6/25/25 – Bog Day 1: I left Sawbill around 11:30 am. The drive was nice, there are a couple hidden turns that you have to pay attention to so you don’t miss them. As I was driving along, just past Kawishiwi Lake Rd, a mother grouse attacked my car. As soon as I was around the corner in front of it, she puffed up and ran right at my front bumper. Luckily I was able to avoid hitting her, I think. Not a few miles later, another mother was finishing up crossing the road with her babies. Thankfully, they all made it safely to the other side.
The road up to the Bog Lake entry point was better than I expected, but still in rough shape with a few deep tire ruts. The horse and deer flies were ready to welcome me into their parking lot. Eventually they left me alone while on the portage. The portage itself is overgrown, but still pretty easy to follow. The trail is visible 95% of the time and the 5% that is hidden, you can see the trail further down. There were a number of trees across the portage. All of them seem fairly new. I counted on my way back out, and figured out that there were 3 trees that I had to duck under, 7 trees I had to step over, and 3 trees that had a slight deviation around them. I ended up double portaging, but with a group bigger than one, this a pretty manageable portage to do in a single trip. I needed at least two of my hands to discourage the flies from nibbling on me so I brought my packs half way and went back for my paddle and canoe, and did the same in the second half of the portage. It was about 2 pm when I pushed off towards the campsite I wanted. Since it was only 2 and there was no competition for sites, I decided to check out the two other sites on the lake.
The northernmost site is easy to spot from quite a distance away. The sloping rock landing was a bit slippery but there’s still plenty of places to get a solid footing. I only noticed one large tent pad that could probably fit two smaller tents. As with most places that get torched in a fire, there are very few places for a bear hang or tarp. I was able to find and follow the path to the latrine, though it is very overgrown. There was also a plant growing out of the latrine.
The northeastern site is also fairly easy to spot from the lake, but the landing is not as nice. It’s best to approach from the south. This site was also in the path of the Pagami Creek fire in 2011, so there are no real places to hang food or a tarp. Only one place that seemed like a place to set up a tent, but it’s overgrown enough that it’s hard to tell. I also couldn’t find the trail to the latrine, but I also didn’t look that close. There is an upside to this campsite though! Located about 20-30 feet down the shore are some lovely sand beaches. Location, location, location!
The southwest site is the best site on the lake only because it gets used on a more regular basis, but if the other sites got used more, I think they could be great! I landed around 3:30 pm and started to set up my home away from home for the next two nights. I found three separate tent pads, but one of them is so small that I don’t know if it was a tent pad or just a place where people put up a tarp of hammock. One was on a bed of moss and back in the woods, the other was closer to the camp. I chose the closer one for convenience, but others might like the cover of the trees. The other downside with the pad I picked was that it was in a low area, so if it rains people might get wet. The rain was not an issue that day so no problems so far. There are plenty of large red pines that would make for a great bear hanging spot.
The ground outside the main campsite is covered in a carpet of moss and bunchberries. Due to the lack of visitors, the plant life is amazing! Especially now in June, the flowers are blooming all over the place. There are also some huge boulders, some of which are the size of a sprinter van.
Once my camp was set up, I lounged and read down by the shore. Dragonflies and damselflies flitted above me while red-wing blackbirds chattered amongst themselves. For dinner, I had a Cuban Rice bowl, freeze-dried. Holy smokes, it was good! I’ll definitely be having that again. I kept a small fire going for a couple of hours so the bugs would leave me be. At some point while I was watching the world around me, a turkey vulture landed in a nearby tree to roost for the night. Eventually the bugs seemed to be immune to the smoke so I put out the fire and climbed into my sleeping bag.
Bog Day 2: I lazed about in my tent for a while in the morning before my body finally convinced me I had to get up. Breakfast was a fruit bar and a few Kakookie bites. I had another small fire before I paddled and drifted my way back to the beach on the eastern shore. I spent some time writing and reading while watching a trumpeter swan fly in and fish. There were also a pair of loons fishing back and forth in front of me, maybe they had a nest somewhere nearby. I also got to watch a few dragonflies hatch along the shore. I’ve never seen that in person, so it was such a cool experience! At around 2:30 pm I decided to head back to camp. Apparently, that was a good idea because as I was paddling back, the wind started picking up and it started to sprinkle. I found safety in my tent before it really downpoured. A while later the sun was back out so I emerged from my tent for dinner. Dinner was another freeze-dried meal of eggs, potatoes, cheese, and a copious amount of black pepper. I sat down by the water to keep the bugs at bay, it only kinda worked. I decided to use my time to rewrap the hand of my knife with some paracord. Pretty happy with how it turned out.
The rain started up again around 6:40 pm with one good crack of thunder around 6:43 pm. Sounds like the storm, or part of the storm is north of where I am. I tied my fly up so I would get more air flow, but so far I was staying dry. We’ll see how it holds up in the storm.
It really started coming down at 7:30 pm, and I was really starting to regret tying up my rain fly like I did. I should have just put it back to normal instead of experimenting when it was raining so hard. Oh well, I stayed dry despite the rain’s best attempts.
The Final Bog: I woke up around 8:30 am, I think. I had a quick breakfast while I packed up. I hit the water at 9:18 am. I landed shortly after thanks to a gentle helping hand from the wind. The morning started out cloudy, but progressively became more and more sunny throughout the day. I double portaged again to save my shoulders and back that were already sore from sleeping on the ground. Once again, I had great luck with the bugs on the portage. The mosquitoes found me in a short boggy area, but let me be once I was back out of it. Didn’t even need my bug jacket, but honestly I’m glad I was wearing it so I stayed a bit more dry from all the rain on the leaves. Well, kind of dry, my pants and packs were soaked. I was leaving the parking lot about two hours after I left my campsite. Just after starting back down the driveway, I encountered another mother grouse with a handful of babies. Thankfully, for the integrity of my poor car, she decided that I wasn’t worth the trouble of attacking, but she did puff up her neck feathers and took her time crossing the road. All I could do was wait. Once free, I made my way up towards Isabella Lake since there used to be an old logging town known as Forest Center up there. Unfortunately, someone had set up camp there so I turned around and found a few places to rockhound on my way back to Sawbill. I ended my day with a cold drink and some live music.
Overall, Bog is a lovely choice if you find yourself looking to do a basecamp trip on short notice. Permits are almost always available, and the lake offers a nice place to camp and fish for a few days. 9.5/10 – Would go again!
-Sawyer