Our party just returned today from a 6 day trip. No flies no mosquito's, it gets chilly at night for them. Camped on south end of lake three, forget it for fishing there,lots of snags and no fish biting except about 1 hour before dark, but fished alot on north side of lake two at river, it was great there, (walleys,northerns,small mouth even) Was suprised on how much traffic on ely side though compared to the gunflint entry we usually take and hardly see anyone the whole trip. Otherwise another great year in the bwca.

So...You did two easy and short portages and then were surprised by the number of people you saw. Why don't you travel more ?
I would be past Lake 3, before I even began to think about lunch on my first day.....You basically camped in a doorway.

We were camping close in on lake three but took a day trip to insula and it was a zoo there too. Say what you want the gunflint side is much more private, way to many sites allowed on the ely entrances and to congested on the portages.