Will be going in on North Fowl June 8th. Was looking for advice on bunkhouse and canoe rental advice nearest entry point. There will be 8 members and need two canoes.

i believe the closest outfitter is in Grand Marais almost across from the Forest Service building.
there are motels in Grand Marais, there is Grand Portage Casino hotel which is beyond the turnoff for the Arrowhead Trail. Nanibijou Lodge is closest but not sure about a one night stay. Hungry Hippie Hostel is near Hovland and has bunkhouse style accommodations.

Thank You Mocha.
I haven’t been on the East end in years and really appreciate the info.

Yeah, I don't think you're gonna find anything closer than on the US side. That was the first EP on my first portaging trip to the BW. There was a kinda run down place called Ron's Lodge that had cabins on North Fowl and a guy I knew was buddys with Ron. We stayed at one of the shacks there for a night then went in from there, did the Moose, Mountain, Pike lakes loop. Pretty sure you have to enter Canada then back into the US to get to the North Fowl EP, we did, correct me if I'm wrong about that. Wasn't one of my favorite trips, but we did catch some big eyes on Moose on a motor boat day trip, I got a 30". Hope you have a good trip.

Yep Grand Marais is probably best. Though it seems close, an outfitter along the Gunflint, such a Clearwater, will be a 50 minute+ drive to that entry point.

Thanks Much. Haven’t been in on the East end for close to 20 years. This info has me on track.

Others have given really good info. North Fowl is one of the weirder EP's in the BW because there is so much grey area. First off, in terms of outfitters, the eastern end has N Fowl, John, and Pine (all three relatively small numbers of permits every day) which hasn't evidently made a market for an outfitter to exist nearby. As others have mentioned, best bet is to find one on the way. There are a couple in Grand Marais proper that you could probably work things out with. Nearby lodging is equally spotty.

As for the EP itself, the generally accepted entry is to park at the same McFarland lot, paddle north into the BWCA at John, follow the Royal River to the Fowls, exit the BWCA, paddle up North Fowl, take the Canadian portage (covered by treaties), and then enter the BWCA somewhere in Moose Lake when you cross the line. The grey zone comes in from the fact that one has to enter and exit again to get to the entry from the US side which usually means invalidating permits. The other grey zone is that the shore is generally marked BWCA while the water is not in North Fowl. It's a fascinating what if because, technically speaking, that would mean camping at that northern campsite would be entering the BWCA and paddling from it would be exiting, also invalidating permits. It's been generally accepted that these two grey zones fall under some form of exception, thereby allowing people to actually use the EP. Others on this page and the USFS would give a better explanation than me, but essentially it's a really quirky entry point for a number of reasons! That said, the Royal River is beautiful and the stretch of the border from the Fowls to Mountain are really unique, unlike any other stretch of BWCA water in my mind's eye.

We took North Fowl EP last year. We used Hungry Jack, they have their bunker house on site on the outfitter. It takes about hour to drive to the EP, gravel road 90%. Next closest I think is Clearwater Outfitter, they have their own bunker house on site too. They have some email issues last, we could not get a hold them, so we want to HJO.

Thank You for info. I have reserved room at the Happy Hippie Hostel in Grand Marais. The owner said it was 45 minutes to entry. I have also spoken to Stone Harbor and Bear Track Outfitting and should be able to get canoes from either of them.
Hopefully the ranger Station can give us the heads- up on not being stuck in Canada.