BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 09 2024
Entry Point 23 - Mudro Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1166 feet
Latitude: 48.0356
Longitude: -91.8301
On the Water- Monday July 20th-
On the water late considering how far we need to go today. Up the Horse river to the falls by 6pm. Started raining and NO campsites available. Mudrow-Alruss-Tin can Mike-Horse Lake-Horse River-Basswood. 13 miles by water. (not counting portages)
Tuesday July 21st-
Rain all night, all morning and all day. Went north by petroglyphs, table rock and the the Crocked Lake Narrows across Thursday bay to campsite. Basswood-Crooked Lake-Wednesday Bay-Thursday Bay. 11 miles in the rain.
Wednesday July 22nd-
Up early and calm winds to take advantage of, considering the big water we have to cross. Found beaver dam to lift over and did a portage from hell between Pandos lake and Chippewa Lake. VERY steep and slippery after rain. Many mud holes. Then the mile portage after Wagosh Lake to Gun Lake. Never saw another soul in a canoe or campsite the entire day! Thursday bay-Friday Bay-Pandos Lake-Chippewa Lake-Wagosh lake-Gun Lake. 11 miles by water.
Thursday July 23rd-
Finally had a dry night. got everything dry!!! A few portages today to Fourtown Lake campsite. Easy day by comparison. Gun Lake-Fairy Lake-Boot Lake-Fourtown Lake. 6 miles. Put the long miles at the first of the week for a buffer for contingencies!
Friday July 24th-
Last day. Stormed last night bad. A few portages today with one bad one between Fourtown Lake and Mudrow lake. To entry point by 1pm. Ready for a hot shower! 4 miles
Total-
45 miles by water
13 miles by portage (3 trips each)
58 miles total.
Snowbank Loop
Entry Date:
May 22, 2009
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
So, we continued on to Benezie. The first campsite at Benezie was a disaster and we were beginning to regret going forward, but the last campsite along the northwestern edge of the lake was actually pretty nice. My brother caught a nice pike even as I was filling up the water and we had a bony, pike fillet for dinner. It rained that night, but all in all it wasn't a bad day. [paragraph break]
Thursday was much more difficult. Our only full day of hiking, we began around 9 am and figured we would have plenty of time. However, our first trick was finding the Snowbank Trail. We had to backtrack from the far end of the Benezie Loop. The loop itself was in okay shape, but I dare say my opinion of it improved dramatically by the end of the day when we faced what lay ahead. Finding the Snowbank Trail wasn't particularly difficult, as it was marked by a large post, which was rather nice considering how few markers there are out there. We were beginning to think we had gone past it when we hit it. [paragraph break]
We made our way up the Snowbank Trail for a little while and then we came to a campsite. A little confused, we broke for a snack, thinking this must be Disappointment Lake, though no campsite was listed on the map. Only when we didn't find a trail going forward from there did we realize that we had turned into a campsite off the main trail and ended up on Parent Lake. The campsite itself was very nice, though the marker for it was difficult to see (obviously). Heading further up the trail we did come at some length to the portage between Parent Lake and Disappointment Lake. It was here that we saw people at both portage entrances. It would be the only time we saw people the entire trip and it was a welcome feeling. [paragraph break]
We stopped for lunch at the campsite along the western edge of Disappointment Lake, which was only disappointing for its extreme amounts of black flies. With a fire going, however, they were manageable. No fishing luck on Disappointment, though I had a nice 30-35" pike follow my spoon right back to me before disappearing back into the depths. My brother ran into a turkey at the latrine, which was the most significant wildlife we saw. Birdseye Lake was the next sight heading north on the trail. I think this was the prettiest lake all trip. Elevated above the rest and not accessible by canoe, the water was a deep azure blue. [paragraph break]
We passed a very nice but open-to-the-wind campsite on Snowbank Lake just before the Boot Lake portage. It was well-kept and guarded by a garter snake that simply didn't want to get out of our way, though we found no way to get down to the water to fill back up. [paragraph break]
It was only another quarter-mile from here until we reached the portage between Snowbank and Boot Lake. This is where the trip got infinitely more difficult.[paragraph break]
The problem: The place where the trail crosses the portage between Snowbank and Boot Lake was hardly marked at all. We spent over half an hour trying to find the place to cross the stream and when we crossed we did so at the wrong place and had to bushwhack our way up along the stream until we found the trail. That was not fun at all, and just a little frightening. GPS or no GPS. It definitely didn't help that the Forestry Service map shows no stream between Snowbank and Boot. When we did find the place where we were supposed to cross, after reaching the other side, it was about fifteen-feet wide with swift-moving water and probably three-feet deep--certainly no adequate place to ford the creek. [paragraph break]
From here the trail was hardly marked and very difficult to follow. It rose and fell frequently and there were only a few rock markers to distinguish where we were supposed to go. We decided to press on to a campsite marked on the forestry map north of Grub Lake. The trail took us on an excursion deep into the swamps north of the lake. Finally, we came to what was left of a beaver dam, which we were to cross before beginning our descent back towards Grub Lake. However, the dam was little more than a bit of mud with a foot or more of water on both sides. Getting muddy and gross was bad enough, then not being able to find the campsite on Grub Lake made it all the worse. [paragraph break]
We finally made camp at the first available site along Snowbank Lake after pondering camping off the trail once or twice and giving up on that idea only because there was no water. Exhausted and wary of what lay ahead the next day, we hit the hay almost immediately after setting up camp, de-ticking ourselves the entire time. [paragraph break]
Friday we had to hike about 7 miles back to the car, and we were eager to get it over with. However, once the trail headed out toward Wooden Leg Lake it actually became fairly visible again. I had spent a good portion of my Thursday night tossing and turning, worrying about the state of the trail ahead with no alternatives but to press forward, but it was actually fairly decent. The area north of Wooden Leg seemed well cared for. If it weren't for the ever-present, annoying black flies this day would have been just fine. My brother was exhausted, however, and we were happy to put those last few miles behind us and hit up the Ely Dairy Queen. My brother swore never to hike again, and I assured him next time we'll take a canoe.