Isabella River, BWCAW?

Anybody know what the Isabella River is like?
Possible put-ins at entry points 84, 75 and 34.
If I put in at 84, it looks like I'd need to use the Snake River to get to Isabella. How's that?
If I put in at 75 it looks like I'd need to use the Little Isabella to get to Isabella. How's that?
If I put in at 34 it looks like I'd be on the Island River for a bit.
If you have experience in this area of the BW, any info would be helpful.
Also looking at nearby South Kawishiwi and, maybe, even combining both rivers in my route.

I only have done Isabella River from Bald Eagle to third portage east, in October. Nice paddle. I understand there are a lot of beaver fans towards east end. A loop including Isabella and Kawihiwi Rivers has been on my list. I thought I'd start on Lake One, go east on Kawishiwi, and back west on Isabella. 2 permits or bushwack (no longer maintained portage) Kawishiwi to Perent.

The Isabella river flows from Isabella into Bald Eagle but the current isn't too strong. My guess is the Snake River and Little Isabella river are very low this fall.

Saw a moose on the Isabella on the way to Bald eagle in 2021. Right before the portag into snake/BE.

I'm getting old and my hips and knees aren't what they used to be.
I'm looking for routes that cover a decent amount of ground without doing many, or long, portages.
I'm also thinking that, by spending a lot of the trip on rivers, it might appeal to people that ordinarily wouldn't be attracted to a Boundary Waters trip. Yes, there are people like that.
But this would be a club trip and I'd hate to get people to sign up and it turn into miles of lining boats through rocky shallows or pushing through miles of aquatic vegetation.

...this would be a club trip...

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I'm not sure how big your club is but bear in mind that that group size in the BW is limited. Last I knew it was 9 people / 4 watercraft max per group and 2 groups were not allowed to share a site. At the same time, only the group leaders are listed on the permit so, if there were more than 9, people could swap groups if the dynamic in the original wasn't to their liking...

As to your proposed route, I have no familiarity but Robert Beymer's Eastern Region BWCA guide details a similar route on pg 43. He doesn't indicate water levels, has 52 portages but most are less than 40 rods (220 yards / 200 meters) and only 8 exceed 80 rods (1/4 mile or 400 meters). He indicates that it's an 8 day trip but probably 10 would be nicer.

It might lend itself well to a group trip rather than a solo as the take-out is 2 1/2 miles from the put-in so a group could self-shuttle without an extended portage / hike at the end / beginning.

Looks like a great loop and fishing is supposed to be good on most of it. I overlapped just a bit of it on my trip and missed the pictographs on Fishdance. They're supposed to be worth the detour if you access the Kawishiwi River from Alice Lake.

Biggest downside I see is that there aren't many options to cut the route short if someone is struggling or making life difficult.

Best of luck & I'll watch for your TR

Isn't the whole loop - Isabella and Kawishiwi - 8 to 10 days? Isabella from ep36 to Bald Eagle is around 3 days.

I've done several BWCAW trips before, but it's been a while.
I'd check all the rules, of course. I wouldn't want a big group even if I could have one.
Making up my own route and figuring out how long it's going to take, is a trick.
I'm looking at Paddle Planner as a possible help there but someone was saying he thought the times it gave were pretty optimistic.
I had a nice route planned out that included Kawishiwi without including Isabella, then realized my entry point was a pretty nasty portage from the parking lot. I wouldn't want to eliminate portages completely, that wouldn't be a real BW experience, but I'd like to keep them under 100 rods. A couple short portages a day would be acceptable.
My biggest worry is figuring a stream into my route and finding it unnavigable with no portage trail.

You set your own rates at Paddle Planner. I use 2.5 mph for paddle, 1.5 mph for portage, double portage, and 3 minute loading/unloading. Ultimately I can do 10- 12 miles a day average.

There really aren't any long river/stream systems in the BWCA and most of them have more portages than a carefully planned lake route.

I agree. If you want no portages, follow the shore of one of the big lakes. Moose, LLC, or Sag.

I actually did find a route that looked promising, starting at entry point 32 and working my way to entry point 30 (or the reverse) but, as I was saying, the portage between entry point 32 and the parking area looks like more than I wanted to take on. I was also looking at routes that include lakes One, Two and Three.
I have been considering the idea of following a lake shore, or the shores of two or three connected lakes. I'm just thinking that might be a little visually boring. The thing about a river is the view keeps changing.

