S. Hegman to Mudro- Pictographs and Giant Bass
by wxce1260
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
07/09/2020
Entry Point:
South Hegman Lake (EP 77)
Exit Point:
Mudro Lake (EP 23)
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
4
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (6 messages)
Day 3 of 4
Saturday, July 11, 2020 We slept in today and didn't get back on the water until about 11am. Today we want to make it to Tin Can Mike. Paul had brought Tommy there for their first BWCA trip many years before. So our plan is to get to the TCM portage, send the boys over the portage with a pair of binoculars to scope out and see if there are any campsites open. (We are pretty concerned about this due to the shear number of sites we have seen full). We figure if Tin Can Mike is full, we will stay on Horse Lake and head north til we find something open. So off we go--from Boot Lake to Fourtown first then to Horse. One thing we learn is on the east side of FourTown, there are some small channels that you should normally be able to paddle across, but this year, due to the low water, you need to portage them.
We make it to the Horse to TCM portage about the same time as a group of 9 first timers coming through with 4 canoes. Nice young people who are very polite. Our boys had taken their canoe and went to scope out TCM while we had lunch at the portage. They report both sites at the north end are open, so off we go. We stay on the northwest site. It is a huge rock! I am fairly disappointed at first because this site has no tarping area and the two tent pads are right out on the exposed rock. To top it off we spend over an hour looking for the latrine with no luck.
But as I have learned in the BWCA--don't let first impressions fool you. We set up our tents and the boys throw out a line. Almost immediately they are slaying nice sized bluegills! So the dads start fishing and in no time we have supper caught for the night--big panfish that loved our leaches.
The boys head out to fish the lake and the dads decide to go for a walk up the rock. OH MY! It is one of the most beautiful lookouts I have vistited in the wilderness. We get to the top of the rock and we can see for such a long way. We have a beautiful view of the lake--and a good place to watch for moose this evening. The top of the rock cliff is exposed granite so as we sit down on the reindeer moss to enjoy the view--what do we see all around us but fresh ripe blueberries! What a treat.
Later that afternoon, I make it a mission to find the latrine. (Evidence from Toilet Paper on the top of the hill shows others did not find it either :(. Well we begin to look and finally we find it. The trail to it is almost non-existent. It looks as though several trees blew down over the winter and because people could not find it--the trail grew over with weeds and leaves. So we take some time to move the deadfall to the side of the trail so that future visitors will have an easier time finding it and hopefully not leave their "mark" around the campsite. As an added bonus as we are there--we find a patch of wild strawberries!
Evening comes and again we opt out of a fire--it is just too dry.
The boys come back at supper time and let us know they had "slayed the bass and bluegills" during the afternoon. They are excited to head out at dusk to try and find some walleye...but as it turns out the night fishing was not as productive. The dads head back up the rock and look to the southwest over the creek to wait to see a moose--no such luck but the sunset was remarkable--we stay until the skeeters finally chase us away.
~Fourtown Lake, Horse Lake, Tin Can Mike Lake
We make it to the Horse to TCM portage about the same time as a group of 9 first timers coming through with 4 canoes. Nice young people who are very polite. Our boys had taken their canoe and went to scope out TCM while we had lunch at the portage. They report both sites at the north end are open, so off we go. We stay on the northwest site. It is a huge rock! I am fairly disappointed at first because this site has no tarping area and the two tent pads are right out on the exposed rock. To top it off we spend over an hour looking for the latrine with no luck.
But as I have learned in the BWCA--don't let first impressions fool you. We set up our tents and the boys throw out a line. Almost immediately they are slaying nice sized bluegills! So the dads start fishing and in no time we have supper caught for the night--big panfish that loved our leaches.
The boys head out to fish the lake and the dads decide to go for a walk up the rock. OH MY! It is one of the most beautiful lookouts I have vistited in the wilderness. We get to the top of the rock and we can see for such a long way. We have a beautiful view of the lake--and a good place to watch for moose this evening. The top of the rock cliff is exposed granite so as we sit down on the reindeer moss to enjoy the view--what do we see all around us but fresh ripe blueberries! What a treat.
Later that afternoon, I make it a mission to find the latrine. (Evidence from Toilet Paper on the top of the hill shows others did not find it either :(. Well we begin to look and finally we find it. The trail to it is almost non-existent. It looks as though several trees blew down over the winter and because people could not find it--the trail grew over with weeds and leaves. So we take some time to move the deadfall to the side of the trail so that future visitors will have an easier time finding it and hopefully not leave their "mark" around the campsite. As an added bonus as we are there--we find a patch of wild strawberries!
Evening comes and again we opt out of a fire--it is just too dry.
The boys come back at supper time and let us know they had "slayed the bass and bluegills" during the afternoon. They are excited to head out at dusk to try and find some walleye...but as it turns out the night fishing was not as productive. The dads head back up the rock and look to the southwest over the creek to wait to see a moose--no such luck but the sunset was remarkable--we stay until the skeeters finally chase us away.
Donate - BWCA.com