I know sometimes they try to drop extra water/fire deterrent on the campsites as to partially save them. There were so many sites in the little knife fire area and that area is so heavily used...is there any way to know if any were preserved? That whole area is my favorite area I have ever been to in the BWCA...I was just there June 20-27th...saw it during the last weeks of its glory. I consider my self and my family (the girls 1st trip) very lucky.
Just curious how we would find this out.
thanks

Doubt we'll find out about specific campsites until the burned areas reopen and people get in there to look for themselves.

Consider yourself lucky and enjoy the memories. Don’t know if you’ve camped in a burned out area, I did on the Island River ten years ago on mostly a walleye fishing mission but it’s not real nice. Like Armageddon, totally wasted, the wood sucks, it’s charred but still half green so it doesn’t burn. No shade nothing good to say about that. You might want to find a new favorite spot, that doesn’t look promising.

scat: "Consider yourself lucky and enjoy the memories. Don’t know if you’ve camped in a burned out area, I did on the Island River ten years ago on mostly a walleye fishing mission but it’s not real nice. Like Armageddon, totally wasted, the wood sucks, it’s charred but still half green so it doesn’t burn. No shade nothing good to say about that. You might want to find a new favorite spot, that doesn’t look promising."

I wouldn't be too quick to write off the areas burned this year. From satellite and aerial photos I've seen it looks like the fires were mostly fairly low-intensity compared to some past burns. It's very possible that some places within the burn perimeter might be relatively unscathed.

That said and all good but have you ever camped in a burnt out area. It sucks, no other way to put it. You don’t go to BW to camp in a charred wasteland, I did it once cuz I knew where and how to catch walleyes on the island River. I would find another spot, explore a new area.

Maybe these will help in seeing if it still exists. Assuming this is the area you're mentioning?

Left South Arm

Righ South Arm


South Arm

But we don't know if it is a "charred wasteland", scat. That's my point. Based on those photos and others I've seen, the landscape on the US side is largely a patchwork of green and brown. Some campsites might indeed be burnt to a crisp, but others are probably pretty much untouched. We won't know for sure the extent of the damage until people get in there to see for themselves - which won't happen if everyone follows your advice and goes elsewhere ;)

Ok go for it, I'd try another spot, but I might be biased from my Island River experience in a burnt area. Did make some memories tho. The day before put in I went fishing on Shagawa Lake with a buddy who is a guide and worked at River Point Lodge. Caught some eyes, was raining, went to the pub had burgers and beers then I went back to the campground where I had set up my tent and sat in the truck listening to WELY on the radio and slow sipping whiskey. Fell asleep woke up like 1 am and needed to get horizontal so I got in the tent to like a 2" pond inside. Tent leaked like a sieve, sleeping bag was soaked, everything. It rained for the net 2 days straight, I was in and slept in my rainsuit and boots the whole time. Finally the sun came out on the third day and I was able to dry my stuff, but that wasn't real fun. Like I said I was on a mission to fish the holes on the river for eyes from my buddy's suggestion, but camping in an area like that is not something I expect from a BW experience nor would I do it again. Best memories are I watched a cougar at the Island River EP, how cool is that, went home with 10 walleye filets and my boat got filled with about a 5 gallon bucket of wild rice on the paddle out. I was leaving a trail of rice all the way home haha. Take the good with the bad or is it the other way around, never could figure out that saying.

Cheers, scat

Talking to my outfitter yesterday, he told me that the Shell Lake area fire was an inferno that took masses of trees out. He said that the other fire areas were mostly underbrush fires and was optimistic about those areas for use again in the near future. This was originally supposed to be my year for #14 going through Shell but the fires came first.

The area has some diversity for sure. Now there’s a little more.

I’m curious to see if they adjust entry permit quota based on the number of sites lost.

I get the nostalgia part of a certain area - especially that area. On the border, a mix of big and small water, a significant waterfall, and just remote enough to take a full day to get there.

Wow, looks like Amoeber's campsites were saved and same with the narrows campsite on Cherry. That's great news!

CFarrow: "Wow, looks like Amoeber's campsites were saved and same with the narrows campsite on Cherry. That's great news!"

Not that I have any immediate plans to visit, but this is one of my favorite stretches that I've been watching closely. Pretty lucky if that's true based on the satellite images for all four sites between Cherry and Amoeber to not have burned. The Topaz site may have been sub-par, but it was still a beautiful lake.

portagerunner: "

CFarrow: "Wow, looks like Amoeber's campsites were saved and same with the narrows campsite on Cherry. That's great news!"

Not that I have any immediate plans to visit, but this is one of my favorite stretches that I've been watching closely. Pretty lucky if that's true based on the satellite images for all four sites between Cherry and Amoeber to not have burned. The Topaz site may have been sub-par, but it was still a beautiful lake."

Same. Amoeber is one of my favorite lakes. I've eaten a few lunches on Cherry and Topaz on the way there. I remember having this same feeling 20 years ago when Little Sag burned.

I did a quick comparison between the fire overlay on maps and the Copernicus sat views....which has campsite icons when you zoom in.
Here's a quick overview.
Little Knife:
Far west site is iffy, may not be total scorch.
Going east, the one on the point is also a maybe but the one just east of that looks like a bigger burn.
The far east one by the Ottertrack portage looks burned.
Ottertrack:
3 campsites on the "island " between the portages. West one looks toasted. 2 east ones look fine. Next site quite a ways further east looks ok and the farthest east is fine.
Amoeber:
Yes....both sites look ok.
Topaz:
Looks burned...maybe not a total scorch?
Cherry:
Cloud cover making it tough but west site looks ok and site at narrows may have a little patchy burn.
Giji:
Island site looks ok . North site is sketchy.....might have some green right along edge of lake.

try PaddlingLight.com/had fire boundaries and campsites marked...Aug 3 post.

You don't happen to have after pictures from Iron / Crooked / LLC do you?

Here you go.



https://bit.ly/3SmvAw5

A couple more.

Thank you!

Thanks for those photos, that was exactly what I was looking for.
thanks so much!

These photos give me some hope for some of my favorite camps!

Could I trouble you again, any pics of the falls chain? I heard it got hit hard...including McEwan, southern Kawnipi and west Sagnagons.

If these are just google earth pictures, I can look them but last I looked they were old images.
thanks

This was posted by user danbogey in the Quetico forum recently and should answer your questions about McEwen and the falls chain. There are definitely burned parts.






Source:
https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&threadId=1397605&forumID=17&confID=1&vt=1786198180

Here's a high-res photo of the area.

Perfect, thanks so much!!!!

The USFS has announced the opening of that area and they are only keeping 7 campsites closed, so that tells me most sites had no or minimal damage.

Phase 7 map__[0]=AZZl7eHE9nCIC_WVTRKDUJkdQTEk-I-tizjoT7Fd4wLsN4UcQszEYimFd1F2vb8aRjdmi9bLDNervr29vbbkjfmGNQWlF4hYjVboczCo80AK9oXsBgHBD3rmacIE3RELHky33QQv6hHQ9N8-vNJ83IoZv17_da4yJT7XsMnXpygNy1ax8R5ggxn3qA_qsvLnktc&__tn__=EH-R