BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 04 2026
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.
Getting a taste of the BWCA on Kelly
Entry Date:
May 18, 2006
Entry Point:
Baker Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
2
We didn’t rush to get to EP #39 Baker Lake and let the rain die down a bit, as forecasted, before setting out. We used my sturdy 18’ aluminum canoe to haul enough gear for four. We only had one 10 rod portage on our trip we were glad there were no witnesses!
After crossing Peterson Lake and fished the passage into Kelly. We had fun catching a lot of small mouth bass in this area (out of season) but nothing to cook.
I had been wearing leather water skiing gloves which had gotten wet from the start. My hands were freezing and making paddling very difficult. I learned that no gloves keep your hands warmer that wet ones.
We paddled against a good wind up narrow Kelly Lake to the camp site on the north end. Unfortunately it was occupied but looked like a good site. This meant we needed to continue to Jack Lake where there are two camp sites or backtrack to the other end of baker where there are four sites. We chose to go back instead of portaging all of our loose gear and set up on the only available site. The only site available was #826. It was exposed to the cold wind. We had a heck of a time starting a fire but were in great spirits. This was a good thing since we noticed it was snowing!
The next morning we went back to the north side of Baker again and campsite #927 was vacant. It is a secluded site in a nice little bay next to the creek/river that runs into it. I like camping with the sound of fast flowing water.
The site doesn’t have a good landing for a canoe. There seemed to be plenty of firewood but we had trouble getting a good fire with all of the rain that had occurred.
Later in the afternoon two older women came into the bay to see if the site was available. We told them of the other site on Kelly which we knew was open and wished them luck. I felt bad that had fought the wind all the way to the end of the lake, only to have to head back to the other side as we did the day before.
The biggest negative of this trip was trying to sleep in the cold weather. My new 20 degree northface sleeping bag did not come close to keeping me warm even with me wearing a stocking cap and multiple layers. I vowed to get a warmer bag! It is also very important to have a good insulated pad between you and the ground. The ground will sap the heat from you quickly.
The days were sun filled and warmer which was great. We portaged to Jack Lake to fish. It is a fairly easy 65 rod portage. The fishing was very poor. We paddled by and said hi to some kayakers on their way north to Cherokee Lake. They were obvious veterans of the BWCA.
Peter and I stopped for lunch at the southern most camp site on Jack which is on a peninsula. It felt more like an island. It had a couple of nice tent pads that were on a hill and nice views. We lounged around here for a while enjoying the warm sun and even tried to catch bit of sleep. We both agreed this would make a good base camp if we took our wives here in the future (understand that we were naïve to all of the other possibilities that the BWCA provided.)
That night we fried fish and potatoes. After a day of fishing we only had kept two small northerns, but they tasted good.
The water pouring into the bay was about the only decent fishing spot we could find during this trip. Luckily it was by our camp so we didn’t have to go far to catch a meal. We positioned the canoe to the side of the current and the swirling water kept us in one spot.
The next morning I was up around 5:30am since I couldn’t sleep in the cold anyways. I walked down to the river to see if there was any wildlife around. It was a beautiful morning, completely calm with a little fog hanging over the water, and our little bay was picturesque. I couldn’t resist paddling around and making some casts.
On our way out we neared the entry point and saw that a family of three was just arriving. We kept our canoe (barge) out of site so that we didn’t have to hear them snicker at us. By this time we were laughing at ourselves pretty good!
After jumping in the cold water to freshen up a bit, we headed home. This was a quick fun trip that I hope will spur many more!