I arise early and am greeted by gloomy skies with intermittent rain showers persisting. As I expeditiously finish getting my van loaded up, I am presented with an unexpected dilemma. After placing the Black Pearl atop the racks on my van, I notice some (what appears to be) straw hanging out the back end. Upon further inspection I ascertain that, in the scant couple of weeks since my Bog Lake daytrip, a robin family has constructed its nest there and have already laid and been incubating 4 baby blue eggs. Somewhat reluctantly, I delicately extract the well-crafted nursery and bring it in the house to show Aurora before deciding what to do with it. She is understandably sad, but certainly it can’t be left on the canoe. While we both doubt it will do much good, because we feel the parents will now abandon the eggs, I bring the nest back outside and set it out of the way on the canoe rack very near to where it was and then finish getting things packed.

My weather app claims the rain is supposed to stop around 9:00 this morning. As we depart, we do get a few fleeting glimpses of the sun trying to break out, but heavy gray cloud cover dominates the skies as we motor up the Tomahawk Road. After pulling into the Isabella Lake EP parking lot, we encounter a chilling breeze as we begin carrying our gear down to the lake.

Around the mid-point of the trail, I call Aurora’s attention to some cement footings that used to be part of the abandoned town of Forest Center. As we continue portaging, I impart a little about the history of the area to her. She also flashes some ingenuity and takes our ‘lemons’ of wet cool weather and makes lemonade by picking up all the worms on the trail in hopes of using them for bait later on the trip.

No sooner do we get out on the lake than it starts raining again. Fortunately, there is a campsite only a short paddle east of the landing, and in hopes of briefly waiting out this patch of inclement weather, we pull into the invitingly narrow sandy beached landing and check it out. Of course, the big drawback is that it is literally within a stone's throw of the EP landing. Having said that, I’d still rate it as above average. A few nice mature cedars dominate the shoreline entry, and there is a very neat conglomeration of the extensive remnant root ball of a few other mature specimens who didn’t survive the Pagami Creek fire. Much of the site was burned over but, there are some decent grassy tent pads, and the fire grate is nicely situated, but the log seating could use some upgrading. (Note: there are some ideal, already cut logs lying about camp!) Aurora finds an old gas can on the perimeter of camp and exclaims, “Remember I said I liked to find old stuff out here? We’re not even 5 minutes into the trip and I already found something. This trip is off to a great start! So too, from my perspective, it is very refreshing to see she is eagerly displaying an attitude of gratitude as we begin our adventure!

As we paddle our way eastward, we are met again with sporadic light gusts of wind & rain showers, but steady progress is ongoing without complaint. As we near the portage into Azure Lake, submerged ‘rockodiles’ are problematic (considering the clouded skies) in our ability to identify them in a timely manner and in their increasing frequency.

Not surprisingly, we’ve seen no one out on the lake nor any occupied campsites as we paddled east across the lake. The parking lot wasn’t full by any means, but there were at least a handful of vehicles there when we pulled in. Coupling that with the fact that there are only a few open/useable sites on the Perent River, we decide to check out site #1921 here on Isabella Lake near the outlet of the Perent River in the event we are forced to backtrack.

I let Aurora hop out away from camp so she can explore the shoreline more closely. Meanwhile I still have an onerous paddle over to the landing as I am still continually scraping and/or bottoming out as I approach. But, once there, the landing is very convenient, and it’s effortless to just step right out.

Pre-trip intel has indicated that this is a very nice campsite, and we both quickly confirm that. Nice view, multiple flat tent pads, lots of room for every purpose. However, some of the luster is lost when we discover that someone recently chopped down a cluster of live trees near the perimeter of camp. And there is a big widow maker snagged up in some branches above one of the many tent pads. Still, neither of us would be too heartbroken to stay here if the need arises.

Just before reaching our first portage, we paddle past a trio of stately male mallard ducks lounging on a large boulder where the rapids cascading in from Azure Lake noisily bubble in. The landing here is level granite but is still initially wet and mushy and then sports a few boulders for the first several feet of the portage. The trail then rises just enough to dry out and is an excellent path the entire way before dropping slightly down to a narrow grassy landing on the other end.

Just south of this portage landing is another campsite. There is a large, exposed boulder out in the water just a few yards from the landing for this site (#1925) serving as something of an identifying marker. The landing here is horrible! I must admit I’m a little biased as, after my foot gets caught, I take a spill trying to get out of the canoe. I go down on one knee & my glasses fall off into the water but, thankfully I am no worse for wear afterwards.

Perhaps this experience jades my evaluation of this site but, after a cursory inspection: constricted, dilapidated fire grate area, no room to store canoe, tent pads way back up the hill etc. Aurora also isn’t too enthralled, and we quickly decide to look for greener pastures. As we exit the narrows just SE of this camp and turn again eastward and enter the fire zone, we soon discover that the next camp (our target site) is occupied. I tell Aurora this is now a moment of reckoning. We can turn back and redo the portage and claim site #1921 on Isabella Lake. Or we can press-on up the Perent River and see if the next site is open. Either way, we’ll have to do a portage of about 20 rods. She doesn’t say as much, but I think the fact that the one up ahead is at the base of some rapids helps sway her mind in that direction.

