Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Eastern Region

by Robert Beymer, Louis Dzierzak

Overview

Find your way into the eastern BWCAW via 28 entry points, accessible near Grand Marais, Minnesota, from the Sawbill and Gunflint trails.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northeastern Minnesota—over a million acres of wilderness on the US-Canada border—is a magnet for visitors seeking to explore some of the most beautiful waterways in the world. With a canoe or kayak, you can paddle its remote lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests, and trails. Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Eastern Region by Robert Beymer and Louis Dzierzak helps you select the perfect trip for your schedule, ability, and interests.

This classic guide—along with its companion volume, Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Western Region—has been the trusted source for more than 40 years on where to go in the BWCAW and its 1,000+ lakes. Now fully updated, it’s the bible to the 1,200 miles of canoe routes and 154 miles of portage trails in the wilderness.

The guide describes 28 entry points in the eastern part of the BWCAW—those accessible near Grand Marais, Minnesota, from the Sawbill Trail and the Gunflint Trail. For each entry point, both a short and a long route are described, along with all the information you’ll need to plan a successful trip.

Inside you’ll find:

• Complete trip data, including total distance, time, difficulty, required Fisher maps, and permit and quota requirements
• Day-by-day details, such as number and difficulty of portages and recommended campsites
• Fishing recommendations for surrounding lakes and rivers
• Wise advice on navigation and points of interest
• Added bonus: “Lake Index for Fishing,” covering the 242 lakes that lie on this book’s described routes

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899974613
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	07/09/2009
Series:	Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Edition description:	Fifth Edition
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	522,074
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Robert Beymer has been a frequent visitor to the Boundary Waters Cano Area Wilderness for the past 40 years, and was a canoe trip guide for seven summers at a private camp near Ely. He and his wife, Cheryl, have lived on the edge of the wilderness since 1984. Their home serves as a convenient starting point for day trips by canoe, as well as on foot, snowshoes, and cross-country skis. In addition to his two volume guide to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Bob has written three other books about the Quetico-Superior region of northeastern Minnesota and Ontario. His articles have appeared in numerous outdoor magazines, including Boundary Waters Journal, Silent Sports Magazine, Camping Journal, and Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine. When the muse screaming in his ear was too loud to ignore, Louis Dzierzak walked away from a successful advertising career to become a full-time freelance writer. He’s written about issues and trends in outdoor recreation for over a decade. Lou firmly believes that paddling in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area is the best way to recover from constant publishing deadlines.

Read an Excerpt

Route 36-1: The Perent River Route
3 Days, 15 Miles, 3 Lakes, 1 Creek, 1 River, 15 Portages
Difficulty: Easier Fisher Maps: F-4, F-5

Introduction: This fascinating route takes you along the south perimeter of the BWCAW from Hog Creek to Isabella Lake. From the parking lot at FR 354, you’ll first meander 3 miles down Hog Creek to Perent Lake. After you paddle 3 more miles across that big lake, the Perent River will carry you west from Perent Lake to Isabella Lake. There you will exit the Boundary Waters and end your excursion at a parking lot just south of the lake, 32 miles by road from your origin (via CR 7 and forest routes 369, 373, and 377).

Spread over three full days, this route is quite easy, even though you’ll encounter 15 portages along the way. The longest carry is only 61 rods; most are less than 30 rods. All combined, the trails total less than 1.5 miles—an average of just 28 rods per carry. Strong trippers could complete the route in just two days. Because of the scarcity of campsites on the Perent River, however, to paddle the route in just two days would require one long day covering 10 miles of travel by combining either days 1 and 2 or days 2 and 3 described below. Either way, you would cross most of the portages on just one of the two days. If you take three days, you can travel slowly enough to savor the experience.

Although this route may not appeal to dedicated anglers, there is some good fishing along the way. Perent and Isabella lakes are both known for their abundant populations of walleyes and northern pike. That’s probably why most anglers are satisfied to stay on those two lakes and not explore the fascinating river in between. Motorboats are not permitted anywhere along this route.

Day 1 (5 miles): P. 15 rods, Hog Creek, p. 15 rods, creek, Perent Lake. Hog Creek is barely wide enough in places to carry a canoe, but there is always sufficient depth. You may feel as if you are on an African safari as you wind your way through the dense vegetation that borders the creek. In addition to the two 15-rod portages near the road, small beaver dams may also occasionally require quick lift-overs.

This area is noted for some unique bird sightings. The only record of a nesting Wilson’s Warbler in the state was made here. Other unique species include the Rusty Blackbird and the Virginia Rail, both of which were found nesting near Hog Creek. At least one pair of bald eagles has also nested in the Perent Lake area.

