BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
November 01 2026
Entry Point 12 - Little Vermilion Lake
Little Vermilion Lake (Crane Lake) entry point allows overnight paddle or motor (Unlimited max). This entry point is supported by La Croix Ranger Station near the city of Cook, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 45 miles. Enter from Crane Lake. Note: Not the entry point to use for Trout Lake (#1)
Number of Permits per Day: 6
Elevation: 1150 feet
Latitude: 48.2995
Longitude: -92.4268
Little Vermilion Lake - 12
Number of Permits per Day: 6
Elevation: 1150 feet
Latitude: 48.2995
Longitude: -92.4268
Little Vermilion Lake - 12
Long Strange Trip
by BoxofRain
Trip Report
Entry Date:
July 03, 2011
Entry Point:
Mudro Lake (restricted--no camping on Horse Lake)
Number of Days:
14
Group Size:
7
Trip Introduction:
We have been planning this trip for one year. No one in our group has ever been to the Boundary Waters, but many are experienced in wilderness canoeing. We headed to the Mudro Lake entry point for its access and remoteness. Sorry to have included all of our trip even the parts outside of the Boundary Waters. It was a great trip and we hope to have many more.
Day 3 of 14
Monday, July 11, 2005
The current was pretty strong thanks to Lower Basswood Falls, making the paddle less rigorous. No one realized how far we had gone until it appeared we reached Crooked Lake. I was upset that we missed the pictographs because no one (including myself) was paying attention. Ryan and Kevin suggested going back but paddeling against the current didn't seem like fun so we continued on. We were aiming to make it to Thursday Bay but did not anticipate the paddle ahead. Crooked Lake was massive and very choppy. We could not hug the shore or it would have made the paddle that much longer so we braved the harsh water. The heat seemed so unbearable. The past two morning when we awoke it already felt like it was 60 degrees. Now, at mid-day, we were wasting away in the brutal sun. We welcomed the stop at Table Rock and ate lunch and swam. We inspected the campsite and concluded it would not be a great place to stay - virtually no shade. After paddeling some more we were heartbroken to see that our planned campsite was gone. We really hadn't seen anyone all since leaving Lower Basswood Falls so we did not plan an alternate site. We slipped into a little bay just before Thursday Bay. We were disappointed when we pulled up to the first campsite. The tent pads were not the greatest, there were roots everywhere, and the site was on a slope. There was only one other campsite down that inlet and we all prayed it would be better. To our delight, the site was awesome. It was very spacious and allowed room for all of our tent pads. It offered us a small beach and a lot of privacy which was nice. The site was very windy which did have a positive side as the wind kept all the bugs away. We set up camp, ate dinner, and swam. As we all drifted asleep we could hear thunder in the distance. I woke up in the middle of the night to nosies from outside our tent. I woke Kevin up and we looked outside our tent and could see the outline of a moose. It was so big and making lots of noise. It stumbled around as if drunk and then went off. Basswood Lake Crooked Lake
The current was pretty strong thanks to Lower Basswood Falls, making the paddle less rigorous. No one realized how far we had gone until it appeared we reached Crooked Lake. I was upset that we missed the pictographs because no one (including myself) was paying attention. Ryan and Kevin suggested going back but paddeling against the current didn't seem like fun so we continued on. We were aiming to make it to Thursday Bay but did not anticipate the paddle ahead. Crooked Lake was massive and very choppy. We could not hug the shore or it would have made the paddle that much longer so we braved the harsh water. The heat seemed so unbearable. The past two morning when we awoke it already felt like it was 60 degrees. Now, at mid-day, we were wasting away in the brutal sun. We welcomed the stop at Table Rock and ate lunch and swam. We inspected the campsite and concluded it would not be a great place to stay - virtually no shade. After paddeling some more we were heartbroken to see that our planned campsite was gone. We really hadn't seen anyone all since leaving Lower Basswood Falls so we did not plan an alternate site. We slipped into a little bay just before Thursday Bay. We were disappointed when we pulled up to the first campsite. The tent pads were not the greatest, there were roots everywhere, and the site was on a slope. There was only one other campsite down that inlet and we all prayed it would be better. To our delight, the site was awesome. It was very spacious and allowed room for all of our tent pads. It offered us a small beach and a lot of privacy which was nice. The site was very windy which did have a positive side as the wind kept all the bugs away. We set up camp, ate dinner, and swam. As we all drifted asleep we could hear thunder in the distance. I woke up in the middle of the night to nosies from outside our tent. I woke Kevin up and we looked outside our tent and could see the outline of a moose. It was so big and making lots of noise. It stumbled around as if drunk and then went off. Basswood Lake Crooked Lake
