Okay, so finally back to the posting.  TomT was correct, Magic Paddler and I did head into Mugwump PMA, and got a camping permit for Region 5 that has Raven Lake in it, which is where we camped.  Sounds like goblu figured out the permitting and boonie's link has some really good PMA info in it - which I had found previously.  You can visit any PMA, but to camp, need the extra (free) permit.  I called the USFS office in Ely and they just needed our entry permit number.  You can camp up to 14 days they told me, so I got a PMA permit for 7 days, of which we stayed 2 nights only.  They emailed me the extra permit, which you need to take with you.  Only one camping permit is allowed per region, so no one else can camp during your permitted time. We had no visitors either.

Most of what I researched on PMA's is they are very primitive (….go figure....) and generally suck because they are they toughest areas that got the lease usage, shallow lakes, not great fishing. Old standard camps have been removed and it's bushwack only. DNR maps showed there was one regular camp on Raven on the northeast shoreline, which was removed.  We found it -very poor due to fires that burned the north side of the lake - few trees and four drilled holes that used to hold the fire grate.  The DNR map also suggests several other old camps around the lake, which we found to be poor/unused.  Raven is apparently one of the more often visited and was fairly easy to get into.  The second portage started where the creek got too narrow and shallow to paddle.  We ended up pulling the canoes the last football field or so thru muck to good ground and could portage from there.  There are some big downed cedars near the start of that, which require you to unload, duck under, then continue.  The creek gets very narrow/winding and would not be fun with a long boat - 17' or more.

We stayed at the open area on the Raven end of the second portage, very nice, but so much granite, hardly a place to drive a tent stake, so I used the deadman method to stake out the tent.  It was very nice and open, but a bit shade starved most of the day for a lot of the area.  It is the best place to camp on the entire lake.  They tell you LNT rules only, so no fire pit or anything like that, but there was evidence of a small fire with just a few rocks around it, pile of firewood and an old axe someone had left.  We brought stoves anyway.  The lake is very clear and only 60 feet deep as measured by the fish finder.  We managed just a couple small lakers and that was it.  Fishing was off our entire trip, though.  We may have stayed longer if the fish were biting, as it was a very nice - and quiet - lake.

The north shore burn area is loaded with berries and will be a picker heaven when ripe - blueberry, raspberry, red currant berry.  It's also covered with dead standing cedar and some spruce.

pd