An interesting report, IC.  The Namakan River loop was our first canoe trip back in 1971, so it holds a lot of fond memories for me.     Coming through the Namakan Narrows was one of the experiences that made me decide that "the canoe country" was the most beautiful place in the world.

I had an excellent camping trip.  The area is very scenic with a ton of places to camp, both undeveloped and developed sites.  It was HOT every day.  I spent a lot of time just paddling from one shady shoreline to the next and trying to stay in the little breeze there was.
Signing up for paddling in the Voyageur's Natl Park was a snap, just fill out a short form at the public landing where I took off from.  Then it is about 4 miles up into Sand Point Lake where I camped the first night, on the US side across from the Canada Customs on opposite shore.  Bugs weren't bad that night, but every night afterward they were about the worst I've ever seen.
In the morning I paddled over to the Customs site and showed my passport, got a slip of paper saying I did, and headed up the same shore about a mile to Sand Point Lodge where I could get the Crown Land permits for overnight camping in Canada.  They cost me $11.10 per night and the resort only takes cash or checks, NO credit cards allowed for the camping permits.  I signed up for three nights and headed north.  It was too windy on the east side (Canada) of the lake so went up the USA side until the lake narrowed near Namakan Narrows.  Once through the narrows it was really windy on the north side (NW wind that day) so I put on my kayak skirt and headed NE across the bay toward Namakan River.  The river was full of water and moving strongly but the wind sort of pushed me up current anyway.  I paddled about half way up to Lady Rapids, the first portage, and found a small island to camp on.  Basically I did not find many good campsites at the mouth of the river and there were quite a few Canadian cabins there.  The river is the eastern end of Namakan and then the shoreline in Canada runs northwest.  I didn't get there to see if there were any good campsites in that area.
The next day I paddled out of the river heading west and followed a long string of islands to stay out of the strongest winds.  The islands stretch from the river back to Namakan Narrows.  Almost all of the Canada islands had cabins, small and large, on them.  Up by the Narrows I found two larger Canadian islands without cabins and with several nice camping sites.

The next day I paddled all around the group of islands in the area.  It was hot and not windy so I looked for the smallest, breeziest island I could find to camp on.  The bugs weren't bad during the day but at night there were zillions of mosquitoes and once you were in the tent, there was no getting out for any reason until morning.  In the morning a breeze would come up to send the mosquitoes into hiding and I had to put on a thick layer of sun screen and mosquito repellant to have breakfast in relative peace.  In this area are some very interesting rock formations, probably from the waves dashing the shores for eons.

The next day I started back south and now was traveling on the USA shoreline.  I stopped in Swanson's Bay as the weather looked liked rain and camped on a high bare rock in the breeze.  Eventually one small windy rainstorm passed by.  This was Monday, and later at home I found out Grand Rapids had a serious windstorm.  It is now 5 days later and the folks in the Grand Rapids area are still waiting to get their electricity back.
Tuesday I continued south and explored the beginning of Grassy Bay.  The wind was in my favor so I ended up paddling down to Harrison Narrows and camped on the south side on a very large open rock with grassy patches.  It was an old cabin site and had day lilies and pinks blooming in the grassy spots.  I got lazy and didn't find a tree to hang my food pack in.  I just shoved it under the kayak and snuggled it up next to the back of my tent.  Of course....this was the day I encountered a bear at dusk!  Actually I just heard the bear in the woods nearby, tearing open logs and turning rocks, but it never showed itself or investigated my campsite.
Wednesday I paddled back through Sand Point and Crane Lake to the parking lot.  I got to the US customs to check in about 12:30 in the afternoon and then drove home.  At our Lake Vermilion landing I arrived to see a black as night cloud approaching.  No boats on the mainland so I decided to paddle to the island.  I got within 200 feet when a huge windstorm with pouring, driving rain hit.  I made the island and could follow the shore out of the wind the rest of the way but got soaked.
I was really impressed by the area and the number and niceness of the campsites.  I think it will be one of my new favorite spots to paddle in.  It is really nice that the restrictions do not keep us down to 4 boats so more of us can go on a trip as solo paddlers.  It is also really nice for us elderly paddlers not to have any portages.

Have a nice trip IC, I'll look for the tarp on google earth. 
Is the fishing any good down that way?

Have a great trip IC and be safe

I am heading out on Thursday to paddle Crane Lake, Sand Point and the eastern area of Namakan Lake.  Back to Crane Lake the following Friday (8 days).  I invite anyone who knows QJ and sees my raspberry red/pink tarp on my campsite to stop by and say hello and share a cup of coffee.  I'll be east and north on the route the first half of the trip and coming back via Voyageur's Natl Park on the south shore Namakan and western shore of Sand Point.