In September my brother came up from Texas for his every 10 year solo trip but since he's now 60 and had both hips replaced his wife insisted it be solo plus one and since I'm always looking for even the slimmest excuse to take a trip I volunteered to be the plus 1. In deciding where to go he wanted to visit the area we always went as kids - Lake 1,2,3,4 etc. out of Ely, for nostalgia reasons and to see the damage done by the Pagami fire a few years back. I wanted to see some new lakes to we compromised on putting in at lake one and making a one way trip to Snowbank lake though a few lakes I hadn't seen yet. On the way by Snowbank we dropped a bike off so I could make the 4 or 5 mile bike ride to get the car once we got done. Originally I had planned this nostalgia trip for this spring to celebrate 50 years of tripping by going back to the first place Dad ever took us, so plans now are to go elsewhere in May.
Our trip was toward the end of September so even though we put in at the 2nd or 3rd most used entry point in the BWCA we did not see a whole lot of people and never had any competition for campsites. The first day we wandered through lake 1,2,3,4 and ended up in Hudson for the night. Reminisced about all the campsites we had stayed at, the different trips we had taken and where we had caught and lost fist. Part of lake 2 showed signs of the fire, lake 3 & 4 even more so and Hudson was completely burned over. We did find an open campsite and even a couple of years after the fire the smell was still there. As we were eating supper and setting up camp we saw our first other canoe of the day as a couple of guys paddled by. We both said that we were glad we came back to the area but it really was no longer the same. Most of the islands we camped on as kids don't allow camping anymore and with the extent of the fire everything looked a lot different and would never in our lifetimes anyway look the same.
Day 2 took us through Insula where halfway across the lake the fire ended, it was like a line - look one way it was all burned over, look the other way and it was untouched. Pushed our way into Alice lake that afternoon, a lake neither of us had ever been in before and set up camp on a great sand beach campsite. Sand beaches are few and far between in the BWCA but Alice lake was full of them, may need to go back for a longer visit sometime. Saw a couple of canoes on Insula that day and think there was someone camped on the far side of Alice that night.
Spent Day 3 wandering our way through all new territory and ended up on Thomas lake, known for good lake trout fishing so we were hopeful. Only canoes we saw all day were a couple that were our fishing on Thomas (adding to our hope). Ended up catching a pike for supper but didn't raise any lake trout. Thomas was our layover lake, meaning it was the only 2 night stay we were going to make on the trip.
Day 4 we spent fishing on Thomas without any luck, doing some grouse hunting with out any luck and also taking a side trip into an adjoining lake my brother had read was full of big pike (no luck there either) although just before we got back to camp we did catch another pike.
Day 5 we headed out through mainly smaller lakes, most of which I had seen before but my brother hadn't. We camped on Parent that night and once again only saw one other group that day. While out grouse hunting that afternoon I found an old abandoned hiking trail on the ridge about the campsite. Old rock carins marked the way plus you could follow it by looking to logs that had been worn from being stepped on. Was kinda fun to follow, when I got home I found some old maps from the 1970's that showed the trail, the new maps don't.
Day 6 started out extremely windy, almost filled the canoe getting away from the campsite. Slowly made our way against the waves to the portage, out to Snowbank and back to the car. Was a great trip but it did satisfy my need to re-visit the lakes of my youth and allowed me to see a few new ones.
View from our campsite on Hudson lake, 2 and half years after the fire.
Another view of Hudson lake. 
Beach campsite on Alice lake. 
Campsite on Thomas lake. 
First signs of fall color.
Our trip was toward the end of September so even though we put in at the 2nd or 3rd most used entry point in the BWCA we did not see a whole lot of people and never had any competition for campsites. The first day we wandered through lake 1,2,3,4 and ended up in Hudson for the night. Reminisced about all the campsites we had stayed at, the different trips we had taken and where we had caught and lost fist. Part of lake 2 showed signs of the fire, lake 3 & 4 even more so and Hudson was completely burned over. We did find an open campsite and even a couple of years after the fire the smell was still there. As we were eating supper and setting up camp we saw our first other canoe of the day as a couple of guys paddled by. We both said that we were glad we came back to the area but it really was no longer the same. Most of the islands we camped on as kids don't allow camping anymore and with the extent of the fire everything looked a lot different and would never in our lifetimes anyway look the same.
Day 2 took us through Insula where halfway across the lake the fire ended, it was like a line - look one way it was all burned over, look the other way and it was untouched. Pushed our way into Alice lake that afternoon, a lake neither of us had ever been in before and set up camp on a great sand beach campsite. Sand beaches are few and far between in the BWCA but Alice lake was full of them, may need to go back for a longer visit sometime. Saw a couple of canoes on Insula that day and think there was someone camped on the far side of Alice that night.
Spent Day 3 wandering our way through all new territory and ended up on Thomas lake, known for good lake trout fishing so we were hopeful. Only canoes we saw all day were a couple that were our fishing on Thomas (adding to our hope). Ended up catching a pike for supper but didn't raise any lake trout. Thomas was our layover lake, meaning it was the only 2 night stay we were going to make on the trip.
Day 4 we spent fishing on Thomas without any luck, doing some grouse hunting with out any luck and also taking a side trip into an adjoining lake my brother had read was full of big pike (no luck there either) although just before we got back to camp we did catch another pike.
Day 5 we headed out through mainly smaller lakes, most of which I had seen before but my brother hadn't. We camped on Parent that night and once again only saw one other group that day. While out grouse hunting that afternoon I found an old abandoned hiking trail on the ridge about the campsite. Old rock carins marked the way plus you could follow it by looking to logs that had been worn from being stepped on. Was kinda fun to follow, when I got home I found some old maps from the 1970's that showed the trail, the new maps don't.
Day 6 started out extremely windy, almost filled the canoe getting away from the campsite. Slowly made our way against the waves to the portage, out to Snowbank and back to the car. Was a great trip but it did satisfy my need to re-visit the lakes of my youth and allowed me to see a few new ones.
View from our campsite on Hudson lake, 2 and half years after the fire. Another view of Hudson lake. Beach campsite on Alice lake. Campsite on Thomas lake. First signs of fall color.
