We will be going in at Isabella on 6/7 and staying until 6/13.

Our group plans to go into the Fungus Lake PMA to check out Ferne Lake and also plans to head into the Island River to try to find the pictos. I have heard that they are outside the BWCA but I would appreciate some help in pinpointing them. I have marked some likely spots based on contour lines but any help would be appreciated. I have also heard that they are black. Does this make them more difficult to find?

I am taking a group of guys from Maine who are all experienced in the wilderness but have never been to the BWCA. I think the mix of lake and river tripping along with good fishing, the PMA, and the Pictos will make for a great introduction.

Yes they are outside the BWCA. Wet season improves the color (contrast). Very difficult to see when dry

Going up stream (SE) from the bridge at Entry 34, the pictos will be on your right, and I believe just after the 2nd portage (section 13)..... A nice cliff face comes down to the water. It has been a couple years, and I may have these directions screwed up.

Give Tofte Ranger Station a call. They will tell you

Thanks for the info Highplainsdrifter. Would you consider this an easy day trip from Isabella?

If you are on Isabella Lake, and you want to get to the pictographs on the Island River, then you must leave the BWCA. That is a bit of a problem when it comes to the regulations.

I am thinking that it might be easier (and legal) for you to schedule the Island River day trip on your last day (assuming your rig is in the parking lot at Isabella Lake). You could get going early in the AM, pack up the gear and drive out.

When you get to the Island River entry (at the bridge), do not stop. Continue down the road like you were heading out to Highway 1. Watch for the first Forest Service road on the left. Take it. Drive a short distance and you will come to the edge of a body of water on the left side of the road (can't miss it). That water is the Island River and you just completed your first "portage" on the Island R :)

There is an easy spot to launch canoes side the road (improved with square timbers, can't miss it). You are now out of the BWCA and you do not need a permit to paddle, camp, or go potty :)

IF you are lucky, and if you wanted to stay one more night (on land outside the BWCA), then check out the campsite at the first portage on the Island River (there are others upstream, get a map from Tofte). On most maps, that site is not marked, but it has all the stuff of a BWCA site. Either way check out the rapids at the portage and then head upstream for the pictos......... Very easy to do and you will get it done with time for steak and beer at ELY....... all in the same day!

Good point about the regs. I suppose if i leave the BWCA to paddle to the pictos I would need to have a permit to "re-enter" at the EP34 on my return trip. Thanks for the information. You have been very helpful!

Your day trip is a natural because of the connecting waterways. Yes, unfortunately, a return to the BWCA after exiting to the Island River Pictos would require a new permit....... Of course you know that no permit is required to travel outside the BWCA.