Day 9 of 14
Monday, July 04, 2011. I am seriously concerned! I have not had a very good night of sleep. Big Al and his friends are in one room and my oldest son Nick, his friend Dan and I are in the other room. I can't figure out our next move until the coffee brews. I don't have unlimited funds but I know I can't abandon our plans. My Suburban is dead in the water and nobody wants to rent us a vehicles and let us tow our trailer that is holding our four canoes and gear. I called my friend Scott who is going to fly into Duluth to join us and his suggestion was to rent a Suburban and not tell them we are towing a trailer (the sticking point with rental agencies). We catch a Suburban at the South Bend Airport from Alamo and just our luck it has a trailer hitch receptor! We change our trailer hitch to the new Suburban, drop the wounded Suburban at a transmission place and we are back on the road. Our original plan was to make Milwaukee on Sunday night, check out the breweries on July 4th and pick up Scotty in Duluth on Tuesday. We decided to bypass Milwaukee and head straight for Duluth. It is a long drive from South Bend to Duluth but we had fun. We stopped a couple of times for fuel and food but otherwise made good time. The new Suburban was great! We have never had a new vehicles. This one was nice! When we finally made the decent into Duluth we were greeted by fireworks over Lake Superior! The Boys were pumped up. Its was great. I was relieved that we were back on the road and the fireworks made us all feel good after the trying couple of days. We got a couple of rooms and drank a couple of beers and sang "Happy Birthday America". 
Day 14 of 14
Tuesday, July 05, 2011 I arose early and let the Boys sleep in a little. We didn't have to pick up Scott at the airport until 12:00 so we were not in a hurry. I got a cup of coffee on the road and brought back a box of donuts for the Boys. They have accused me of starving them so far, they eat like frenzied pigs and I wonder how well they will adapt in the next week. We stopped by Gander Mountain and picked up a couple of things and headed for the Duluth Airport. The Air Force jet in front of the airport is impressive. Scott showed up right on time and I was glad to see him, finally the group was all together and we are on our way.[paragraph break] The road up to Ely is nice and the scenery is different then we are use to. We stopped in Cotton at a local diner and had lunch, the Boys were starving again. Our waitress was a Sara Palin look and sound alike, it was bazaar! The funniest thing was that her son had just mover back to Minnesota from a little town called Cave Town back here in Maryland about ten minutes from Scott's house, it is a very small world. We headed north again, passed the large iron ore mine and the Hockey Hall of Fame and finally started to see some lakes. We were pumped up when we arrived in Ely. We stopped in the different outfitters and picked up a removable yoke for Scott's one man Old Town. The Boys are always on the prowl for a meal or a pretty girl and once again they were satisfied. Being around a group of young Men/Boys is always a strange thing and I spent a lot of time wondering if I was just as stupid Thirty years ago. Scott and I would look at each other and roll our eyes at some of the things that came from their brains. We were staying at the Fenskie Lake Cabins, so we headed north and checked in. The owners are very welcoming and the Bunk House was perfect for a group of guys. The Bath House was clean but needed more hot water if you were number seven. We arranged our gear and headed back to town for our last good meal. We ate at the Boat House and really enjoyed our meal and beer. The Brew Master, Ben, gave us a tour of his Brewery like a proud father and rightly so, the beer was great. The younger Boys had to leave before 10:00pm because we were sitting in the bar. I asked my son Nick to grab a couple dozen eggs at the grocery and come back and pick Scott and I up after we enjoyed another beer and another song from the live entertainment. This is were it got weird. Scott and I grabbed another beer and listened to the music...........another beer.....more music.....another beer.....more music. Around 11:30 and still no Boys. We didn't have cell phone coverage and I am concerned.....again! I couldn't figure out why they were late and came to the conclusion that they must be in trouble. So we asked the bar tender were the police station was and away we went. We knocked on the door and were greeted by a policeman. I explained to him that I was missing a truck load of Boys and he invited us in. I have been invited into a police station before and never really liked the decor and this was no exception. He wasn't coming clean and Scott and I figured we would see five Boys in a cage at the top of the stairs confined for what ever reason that has caused them to be two hours late! To my surprise they were not there (you can tell that I have already counted on the worst). Now I am really, really concerned......still!! The officer