As we approach the “T” of the Perent River & Powwow Creek, the rain appears to be done for the time being. After making the turn south, the Perent constricts considerably. We pass by (what a friend & co-worker calls Frog Rock) just before reaching the next portage. While the landings of this portage are muddy & mushy, the trail itself is exceedingly flat and, though a bit brushy, easily traversed. Another bonus is that campsite #1913 can be seen from the upstream end of the portage – and it appears to be vacant!

While I’m finishing up the portage, Auroa claims there is a decent sized fish just sitting here at the landing in the water and it’s not afraid of her. She grabs the net and pulls up an injured sucker. Not sure how it ruptured its belly; we snap a couple of photos and eventually release it back from whence it came.

The campsite is indeed unoccupied, and we happily paddle into one of the narrow landings. This is an elevated site with an excellent panoramic view of the widened river we just paddled across. The fire pretty much consumed most of the surrounding area and this site; save for the one large jack pine near the fire grate. There are a couple of ideal grassy tent pads, but they are both right on the trail to the latrine. The rapids running through the gorge just upstream wash out right in front of camp so, we’ll have some natural noise and the promise of good fishing right here. Not claiming this is a 5-star site, but there can’t be even a dozen designated campsites in the BWCA that can claim to have a rapids/waterfall right out the front door, so, it does fall into a very select & rarified class in that sense. I don’t think larger groups would do well here but, for the two of us, it should serve quite nicely.

While I’m getting the tent situated, wanting to warm up and dry out, Aurora sets about getting a fire going posthaste. It appears the rain may be done for the day, but it is still overcast and cool, so the fire does help take the edge off our collective feeling of dampness.

Since it has been a short travel day, after satisfactorily establishing camp, we hope to head out to try some fishing and exploring – not necessarily in that order. Retracing our route in, we paddle up to the confluence with Powwow Creek and continue north up that ever constricting waterway.

Tiny though it has become, we soon paddle upon an impressive increase in floatable water. Of course, we first need to climb over the massive beaver dam holding all that water back. Since this is just an exploratory day trip, it is quite simple for me to just drag the unburdened Black Pearl up the mass conglomeration of slick, wet sticks.

Just a quick paddle later Ferne Creek comes in from the east, and we turn down that already weedy shallow inlet as we also enter the southern boundary of the Fungus Lake PMA (Primitive Management Area). The portage into Ferne Lake is supposed to be located somewhere very near here, and we begin scanning the jungly northern shore for signs of it.

While acknowledging that it's not the portage, Aurora points across the channel to a high escarpment with a huge, very round boulder perched atop the south side that looks like it’s purposely been set up to ambush inattentive canoeists who unwittingly paddle past. Almost simultaneously, we notice a pink ribbon & an old sock tied to a bush here on the north side indicating a very narrow channel leading into what we presume is the landing.

There is very little room for maneuvering, getting out of, or storing the canoe. So, I just pull it up onto shore and leave it there as I can’t imagine anyone else we be along during our exploratory trek. The trail marking pink ribbons continues as we make our way across the trail. It’s very brushy, lots of twists, turns etc. Yet we are able to follow along pretty easily. There are several hills and even a swampy creek crossing. Aurora is amazed by all the moose plums along the way. A couple of enormous burnt-out white pine sentinels have met their demise right alongside the trail, and we have fun crawling on & playing around them. Just before we reach the lake, there is a scenic overlook, and we can see that someone is currently camping on the small island near the landing. Not wanting to infringe upon their solitude, we don’t hike down to the lakeshore and turn back after savoring this idyllic spot for a while.

Going back across the trail, Aurora is leading the way and seems to be effortlessly outpacing me. My ever-pondering mind drifts back to memories from not so very long ago; now charred with a poignant fondness, when I would be the one having to wait for her while trekking across long portages such as this. The unerring manner of Father time revealing the inevitable realities of this life give me pause, and I take a moment to thank and praise the Lord for gracing me with these reflective recollections and experiences and this occasion to create more.

Making our way back to the Perent River, we pull out our fishing rods. I hook into one right away and we linger here for a while before proceeding back to camp. Afterwards, at Frog Rock portage, we are sure to grab a bunch of the chewed-up, dried out beaver sticks (for firewood) that have washed up on shore from the recent high waters.

I no sooner get our pork chops on the grill when Aurora catches another fish from camp. A bald eagle and several ducks fly overhead; the beavers are busy right in front of camp, and we even have an otter frolicking nearby. This site is already serving us remarkably well! The sun tries to break through, but the clouds don’t seem like they want to move on tonight, and we are denied a starry sky this evening. Aurora turns in early shortly after we say prayers but, I hang out enjoying the fire, grateful for having had a good day together and for spending some time in canoe-country once again.

~Isabella Lake, Azure Lake, Boga Lake, Perent River