If you (or your local library?) have Beymer's book, take a look on pg 43. The loop he describes there follows long rivers. He uses EP 36 (Hog Creek), goes thru Isabella, Bald Eagle and Gabbro to reach the S Kawishiwi River. Follow that thru the numbered lakes, past the pictographs on Fishdance to Malberg & then turn South to EP37 (your car is 2 1/2 miles away)

Paddle planner puts it at about 100 miles total and, although there are quite a few (52) portages, most are really short. The price of admission on this one seems to be near the end when, going from Lake Polly to Kawasachong Lake, you'll have an 88 rod portage followed by the longest portage of the trip (187 rods). Understandably, that section might be a deal breaker w/ bad hips & knees (especially w/ no campsite between the 2 long carries).

You'll be near entry points for most of the trip though (potential for heavier traffic) and, as I said upthread, there's really no "bail out early" option. With 2 PMAs in the area and whatever land mass contains the Powwow Trail, that area of the BWCA doesn't seem to lend itself well to shortcuts back to the cars.

Gamma1214 said:

If you (or your local library?) have Beymer's book, take a look on pg 43. The loop he describes there follows long rivers. He uses EP 36 (Hog Creek), goes thru Isabella, Bald Eagle and Gabbro to reach the S Kawishiwi River. Follow that thru the numbered lakes, past the pictographs on Fishdance to Malberg & then turn South to EP37 (your car is 2 1/2 miles away)

Paddle planner puts it at about 100 miles total and, although there are quite a few (52) portages, most are really short. The price of admission on this one seems to be near the end when, going from Lake Polly to Kawasachong Lake, you'll have an 88 rod portage followed by the longest portage of the trip (187 rods). Understandably, that section might be a deal breaker w/ bad hips & knees (especially w/ no campsite between the 2 long carries).

You'll be near entry points for most of the trip though (potential for heavier traffic) and, as I said upthread, there's really no "bail out early" option. With 2 PMAs in the area and whatever land mass contains the Powwow Trail, that area of the BWCA doesn't seem to lend itself well to shortcuts back to the cars.

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I do have Beymer's two guide books, but maybe not the most recent edition. I assume it's the one for the western region.
52 is a lot of portages and sounds like there are a couple longer ones, but I'll take a look at that route.
Even if I don't do the whole exact route, it might give me some ideas.

It's in the Eastern Region book on pg 43.

Problem with that area... looks like there is a lot of high ground in the middle of the loop. Between that and the two PMAs, there's no good way to shortcut the route.

Good luck.

Yup. A few entry points to get out but no short cut. I think the Gull - Clearwater - Rock Island cut off would take longer. I figure this is a 2 week loop. Thought I'd start at Lake One and plan to renter at Hog Creek after September.

Starting at Hog creek and trying to get from Perent lake to Isabella lake in the fall is usually a bad idea, there tends to not be much water between those 2 lakes. Hog creek is usually used as an in and out entry point.

Not sure what you guys mean by no way to shortcut the route. Why would I want to shortcut the route?
Do you think it looks long? I was afraid it might be too short.
I'm seeing an extremely low number of portages. Portages are what slow things down. But there is still only so far we want to paddle in a day. I'll be 71 years old by next paddling season and I'd put the average age of our club at close to 60. We are mostly a bunch of old coots and geezers.

wxce1260 said:

Saw a moose on the Isabella on the way to Bald eagle in 2021. Right before the portag into snake/BE.

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That is supposed to be a good place to see moose. They’re scarce these days, I’d like to do the Isabella during off season. Seems like a good route for old coots like me, as long as there’s no people around messing things up and enough water to minimize walking.

Why would I want to shortcut the route?
Do you think it looks long? I was afraid it might be too short.

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My understanding was that there will be some people on the trip who are new to canoe camping and / or some with whom you have not tripped previously. If that's the case, I'd want options to cut out early on a trip in case someone was really struggling, the weather turned to crap or if the group dynamic was such that it ceased to be fun.

That's just me though... I can probably count on one hand the number of people that I want to be around 24/7 for 2 weeks.

I think you could easily stretch that route to 14 days if you wished and my biggest concern for the group trip that you've described would be the two long ports without any (legal) way to do them on separate days.

I agree that portages slow things down and, in his books, Beymer seems to cover a lot more ground in a day than I usually would. He describes the loop in 8 days while I suspect that 10-12 would be more reasonable and 14 might be downright leisurely.

Starting at Hog creek and trying to get from Perent lake to Isabella lake in the fall is usually a bad idea, there tends to not be much water between those 2 lakes.

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That would also be a valid concern. I'm not sure how you could get up-to-date intel on water levels (check with the Forest Service?) but dragging boats through rock gardens is slower than portaging IME