The Joy of Adversarial Weather and a Bushwhacking Fever Dream
by asaboy
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
09/03/2025
Entry & Exit Point:
Kawishiwi Lake (EP 37)
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
3
Discuss Trip:
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Day 3 of 6
Friday, September 05, 2025
Humpback PMA - Birl, Churn, Hotfoot and a little beyond
~Makwa Lake, Birl Lake, Churn Lake, Hotfoot Lake
Though our man's sickness had in fact worsened overnight and a steady, discouraging rain continued to fall, we decided to suck it up and do some bushwhacking. We used the creek southwest of site #985 as the path of least resistance to reach Birl from Makwa. While it was almost certainly the optimal route to get in, the going was still tough. The creek becomes unfloatable rapidly and the growth is thick and low around it. Footing is very rocky as the creek ascends to the higher elevation Birl, and doesn't allow for a straight shot, but rather tracks back and forth across the hillside. Finally it ended in a smallish beaver pond that had to be forded before you got to the main lake. Probably one of the shorter bushwhacks into a PMA, but not a freebie by any means.
Birl is a charming little lake, and our depthfinder never showed deeper than 25 feet. We didn't see many likely spots for a campsite as much of the northern and eastern shores are rocky with dense tree cover. Churn and Hotfoot each sit visibly higher than Birl, so that the small chain feels like descending pools down to Makwa. We were initially going to follow the water flow that comes down from Churn, but it was particularly steep and dense there with deep swampy footing. We chose to make the bushwhack at a slightly wider point to the south that allowed for a shorter, though still steep climb, and we could hand the canoe up without too much trouble.
This would be a good spot for a primitive campsite as it was backed by the rocky hill for protection and had less undergrowth on solid ground. Churn is more pond than lake and didn't get deeper than 15 feet that we could find. The bushwhack into Hotfoot was made via the creek connecting it to Churn and was easier, despite being swampy and overgrown. Hotfoot is a truly serene little lake, no deeper than 20 feet by my measure, with a mostly gentle shoreline. We pushed to the western end and up the creek a short ways, then bushwhacked our way to the unnamed pool above. The undergrowth here was very dense so we decided to scout ahead without the canoe, and though the trees grew sparser farther west, the pond above was almost fully vegetated so we decided to call it the end of our journey into Humpback PMA. Easy to imagine this being the solitary domain of moose and waterfowl, with entire generations living completely free of the intrusions of man.
The ranger we talked to before the trip, who issued our PMA camping permit, had actually never heard of anyone entering these lakes in recent memory, nor had they ever personally issued a permit for this zone. A little suprising considering how short the initial bushwhack is, but probably because at the end of the day they are fairly unremarkable little lakes. All the same, we felt at least a little thrill of adventure and discovery on this soggy trek. We had the permit to camp but because of the continued rain and concern for our health, we decided to retreat to our site on Makwa. We ate lunch on a rock on the west end of Hotfoot during a brief break from the rain, which would make a decent campsite itself. It was then that we discovered that we were absolutely covered in leeches, dozens of leeches apiece, some small, many uncomfortably large and tenacious. We backtracked out while fishing a ilttle and found both lakes were full of small but feisty pike. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't find any other species holding in the deeper spots. Back on Makwa and flush with successful adventure and possibly fever, the rain started becoming more and more intense so we had to curtail our trout fishing and call it a day.
Humpback PMA - Birl, Churn, Hotfoot and a little beyond
~Makwa Lake, Birl Lake, Churn Lake, Hotfoot Lake
Though our man's sickness had in fact worsened overnight and a steady, discouraging rain continued to fall, we decided to suck it up and do some bushwhacking. We used the creek southwest of site #985 as the path of least resistance to reach Birl from Makwa. While it was almost certainly the optimal route to get in, the going was still tough. The creek becomes unfloatable rapidly and the growth is thick and low around it. Footing is very rocky as the creek ascends to the higher elevation Birl, and doesn't allow for a straight shot, but rather tracks back and forth across the hillside. Finally it ended in a smallish beaver pond that had to be forded before you got to the main lake. Probably one of the shorter bushwhacks into a PMA, but not a freebie by any means.
Birl is a charming little lake, and our depthfinder never showed deeper than 25 feet. We didn't see many likely spots for a campsite as much of the northern and eastern shores are rocky with dense tree cover. Churn and Hotfoot each sit visibly higher than Birl, so that the small chain feels like descending pools down to Makwa. We were initially going to follow the water flow that comes down from Churn, but it was particularly steep and dense there with deep swampy footing. We chose to make the bushwhack at a slightly wider point to the south that allowed for a shorter, though still steep climb, and we could hand the canoe up without too much trouble.
This would be a good spot for a primitive campsite as it was backed by the rocky hill for protection and had less undergrowth on solid ground. Churn is more pond than lake and didn't get deeper than 15 feet that we could find. The bushwhack into Hotfoot was made via the creek connecting it to Churn and was easier, despite being swampy and overgrown. Hotfoot is a truly serene little lake, no deeper than 20 feet by my measure, with a mostly gentle shoreline. We pushed to the western end and up the creek a short ways, then bushwhacked our way to the unnamed pool above. The undergrowth here was very dense so we decided to scout ahead without the canoe, and though the trees grew sparser farther west, the pond above was almost fully vegetated so we decided to call it the end of our journey into Humpback PMA. Easy to imagine this being the solitary domain of moose and waterfowl, with entire generations living completely free of the intrusions of man.
The ranger we talked to before the trip, who issued our PMA camping permit, had actually never heard of anyone entering these lakes in recent memory, nor had they ever personally issued a permit for this zone. A little suprising considering how short the initial bushwhack is, but probably because at the end of the day they are fairly unremarkable little lakes. All the same, we felt at least a little thrill of adventure and discovery on this soggy trek. We had the permit to camp but because of the continued rain and concern for our health, we decided to retreat to our site on Makwa. We ate lunch on a rock on the west end of Hotfoot during a brief break from the rain, which would make a decent campsite itself. It was then that we discovered that we were absolutely covered in leeches, dozens of leeches apiece, some small, many uncomfortably large and tenacious. We backtracked out while fishing a ilttle and found both lakes were full of small but feisty pike. Despite our best efforts, we couldn't find any other species holding in the deeper spots. Back on Makwa and flush with successful adventure and possibly fever, the rain started becoming more and more intense so we had to curtail our trout fishing and call it a day.
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