BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
January 05 2025
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.
A trip of many firsts.
Entry Date:
May 28, 2011
Entry Point:
Mudro Lake
Exit Point:
Moose/Portage River (north) (16)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
1
Day 1 Summary: Mudro-Sandpit-Tin Can Mike-Horse River-Horse Lake I put in around 9:00 a.m. and was at camp around 5:00. There were a few points along the Horse River where I had to portage around some rock gardens that were exposed, due to low water. If I were in my own canoe I would have paddled through the rocks, but I wanted to baby the Kevlar canoe. 
Day 2 Summary: Horse Lake-Crooked Lake
Broke camp around 6:00 and set up camp in Sunday Bay. How appropriate to camp in Sunday Bay on Sunday. There is no place I would have rather been then right where I was. 
Mark told me to avoid the 320 rod portage from Iron to Boulder Bay. He advised me to take to Bottle Portage instead. However, because the weather was so terrible, I had no choice but to take the longer portage. This trail was lightly traveled, by humans at least. I saw fresh wolf, moose, and bear tracks on this trail. The trail was a little sloppy, but relatively flat. I found the first open campsite in Boulder Bay, which was a five-star site. I set-up camp, ate, and caught some smallies and walleye from the bank. My only complaint so far was how dirty the campsite was. There were orange peels, sunflower seed shells, and other trash everywhere. After cleaning up camp, I explored around the area for a bit, and hit the hay.
Day 3 Summary: Crooked-Iron-LLC
Regardless of the wind, I was able to cover a lot of water. One disadvantage to getting an early start is that you can leave a nice campsite and then get stuck in some nasty weather with no where to go. I realize that I could have just setup camp in an undesignated area, but there were enough islands on Iron that provided protection, thus allowing me to avoid the open water on my way to Boulder Bay. 
Day 4 Summary: LLC-Agnes
Note to self: don't leave a premium campsite when the wind is relentlessly howling. 
Day 5 Summary: Agnes to EP 16. Trip time 6 hours, but with a strong wind.
Trip Summary: This trip was a trip of many firsts. First trip to the BWCA. First solo trip. First time canoe tripping. First Northern Pike. First Smallmouth. I absolutely loved this place. Although I experienced many firsts on this trip, I know that it will not be the last.
After getting back to civilization, I checked the Weather Channel's history and the winds were in the 40 mph range, with gusts in the high 50s. Not exactly paddlecraft weather, but none the less a PERFECT FIRST TRIP.