takes all the information and offers to send a Deputy to the Fenskie Lake Cabins. Now I am thinking that all the Boys are in the cabin chugging twelve's and will wind up here at the cage anyway after they are busted by the Deputy. Ten minutes later as we are walking out of the police station two things happened at once; the deputy calls on the radio and informs the officer he has the empty Berb in front of The Boat House and Nick and Dan walk around the corner! I was never so happy to see them in my life. I am still mad as HELL but very relieved. They explain that they tried to find the Fenskie Lake Cabins and got lost going and coming. The ride back to the cabin was quiet. They knew they had screwed up and I was mad. When we got back to the cabin the other three Boys had made a beer pyramid and seemed happy to see us! At this point I have traveled through seven states, four of which were white knuckle, grab the wheel, and hope the transmission holds out states, and the rest of the miles are in a rental that is costing too much money. I spent a week before we left working hard to get ready and the last two and a half hours wondering if my sons and their friends are alive and well! I can't stay mad or hold grudges, I only want to know that everyone is safe and having fun and loving life. I don't know what it was that happened next but we all broke out into spontaneous laughter and merrymaking like a bunch of stupid pranksters and it lasted for two hours! I guess all I needed was to have a good time and that we did. I haven't laughed like that since High School. 
Day 17 of 14
Saturday, July 09, 2011. We woke, ate and broke down camp and prepared for our trip to Moosecamp Lake. The weather was nice and sunny. We already knew the portage on to Gun Lake and breezed through it. We paddled across Gun and took the twenty rod portage on to Bullet Lake. The trees along the north side of the barrel of Gun Lake were beautiful. The terrain was steep and these trees must have escaped the axe. The portage on to Bullet was nice up top but wet and deep at the bottom. Bullet Lake looked like a nice fishing lake but the group was traveling too quickly to check it out. I trolled my way across but came up empty. Both Gun Lake and Bullet Lake are very scenic areas. The portage on to Moosecamp Lake is around a large beaver dam. It was a good portage along a flowing stream and a large pond. I put this area on my “must explore” list. We decided on the camp site just west of the portage. This site has a large tent area and a great landing area. You approach a large flat rock that juts out from the camp site and continues all the way up to the fire grate. At the top of the camp site the rock is about six feet above the water level making for a good cannon ball platform. The previous campers have left us an ample supply of fire wood making this a five star site. One of our campers who feel it is more important to fish than to help set up camp immediately tosses in a lure and coaxes a 30” pike out from under a downed tree. The fish played with the young man for thirty minutes and then decided that he had better things to do then entertain a young inexperienced camper. By now the camp is set up our lean two has been erected and everyone else is ready for some fishing. Scotty tosses his favorite lure in and pulls that 30” pike to shore with a smile. This was the day we were hoping to catch our dinner. I did not pull anything from the canvass cooler hoping that keeping it closed for two days would prolong the chill. We hit the lake hard and brought in enough fish for all to be satisfied. It is funny how our needs were always met. I am not beyond considering Divine Intervention when it comes to providing fish by the basket load! More sipping and star gazing and off to bed. 
Day 20 of 14
Thursday, July 07, 2011. Everybody has decided to sleep in, go figure… again. The first day is always the toughest. I start the fire, coffee, scrapple and eggs and the starving horde stumbles down the hill. While breakfast is cooking my son Nick throws a lure in and brings in a 30” fat walleye! We don't need any fish yet so it is pictures and back to the lake. This is the first real fishing anybody has done yet and bingo the game is on. They wolf down breakfast and grab rods for a days worth of fishing. We thought it was going to be as easy as Nick made it look but it didn't work out as well as planned. I think we caught five or six fish that day, not the bounty we were looking for. We swam, fished, ate, explored, read, and drank. The weather was great and we enjoyed every minute of it. Every time I looked up somebody was grabbing some thing out of the bear barrel. I don't want to be the Food Nazi but the young Boys are treating the barrel like a pantry. The key is to keep them occupied. More work equals less food. Is the fire wood cut? Is your tent clean? Are the dishes done? Do we have enough water? We had chicken thighs and legs over rice with gravy and broccoli. We saved the chicken bones for soup for our next lunch. So far our meals have been good. It is just tough making them wait for their next meal but they are learning. More sipping, stars and another good night sleep.
