Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Crooked Lake 4th July 2015
by MDMark

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/30/2015
Entry & Exit Point: Mudro Lake (EP 23)
Number of Days: 10
Group Size: 5
Trip Introduction:
Our planning for this adventure began back in the fall of 2014 as my best friend Dan and I agreed the summer of 2015 was a go for another Boundary Water trip. It would be my second and Dan’s third trip to the BWCA. We were hoping on bringing some friends and family along for the trip. Our party ended up consisting of myself, my 12 year old nephew Nathanial, Dan, his wife Julie and their 9 year old son Tucker. With consideration to the group going I suggested a fun family trip; perhaps exploring the numbered lakes. Dan would have none of it; we were going to find a great remote fishing lake. We settled on a 10 day Crooked Lake loop. The planning went into full force throughout the winter and spring of 2015 as we combed over magazines, blogs and made way too many purchases on line. I am thankful for the advice given by Jason Zabokrtsky of Ely Outfitting Service, as well as many members of BWCA.COM including some great fishing tips from Quetico Mike and others. We caravanned west from our home state of Maryland in two vehicles. We had a great trip through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan stopping in Marquette for a night. We arrived late the next afternoon in Ely where we would spend one night camping at Shagawa Inn Resort and the following night at the Ely Outfitting Services new bunkhouse. We really enjoyed spending time in Ely meeting some of the locals, making last minute purchases at goodwill, buying fishing licenses and leeches, and enjoying a great little town.
Day 1 of 10
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 Up early and on the road around sunrise we arrived at the entry point to find only mosquitos to greet us. We unloaded and shuttled down to the portage. Everyone seemed to handle their loads ok, which was good considering we had packed everything but the kitchen sink. We would not be starving on this trip. Down the creek and across Mudro in a nice breeze gave our paddle muscles a chance to warm up. We spoke to some folks headed in the opposite direction on Sandpit who had seen a bear on the previous portage. We would not have the same luck but did manage to catch the first fish of the trip near the landing of Tin Can Mike. My nephew Nathanial, who has an insatiable appetite for fishing, was the first to catch a fish. Back in the boat I had my nephew store the rods for the paddle. What a pretty lake this was; beautiful with good fishing to boot. Dan had not stored his rod while paddling across Tin Can Mike and caught a really nice smallmouth on a Five of Diamonds.

Nathanial and I paddle ahead, up Fourtown, to locate a good unoccupied site. We ended up with the island site at the far northern end. It is a beautiful site with multiple tent pads that looked south across the lake. We spent the afternoon fishing, swimming, eating and relaxing.