I am contemplating a loop from Lake 2, to Rock Island, to Judd, to Clearwater, etc. One of the main goals is getting to Judd Lake. Can anyone provide some insight about the portages, etc.? I found some older posts online, but wondering if anyone has traveled this route since the fire. Any info (new or old) would be appreciated.

Hi Torino Dan,

Hello everyone. I signed up to this private forum just to respond to this post. I check this forum regularly but haven't posted before.

This is a long post since this trip is still fresh in my brain.

I went into Rock Island Lake and Judd Lake just this past August. From Lake 2, there is an obvious portage path where you would expect on the map that goes maybe 20 rods to where you can put your canoe into the creek. This portage has a few trees down from the fire, but was very passable. The fire really only burned the opposite side of the creek at all from where this portage is. Anyway, the creek was very low at the start in August. I have a very small solo canoe (13 footer) and I had to walk part of the creek. I was here on a day trip too and had no camping gear, just a day pack. About 20 rods up the creek is a small beaver dam. After you lift over this, the water is navigable all the way into Rock Island Lake. Very pretty creek to paddle down. I did not fish, but did have a fish finder with me (go figure) and picked up lots of fish in this lake. Max depth was less than 20 feet. I paddled directly over to the west arm of the lake and headed for Judd Lake figuring I could explore Rock Island on the way out.

There is a creek into Judd Lake from Rock Island, but with the water low, it was not even close to navigable. Also, forget about walking this creek since it traverses a peat bog and the mud is truly bottomless in the creek bed. I stuck my paddle easily its full length into the mud so this would be dangerous stuff to fall into. To get to Judd, I dragged my canoe across the peat bog saying to the south side of the creek. At this point the surrounding hillsides are completely burnt out. The east side of Rock Island has trees, but the side that Judd is on is burned down to the shore. The area around Judd is all burned. However, the peat bug is unaffected by the burn so you only have to deal with walking through the peat bog and no downed trees. Peat bog is hard going since this is a very bouncy peat bog. About the mid point of the peat bog, there is a downed pine. Just over this pine I came back to the edge of the creek that connects the two lakes. I laid my canoe across the bottomless mud of the creek, walked across the canoe, and continued on the rest of the way now on the north side (northwest really I guess) of the creek through the peat bog to the shore of Judd Lake.

Judd Lake is at least 41 feet deep (according to my fish finder), easily windblown since all the trees around it are down. There is one large pine that is on the opposite shore from the creek mouth that really stands out. I did look for a portage from Judd that may be passable to Clearwater, but did not find it. I'm guessing that would be a rough slog since it would be through burned terrain.

Took same route back to Rock Island Lake after exploring Judd. These two lakes appear to have been connected in the past but the lakes have filled in enough that only the creek and the peat bog remain between them. Judd is more of a deep hole of water.

Back on Rock Island, there is a nice campsite on the east side of the lake by the island. I would camp here since Rock Island is easy to get into with gear and day trip Judd. Southern area of Rock Island is burned but the rest is still forested. Lots of boulders sticking out of the shallow water near the island. After exploring Rock Island I headed out the same way I came in.

Photos:

The photo of Judd is looking down along the SE shoreline from where the creek flows out toward Rock Island Lake.

The other photo is from the peat bog of Rock Island Lake. In this photo, the creek is about 50 feet to my left. You can't walk to close to the creek because the mud is bad bad bad.

DanSolo,

Thank you so much for the info! This is exactly what I needed. Maybe not what I wanted to hear, but definitely what I needed. Sounds like a loop through the area may not be so good, but a day trip is still on my BWCA bucket list.

I really appreciate the info!

There definitely was a portage path from the ne angle of Clearwater (sandy landing at that end) to the sw part of Judd; this before the fire. We used this route to go from Bald Eagle and Pietro up to the number chain more than once. DanSolo is right about a nice campspot on a ledge and the east side of Rock Island Lake (of course, no longer with a fire grate or latrine). It is not a deep lake, but does have pike (only species I caught, with a little fishing). The Clearwater to Judd portage was a good long walk, back then, but not hard to follow. What with the fire, that may be a whole different beast. A few hundred down trees just take all the fun out of it... I would second the idea of an overnight in at Rock Island Lake... you should have it overnight to yourself, as it requires a PMA permit to camp down there. You should call the ranger district in charge of Weasel Lake PMA, if you have a particular date in mind.