Perent Lake was named after a trapper who worked this area in the early part of the 20th century. Beavers, muskrats, wolves, and other furbearing animals trapped by Perent are still common in this region. Moose are also abundant, though not as commonly seen today as they were some years ago, when the adjacent area had been recently logged off.

Grab a good campsite along the center stretch of Perent Lake for a 5-mile day of travel. There are many good campsites on the lake from which to choose. Then grease your frying pan and cast a line. Perent Lake is a good source of walleyes and large northern pike.

Day 2 (5 miles): Perent Lake, p. 61 rods, Perent River, p. 31 rods, river, p. 25 rods, river, p. 33 rods, river, rapids, river, p. 17 rods, river, p. 39 rods, river, rapids, river, p. 22 rods, river, p. 16 rods, river. The Perent River offers a lovely route for anyone who enjoys stream paddling. It descends only 64 feet during its 7-mile journey from Perent Lake to Isabella Lake. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed most of the portages in this region during the late 1930s and the 1940s. These extremely well made portages have survived the years with very little maintenance. They were built to a standard that would be very expensive, labor-intensive, and probably not possible today. The paths are easy to negotiate, and you’ll be walking between towering ancient pines on some of the portages, stepping on terrain only recently vacated by moose and over which bald eagles are frequently sighted.

There are only four designated campsites along the Perent River. The first two are near the 10-mile point in your expedition. The first is located adjacent to the 16-rod portage. The portage intersects an old abandoned foot trail that was once part of the Pow Wow Hiking Trail. A wooden footbridge still spans the rapids there.

Day 3 (5 miles): Perent River, p. 40 rods, river, p. 22 rods, river, p. 16 rods, river, Boga Lake, p. 26 rods, Isabella Lake, p. 35 rods. If your map shows a portage just after the second campsite, it should not be necessary. You should be able to paddle through the narrow channel just prior to the 40-rod portage. Be prepared for a slow and choppy crossing of Isabella Lake if there is a strong wind out of the west this day.

The parking lot just south of Isabella Lake where this route ends was once part of a large logging camp. From 1949 to 1964, 250 people called Forest Center their home. In addition to a sawmill there were 53 homes, a two-room schoolhouse, a recreation center, and a restaurant. There were also barracks and a mess hall for the lumbermen. Timber was hauled away by railroad. Most of Forest Center is now covered with a young growth of pine trees, but explorers may still find evidence of the logging era near the parking lot.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

locator Map of Boundary Water Canoe Area: Eastern Region

Prefaces

Chapter 1: introduction to the BWCA Wilderness

Chapter 2: How to Plan a Wilderness Canoe trip

Chapter 3: Entry from the Sawbill Trail

• Entry Point 36—Hog Creek
• Entry Point 37—Kawishiwi Lake
• Entry Point 38—Sawbill Lake
• Entry Point 39—Baker Lake
• Entry Point 40—Homer Lake
• Entry Point 41—Brule Lake

Chapter 4: Entry from the Gunflint Trail—West

• Entry Point 43—Bower Trout Lake
• Entry Point 44—Ram Lake
• Entry Point 45—Morgan Lake
• Entry Point 47—Lizz Lake & Swamp Lake
• Entry Point 48—Meeds Lake
• Entry Point 49—Skipper Lake & Portage Lake
• Entry Point 50—Cross Bay Lake
• Entry Point 51—Missing Link Lake
• Entry Point 52—Brant Lake
• Entry Point 54—Seagull Lake
• Entry Point 55—Saganaga Lake

Chapter 5: Entry from the Gunflint Trail—East and Arrowhead trail

• Entry Point 80—Larch Creek
• Entry Point 57—Magnetic Lake
• Entry Point 58—South Lake
• Entry Point 60—Duncan Lake
• Entry Point 61—Daniels Lake
• Entry Point 62—Clearwater Lake
• Entry Point 64—East Bearskin Lake
• Entry Point 66—Crocodile River
• Entry Point 68—Pine Lake
• Entry Point 69—John Lake
• Entry Point 70—North Fowl Lake

Appendix i: Routes Categorized by Difficulty and Duration

Appendix ii: Commercial Canoe trip outfitters

Appendix iii: lake index for fishing

Appendix iV: BWCAW Hiking trails in the Eastern Region

Appendix V: More Resources

Photo Credits

Index

Editorial Reviews

They say that when good paddlers die, they go to Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This million-acre, 150-mile stretch along the Canadian border is a canoer's paradise, boosting over 1,200 miles of navigable water routes and 160 portage trails, not to mention 2,000 campsites. This wilderness-tested two-volume guide offers full cover of dozens of entry points and routes. The trip entries include day-by-day paddling distances, portage tips, difficulty ratings, and other pertinent info. The water-resistant topographic maps for each trip complete this perfect package.