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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

April 27 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.

Mudro 2020 Fishing/Relaxing

by Hueyav8r
Trip Report

Entry Date: August 21, 2020
Entry Point: Mudro Lake
Exit Point: Mudro Lake (23)
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
This trip was originally planned in late 2019 for our my Wilderness Club. We planned for eight people to go. Had a pretty robust trip planned. After the concerns with Covid-19 happened my club cancelled their plans for the summer due to liability concerns. Since we had this trip planned and the entry reserved we decided to make it a private trip. Our group of eight went to four. My coleader had some conflicts and had to back out. Soon our trip was down to two. My paddle partner Janice I knew from our wilderness club. She enjoys the outdoors and is an avid fisherman. She was hoping the trip would still happen, she had been to the BWCA twice before and was looking forward to a week of relaxing and fishing.

Part 1 of 4


I was in Ely in July taking my granddaughters to a YMCA camp I found called Camp du Nord. We had a week of cabin camping and a day trip to see the pictographs on Hagman Lake (that will be another story). But when I rented a tandem canoe from Voyageur North, John at VNorth helped me plan a new route that was designed for Janice fishing and me relaxing (I don’t fish). Planned two camp locations with two nights in each. ~Mudro Lake

 



Part 2 of 4


When arriving at the Outfitter (Voyageur North) found out that part of our trip which was over a few beaver dams was impassable. Our route was taking us on the west side of Mudro up to Fourtown lake, Boot lake and stay in Gun lake. Mudro was low, we had to portage and then walk our canoe until we reached deep enough water to paddle. Even then we had to push our way through the mud and sand.

The first two portages labeled as rocky and hilly were just that. They were challenging especially since I wasn’t in as good as shape I have been in the past. I’ll blame quarantine lifestyle and the gyms being closed (lol). When we make it to Fourtown lake we paddled into a head wind. After our portage onto Boot Lake we decided to find a camp site and not try to make it to Gun that day. I like to find a place around 2:00 or 3:00. I’ve seen too many paddlers looking for a place in the early evening and not have much luck. We found a nice site on Boot lake and set up camp. Janice headed out to fish, I set up my hammock. Dinner that night was steak, potatoes and green beens. I try to have that the first night in the BWCA. Shows my backpacking friends that canoeist east better. My surprise was Janice caught her first walleye and a nice bass. She fried them and ate them also. We were stuffed. Figured neither would keep for the next day. We had a visitor that night, guess it smelled our cooking. At first I thought it was fox but later realized it must have been a coyote. The problem it would stay away. Finally it did, but that was a first. The following morning the water was like glass. I needed a day to relax after the previous day.     ~Mudro Lake, Fourtown Lake, Boot Lake

 



Part 3 of 4


A little rain the second night but I slept great. We packed up and were heading over to Horse Lake via Fourtown lake. The water was low and a couple areas were rock beds. These were non portage portages. Had to find our way over the shore and some ankle breaker rocks. Make our way to Horse lake and found a fantastic camp site. Unfortunately the campers before must not believe (or know) anything about Leave No Trace. There was a trench dug around a tent the night before. The trench was new, plus they cleared out all the pine needles under the tent. Before I left, I was able to undo most of it. While we were at this site, a couple groups stopped by to see how long we would be there. Guess this was a popular spot, it had room for multiple tents. Our time at this site included, fishing, solo paddling and of course relaxing. The second night as we were planning to head out in the morning it rained a second time. Very little rain, but just enough to make sure we packed up everything wet.     ~Boot Lake, Fourtown Lake, Horse Lake

 



Part 4 of 4


As we headed south on Horse towards Mudro one group from the day before saw us on the water and took one of their canoes and headed up to our former camp site. My guess they’ve been there before and really wanted it. The weather was overcast but the rain stopped. We made it to Mudro in just a couple hours. As we approached the stream to parking. There were a two boats with with two guys each ahead of us. They kept getting stuck and when they decided to portage the rest of the way they ended up in knee deep muck. They pointed to us a sandy spot in the steam. We utilized it but got out the same location. A little longer portage back to our car. After our portages on day one, this was nothing. But it was nice to have my own car there and not have to worry about a shuttle. The trip was great, weather was fine. Mission accomplished on the fishing and relaxing. The only thing that’s always difficult is the drive back to central Indiana. The two day drive seems forever. Now I’m thinking about next years trip. ~Horse Lake, Mudro Lake

 

Lakes Traveled:   Horse Lake, Mudro Lake,

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