Hey All,

I'm curious why Ram Lake (EP 44) is the only EP that has any availability in mid august. Every other permit is taken for the week of Aug 10th, which makes sense since I'm sure a lot of people are picking up permits on the Gunflint side as they re-plan their trips due to the fires.

I heard Ram Lake as a tough uphill 80 rod portage to get to the water, but I can't imagine that would stop everybody.

Any thought here?

Thank you!

Looks like a mistake to me. When I check on the Rec.org site it shows none available for the Ram Lake entry for all of August. A few weeks ago (right around when these fires erupted) I saw that Rec.org showed all five Moose//Portage River North permits were available for every day of September. When I checked again the next day they were all gone.

Yep, you are right! strange... maybe a little cancelation glitch. Appreciate the reply!

sorry, rec.gov not org

I went thru there twice, once coming once going. I don’t remember an uphill 90 rod portage. More like the parking lot was next to the lake and a nice easy walk. Was a bit ago tho. If you are going that way make sure you do the Little Trout to Misquah portage. My all time fav. It’s a doozy.

My map show a 102 rd portage from the parking lot to Ram Lake. I did it a couple of years ago and it was a bit of a challenge. There’s one campsite on Ram. Little Trout Lake is the next lake with campsites, with two ponds and three portages between Little Trout and Ram.

Huh - Don’t remember the portage from the lot to the lake. I was putting in there one time and 4 guys leaving stopped by my truck and gave me a handle of Canadian Club whiskey. Guess they thought I looked thirsty. I filled up a couple Nalgenes. Never brought booze in before but it wasn’t the last time haha. Gotta do that portage I mentioned, don’t cheat yourself.

Samsquatch: "My map show a 102 rd portage from the parking lot to Ram Lake. I did it a couple of years ago and it was a bit of a challenge. There’s one campsite on Ram. Little Trout Lake is the next lake with campsites, with two ponds and three portages between Little Trout and Ram.
"

My Voyageur map also shows a 102 rd portage. We did this entry in 2004. The portage goes up and over a ridge. You actually enter the BWCA at the top of the ridge and then a short drop down to Ram Lake. The photos show the top of the ridge where you enter the BWCA, a view down to Ram Lake from the sign, and a view back toward the parking from the same sign.
If you're thinking of the Bower Trout entry, that is a shorter 60 rd portage that is very level.

We’ve done the Ram / Bower Trout loop a few times. There are hilly portages, not a lot of campsites, and it leads to busy popular areas so you have competition for further sites. But it’s basically fine, just never my first choice.