BWCAW Quota Permit — Isabella Lake (EP35)

Isabella Lake (EP35): what makes it different

Isabella Lake (EP35) is a paddle-only overnight entry point in the Tofte District that starts with an easy 70-rod downhill carry to a big, shallow lake inside the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire burn. From it you can go west down the Isabella River or east up the Perent River. Recreation.gov showed 2 groups a day in 2026.^1,2,3,5

Getting to the start

The Forest Service lists EP35 as overnight, paddle only, in the Tofte District, run from Tofte. Access is a 70-rod portage to Isabella Lake. BWCA Wild measured the carry at 71 rods from the end of the lot.^1,2,3

Coming from the North Shore, you take Highway 1 to the town of Isabella and leave town on Forest Road 912, where signs at nearly every intersection give mileage to the area's entry points. The Island River entry point (EP34) is a little under a mile before this one, and you cross an old wooden bridge on the way.^3,4

The drive goes through the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire burn. A privy maintained by the Forest Service stands at the lot, along with bulletin boards, one of them for the Powwow Trail, and a sign about the site's history. Only a stand of pines near the lot survived the fire, and new jack pine is filling in around it.³

The first leg

The portage starts at the end of the lot, is very easy and mostly downhill, and runs past planted pines with fire-blackened trunk bases that mostly survived. During a July 2021 visit in drought, much of the beach at the lakeshore was exposed.³

The lake page lists three carries off Isabella Lake: 70 rods back to the entry point, 42 rods to the Isabella River and 27 rods to the Perent River.⁵

Terrain and difficulty

Isabella Lake covers about 1,257 acres and is only about 19 feet deep by the DNR figure, a large open shallow basin. Black crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, rock bass and walleye are listed, with pike and walleye the main targets.⁵

BWCA Wild calls it a bowl of a lake surrounded by charred forest. Below the lake, the Isabella River runs shallow and boulder-strewn, then splits into two rapid channels under a wooden bridge, and a portage on the north side bypasses them. The river's burn is visible until a couple of miles past the Quadga Lake portage.^3,6

The Powwow Trail, which starts at this lot, was largely destroyed by the 2011 fire and was reopened by volunteers by late 2019.³

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Isabella Lake (EP35), overnight paddle: 2 groups a day. The most common daily total on Rec.gov across May to September 2026. One date read 1 and about 17 dates in the window read 0.²

Rules specific to this entry point

No motors. The Forest Service table and Recreation.gov both give the method of travel as paddle only.^1,2

Do not trust a campsite dot on the map. The lake once had nearly a dozen sites, 12 are listed, and BWCA Wild found campsite 3 closed in July 2021 and thought five more were probably closed. On the Isabella River, at least 2 of the 10 listed sites may be closed.^5,6

Where it leads

West is the common choice: down the Isabella River past the Quadga Lake portage (100 rods downstream, 39 upstream), with turnoffs to the Snake River and the Little Isabella River, to Bald Eagle Lake and the loops around it. The river is about 13.6 miles long and its longest portage is about 140 rods.^3,6

East takes you up the Perent River, which has several short portages, to Perent Lake. Friends of the Boundary Waters describes that trip from Island River as about 21 miles over two days with 17 portages totaling 414 rods, one night on Isabella Lake and one on Perent, and a 28-rod carry at the west end of Isabella Lake.^3,7

What trip reports say

BWCA Wild's author saw an empty lot on a July 2016 weekend and four cars on a July 2021 weekend, and writes that visits dropped after the fire, which makes campsites and quiet easier to find.⁵

In an October 2024 thread on Canoetripping.net, one paddler said he had done the Isabella River from Bald Eagle to the third portage east in October and called it a nice paddle, with many beaver dams reported toward the east end. Another said the current flowing into Bald Eagle is not strong, and another warned that getting from Perent to Isabella Lake in fall is usually a bad idea because there is little water.⁸

A third poster in that thread saw a moose on the Isabella in 2021, just before the portage into Snake and Bald Eagle, and a fourth said dragging a boat through rock gardens is slower than portaging.⁸

When to go from here

Water level is the thing to check before you go. The 2021 visit found a drought-exposed beach, and the 2024 thread says the rivers on both sides of the lake run low in fall. Call the Tofte Ranger Station if the summer has been dry.^3,8

Compare with nearby entry points

• Island River (EP34): Island River (EP34) is less than a mile back down the same road. It has no portage at all and enters the Isabella River about 1.5 miles downstream, while Isabella Lake starts with a 70-rod carry onto the lake itself. BWCA Wild says the two offer nearly the same routes. Both showed 2 groups a day in 2026.^4,3,2
• Hog Creek (EP36): Hog Creek (EP36) sits on the far side of the Perent River route. It shows 4 groups a day and starts with a 15-rod carry to a slow creek. A shuttle between Isabella Lake and Hog Creek avoids doubling back.^1,2,3
• Little Isabella River (EP75): Little Isabella River (EP75) is paddle only, and Recreation.gov's text gives a 20-rod portage to the river and several short carries before the Isabella River. Rec.gov showed 1 group a day there in 2026, against 2 here.²

Sources

1. Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness Entry Points, Superior National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permit, Isabella Lake, Island River and Little Isabella River divisions, Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
3. BWCA Entry Point 35 - Isabella Lake, BWCA Wild. Read 2026-10-15.
4. BWCA Entry Point 34 - Island River, BWCA Wild. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Isabella Lake, BWCA Wild. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Isabella River, BWCA Wild. Read 2026-10-15.
7. One Way to Perent Lake, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Isabella River forum thread, October 2024, Canoetripping.net. Read 2026-10-15.
9. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits, Superior National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to an Isabella Lake (EP35) permit