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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

May 09 2024

Entry Point 23 - Mudro Lake

Mudro Lake entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 19 miles. Three accesses into Mudro Lake involve portages ranging from 20–185 rods.Easiest access is from private la nd with parking fee.

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 to Ima

by hunter1897
Trip Report

Entry Date: August 23, 2015
Entry Point: Snowbank Lake
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 5

Trip Introduction:
Varied weather conditions but still a great little loop.

Report


We got to Snowbank early on the 23rd because the wind and rain was going to make it hard to paddle across. Our goal was to simply get across Snowbank and from there find a camp to get settled in for a day or more of rain and wind. We went straight to the 140 rod portage to Disappointment Lake. We found a really great camp site on the Eastern shore on a little peninsula that made for a good day and a half, wind-blown/bound layover. Lots of little smallmouth bass nearby, and one nice Northern caught as well. Seems like the forest service was at the camp site recently cutting down trees...helped us find good wood for a fire to keep us warm and dry with all the wind and rain.

On the 25th we left Snowbank for Ima. We ended up camping on one of the most beautiful sites we've ever been at...the Island with 2 sites on it NE of the portage in from Jordan Lake. Forest service clearly was here recently because there was a brand new latrine that hadn't been used yet.  Finally got to see the sun as it set that evening.

On the 26th we decided to head back towards Snowbank as we had to come out on the 27th. We took the other route back going through a bunch of little lakes like Swing and Boot. 8 portages made for a long day, but they were all pretty easy relatively speaking, especially carrying a 17' Grumman Aluminum canoe. 

We stopped for lunch on the second camp site on Boot. This site isn't very nice...lots of muck in the water...don't recommend it.

We ended up staying our last night on Snowbank at the first site on the left when you come through the portage from Boot. This too was a very nice site...great for the setting sun in the evening. We tried to find the site that was to the right of that portage coming into Snowbank but it apparently doesn't exist. 

All in all a great trip, but not very far. We typically go much longer but with a day layover for rain we had to cut our paddling short. They said there was a lot of bear activity in the area but we didn't encounter any.

 


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