Perent Lake to unnamed lake southeast of Boga Lake; 7.2 miles, 11 portages + beaver dams, 331 rods.

I was up about 5:00 am. Had an easy breakfast and coffee and broke camp as quickly as I could. There was huge mayfly hatch again, and also swarms of mosquitos were active. I wanted to get a jump on the day as I knew it would get hot, and that I had a long way to go – 11 portages – just to get to the first campsite on the Perent River. I had not been able to find any recent information on the condition of the river; I just knew the water levels were low but had no idea how that might affect my trip.

I filled the dirty water bag just off shore and set up my gravity filter at the first portage. I knew carrying a liter of water for the day would not be nearly enough, and it wasn’t. I had to set up the filter twice that day, and probably went through 6-7 liters while paddling.

The Perent River starts out as s simple, straight slow-water river like many others in the BWCA, with some small lake-like sections here and there which allow just enough wind to brush away the bugs. Horse and deer flies were a bit annoying, but were manageable with a bit of Lemon Eucalyptus bug spray on both of our heads, ears, and necks. Rainy has also learned that if I swat her with a fly swatter not to take it personally – she knows I am hitting biting flies and ignores it. I kept a fly swatter and a spare handy in the boat at all times. While the flies were with us pretty much every day, they seemed to inexplicably come and go from time to time, give us both a nice break. Also, very thankfully, there were only a handful of stable flies here and there. I loathe them most of all.

After maybe an hour I found myself paddling out of the older, denser forest and into the young growth of the Pagami Creek Fire burn, which I would paddle in and out of throughout the trip. The tall burned snags stand nearly everywhere, and there are some areas of exposed rock still that would not likely have been visible pre-burn, but the growing pines cover much of the burn and are generally 8-10 feet in most places and are very dense. I found the burn area fascinating.

Though the water levels were low – perhaps a foot or two below normal – the river was still very navigable. Some portages would surely have been easier to land with higher water, and some rock gardens easier to negotiate, but it was all still doable. That said, I still hit rather quite a few rocks on the river and on portage landings. I suspect this would have happened with higher water too, though. I will likely refinish the bottom of my canoe after this trip.

The portages were fairly easy to find, though I had to look for one or two, and mostly they were in ok condition except for being overgrown. One portage toward the end of the day seemed out of place. My Fisher map made it look on the north side of the river, but I could see no landing there at all. I could see a clear landing on the south side, and there was a path (of sorts) which led to the next navigable section of river, but it looked less like a real portage and more like a couple moose had just walked through. I was also expecting it to be about 20 rods, but think it was closer to 50. I could see where two tents had been set up as stealth camps, and a small fire had been lit next to a large rock. Someone must have gotten stuck there. The two campsites just east of there were very definitely closed and overgrown – not really there you could say. It’s a long stretch of river without much forgiveness.

Paddling on toward what I hoped would be the last portage of the day I entered a narrows and surprised a raft of otters. Several started doing their little bobbing and barking thing then dove, and one popped up just about 4 feet from my boat, startling both me and Rainy. They all got past me and then came up to complain a little.

I did the last and fairly easy 20 rod portage to an unnamed lake with a campsite which was practically at the end of the portage. It was up on a rock knob with one semi-living tree near the fire grate; not much room but it would have to do. I pitched my tent and bug net as the big flies were active. Maybe 15 yards behind the rock knob was a decent sized tent pad that was full of tall wild flowers. The latrine a bit further back had a sarsaparilla plant growing out of it. Clearly this site was not used much. Because of the flies, I squeezed my tent in right next to the bug net. I was feeling pretty spent, and was again glad to head to the tent after refueling.

Beaver Dam and Rock Garden

Rough Portage Landing

Logging Thingy?

The First Carry

Moose Path Portage

Seldom Used Campsite Tentpad