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RiverRatz
member (31)member
  
07/04/2017 02:53PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Hi Group, I'm going to be on Horse lake in Sept and was thinking about doing a day trip down the Horse river to Lower Basswood Falls. My Gf and I are both pretty strong paddlers with an empty boat. Do you all think this would be a comfortable day trip. We don't want to race but we do want to see everything ;-) (first trip to BWCA) How's the river? Any current to speak of? Portages around the rapids ok? Falls worth the trip? Thanks for your help and SYOTR
 
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deepdish71
distinguished member (235)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/04/2017 08:48PM  
Not much current, take the portages and put on sunscreen. Lessons learned from our trip a few years ago. The pictographs on crooked past the falls are a decent day trip away from horse lake.
RiverRatz
member (31)member
  
07/05/2017 04:27AM  
Thanks!
07/05/2017 05:52AM  
We did the same day trip from Fourtown, so no problem.
SouthernExposure
distinguished member (455)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
07/05/2017 09:52AM  
In September, the water levels in Horse river may be rather low. The river has a number of rocky stretches which could require lining or carrying your canoe over rocks that don't have an associated portage. Also remember that you will have to negotiate the rocks in both directions. Tough, but doable.
Tman
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07/06/2017 08:52AM  
Agree it depends on water level. The current is not a significant issue even at high water levels.

I did exactly what you are describing in early October 2012 when the water was quite low. There were several "extra" portages to get through the rocks and the river was just mud from the farthest north portage to Basswood. We had to bushwack/portage from there all the way to Basswood on the west "shore" of the river.

Having said that, even then we completed the trip including going to see the pictographs. It was a lot of work but doable in a day (and worth it) if you are reasonably strong.
 
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