I am up earlier today, and it is already much warmer than it was at this time yesterday. After my morning prayer routine, I boil some water for hot chocolate and grab a bagel before beginning the process of taking camp down. Aurora is still sleeping so I ever so gently nudge her to get her going. She complies, gets up and makes herself a cup of hot chocolate and grabs our last bagel as I finish getting things packed away.

I brought a bottle of tonic water along on this trip. Not that it happens all the time but, over the last several years, I would occasionally have severe leg cramps, especially on cooler nights/morning in the tent. Obviously, that is not close to the ideal locale to try and work them out. So, as a hopefull remedy, I brought the tonic water and would take a gulp or two before going to bed. It certainly seemed to dramatically minimize/prevent the occurrence of my leg muscles tightening up, so I think I’ll be bringing some along on future trips.

Aurora douses our meager fire, and we set off for Isabella Lake. We make quick work of Frog Rock portage and are soon on Boga Lake where the lily pads are just beginning to emerge above the waterline. As we approach campsite #1926, the familiar aroma of campfire smoke fills the air. We were hoping to check this site out before heading out, but it must still be occupied. Yet, when we paddle past the exposed kitchen area, there is a steady plume of smoke rising from the boxed in fire grate, but we don’t see anyone there. So. We pull into the narrow sandy landing around the point to investigate.

To our amazement there is no one here! As mentioned, it is one of the box fire grates and there is only one large piece of wood there so, it's unlikely to go anywhere. Still, Aurora dumps several cups of water on it to reduce the odds to zero.

We also take some time to see what we missed out on with regards to this site. The fire grate area is exposed but there are several very nice tent pads and a neat huge boulder back by one of them. There are several nice mature trees that survived the Pagami Creek fire, including an impressive shoreline cedar. I think most would concur that this is unquestionably the premier designated campsite along the course of the Perent River.

At our next portage, Aurora astounds me. On this trip we have been able to get all our gear across in maybe a little more than a portage and a half. Essentially, one pack and a few loose items are left after our first trek across. Aurora voluntarily grabs the pack and brings it across telling me I just need to grab the chairs. An unexpected heartwarming moment to be sure.

Once we poke out onto Isabella Lake, there are several canoes seen out and about on this gloriously sun-drenched morning. There is a bit of walleye chop to contend with as we work our way back to the entry point landing but, the wind & waves serve as more of a cooling blessing than any sort of hindrance. The landing is a popular place on this beautiful morning as several other groups are exiting, and entering, as we pull in. In contrast to when we entered the other day, today we literally work up a sweat negotiating the portage back up to the parking lot. Soon we are on the Tomahawk Road behind a train of slow-moving vehicles but, still make it home around noon.

After getting most of our gear unloaded and put away, we still have time to stop at the cemetery to briefly visit Aurora’s Grandfather (my dad) and then Aurora’s cousins before hitting the open road to bring her back to meet her mom.

I thought things went well on this trip. We got to all the places I wanted to get to, had plenty of leisure time for fishing and evening campfires plus there was a good amount of wildlife that presented itself, bugs that didn’t and, for the most part, the weather was nice too. I didn’t find out until a week or so before the entry date that Aurora would be joining me; so, I half expected she would be rolling her eyes and be exacerbatedly asking, “What is Dad getting me into on this trip?” but, she did a fantastic job handling all the portages and it’s always a memorable thing to catch your biggest fish ever. (at least of that species) At least as equally so for the proud papa watching it all happen.

In the final analysis, we crossed all 13 portages on the Perent River (except the last 2 closest to Perent Lake) at least twice on this trip. As the maps indicate, all are relatively short, most in the 20 –30 rod range. Only 2 have sizeable hills, there are also a couple of gentle up and overs, but most are very level with excellent paths. In my estimation, the primary hindrances would be the brushy, overgrown nature of the trails and the typically narrow, bouldery landings on many of them. I looked at the time stamps on the photos and determined that we made it from our campsite (#1913) on the Perent River all the way to portage #668 (the second to last from Perent Lake) and then back to camp, for a daily total of 18 portages, in a little less than 8 hours. And that is with plenty of fishing and exploring stops on the return voyage factored in.

During normal water levels, I think that most of the rapids would only rate about class 2 but, I did note that, because of the fire, there were a lot of downed trees hanging and snagged in most of them; making running them a dangerous gamble. I would warn that in flood waters, many of these portages would quickly get flooded out and make travel through this route very impractical if not outright impossible. The good news is that, regardless of which direction you’re coming from you should be able to tell by the 2nd portage (on either end of the river) if the trail is flooded out or not. If so, I wouldn’t recommend proceeding.

This was a trip I’d been hoping to do for quite some time as I had often wondered what the mid-section of the Perent River was actually like. Maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places? But there seems to be very little information/photos out there about it, so as always, it was particularly satisfying to be able to see it all firsthand. As I am wont to do, I wrote up this trip report in hopes of sharing a little about the area. It is one of the guiding spiritual principles I try to live out in all aspects of my life: People should see/understand things in a more beautiful/profound way because of me. My great hope is that this report can help do that, at least in some small way, for others who may come after me.

And to tie up a loose end from the beginning of this trip report. I am happy to report that the robins reclaimed their relocated home and are currently the proud parents of 4 perpetually hungry babies.

As always, in all things: Praise be to the Creator Jesus Christ, my Lord & King!