portage next to my truck.
Loaded up and went down to where the Island River crossed the Tomahawk, there was smoke everywhere, Ashes falling all over. A helicopter was over the Island river and Isabella River blasting with loudspeaker for campers to leave. Sheriff cars, forestry personnel were running all over and going down to the Isabella lake making sure people got out.
Thought best if I got out of the way. Went to Ely and stopped at the Kawishiwi station to report getting out.

All that time I had no camera. I could of got a awesome picture of the mushroom cloud and bull moose. After that went home bought a lightweight camera that goes everywhere now.

Note: The year of the 4th July historical windstorm. Same campsite on Isabella river and again left a day early _July 3rd. Why, just felt like I should for some reason?

15 years later again I was at that campsite again,1st week of Oct. and I got snowed on with close to 12 inches of snow.
That area is like a twilight zone for me.
Yes a few more happenings while in that area also over the years.

Amazing stories of survival.

airmorse: "Amazing stories of survival. "

Yes we had many on this board tell their story. Be nice to have recall of them.
This hot weather, things are actually getting dry again.

I was working at Wilderness Canoe Base on Seagull in '05-'08. Alpine Lake looked like that, a huge, wide, boiling smoke plume on the day that it took off. Luckily that fire turned out to relatively small. Cavity Lake, the next year, was weird. A group I was with may have been one of the last ones off of Paulson before that burned. I remember we linked our three canoes together and raised a tarp sail and then sailed the full length of the lake after the portage. We posted up on an island on the northeast end of the lake. Nobody thought anything about a fire until a twin otter started flying low and tanking on the go in front of us. The next day it went big. I remember purple skies,a midnight paddle to get a bearing on the fire front and seeing Miles Island's old white pines crowning out (from waaaay too close). That led into an early morning evacuation to Grand Marais and a few days of patching sprinkler lines.

The woman who narrates the BWCA rules videos you watch when you get your permit was one of the rangers who had to deploy a fire shelter on Insula during Pagami. There is a really good video from their perspective.

Takk I think this is the VIDEO .Good to see 1 or 2 of the people in the video had the good sense to lead the rest. The Forest Service dropped the ball all the way around with this fire. Those FS employees should have been evacuated long before they took shelter. I also recall that the FS dropped over 10,000 lbs of fuel on the fire to really get it going.

Thanks for sharing the video. I already knew I'm not tough enough to be on a fire detail, but the video gives so much first-hand experience with considerations I'd never even think of. Great to hear that their training, their tools, and their discussion of options kept these USFS personnel safe from the fast-moving fire.

TZ

Yep. That's the video. I've also read through an event write-up from their supervisor's perspective, so thats out there if someone wants to dig. If anyone gets bothered by SNF leadership being aggressive with forest closures due to a fire, this event showcases why they need to do that. Imagine if this story were slightly different and a canoe group got overrun on Lake 3, Horseshoe, or Insula.

Let us know when you’ll be at that campsite again:). I remember fishing on the Isabella when the fire first started and even recording a video off the Tomahawk Road. I remember watching the news as they reported from the Island River entry point and I could see everything was burned. I paddled the river in mid October to survey the damage. I found a stove on the other side of the second portage on the Island River. Thanksgiving weekend we hiked the Powwow Trail which was still walkable and found areas still smoldering.

egknuti: "Let us know when you’ll be at that campsite again:). I remember fishing on the Isabella when the fire first started and even recording a video off the Tomahawk Road. I remember watching the news as they reported from the Island River entry point and I could see everything was burned. I paddled the river in mid October to survey the damage. I found a stove on the other side of the second portage on the Island River. Thanksgiving weekend we hiked the Powwow Trail which was still walkable and found areas still smoldering. "

I know they were trying to get a camper off the area downstream from Isabella Lake a mile or so. The chopper kept circling the area. Apparently, he wasn't get out fast enough at first. About where you mentioned.