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Day 22 of 14
Saturday, July 09, 2011. We woke, ate and broke down camp and prepared for our trip to Moosecamp Lake. The weather was nice and sunny. We already knew the portage on to Gun Lake and breezed through it. We paddled across Gun and took the twenty rod portage on to Bullet Lake. The trees along the north side of the barrel of Gun Lake were beautiful. The terrain was steep and these trees must have escaped the axe. The portage on to Bullet was nice up top but wet and deep at the bottom. Bullet Lake looked like a nice fishing lake but the group was traveling too quickly to check it out. I trolled my way across but came up empty. Both Gun Lake and Bullet Lake are very scenic areas. The portage on to Moosecamp Lake is around a large beaver dam. It was a good portage along a flowing stream and a large pond. I put this area on my “must explore” list. We decided on the camp site just west of the portage. This site has a large tent area and a great landing area. You approach a large flat rock that juts out from the camp site and continues all the way up to the fire grate. At the top of the camp site the rock is about six feet above the water level making for a good cannon ball platform. The previous campers have left us an ample supply of fire wood making this a five star site. One of our campers who feel it is more important to fish than to help set up camp immediately tosses in a lure and coaxes a 30” pike out from under a downed tree. The fish played with the young man for thirty minutes and then decided that he had better things to do then entertain a young inexperienced camper. By now the camp is set up our lean two has been erected and everyone else is ready for some fishing. Scotty tosses his favorite lure in and pulls that 30” pike to shore with a smile. This was the day we were hoping to catch our dinner. I did not pull anything from the canvass cooler hoping that keeping it closed for two days would prolong the chill. We hit the lake hard and brought in enough fish for all to be satisfied. It is funny how our needs were always met. I am not beyond considering Divine Intervention when it comes to providing fish by the basket load! More sipping and star gazing and off to bed. 
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Day 25 of 14
Saturday, July 09, 2011. We woke, ate and broke down camp and prepared for our trip to Moosecamp Lake. The weather was nice and sunny. We already knew the portage on to Gun Lake and breezed through it. We paddled across Gun and took the twenty rod portage on to Bullet Lake. The trees along the north side of the barrel of Gun Lake were beautiful. The terrain was steep and these trees must have escaped the axe. The portage on to Bullet was nice up top but wet and deep at the bottom. Bullet Lake looked like a nice fishing lake but the group was traveling too quickly to check it out. I trolled my way across but came up empty. Both Gun Lake and Bullet Lake are very scenic areas. The portage on to Moosecamp Lake is around a large beaver dam. It was a good portage along a flowing stream and a large pond. I put this area on my “must explore” list. We decided on the camp site just west of the portage. This site has a large tent area and a great landing area. You approach a large flat rock that juts out from the camp site and continues all the way up to the fire grate. At the top of the camp site the rock is about six feet above the water level making for a good cannon ball platform. The previous campers have left us an ample supply of fire wood making this a five star site. One of our campers who feel it is more important to fish than to help set up camp immediately tosses in a lure and coaxes a 30” pike out from under a downed tree. The fish played with the young man for thirty minutes and then decided that he had better things to do then entertain a young inexperienced camper. By now the camp is set up our lean two has been erected and everyone else is ready for some fishing. Scotty tosses his favorite lure in and pulls that 30” pike to shore with a smile. This was the day we were hoping to catch our dinner. I did not pull anything from the canvass cooler hoping that keeping it closed for two days would prolong the chill. We hit the lake hard and brought in enough fish for all to be satisfied. It is funny how our needs were always met. I am not beyond considering Divine Intervention when it comes to providing fish by the basket load! More sipping and star gazing and off to bed.
Day 27 of 14
Sunday, July 10, 2011. We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and they were great. There is something about a good breakfast that makes you want to lie back down. This was one of those perfect days that make you want to do nothing. We grabbed our sleeping pads and headed for the nice grassy spot at camp. We all had books to read or journals to keep, reels to restring of just plain watch the big white fluffy clouds bounce on the breeze. The temperature might have been 80 degrees and the water was delightful. I finally finished a history book about WW1 that had taken a grueling two weeks to read and picked up an easy summer read about some cats that help solve mysteries in the North Lakes Region. We swam, sipped, and just relaxed. At night the sights and sounds of Moosecamp Lake kept us entertained until very late. It was one of my most memorable vacation days…..ever! 
Day 30 of 14
Monday, July 11, 2011. I woke up early and wanted to do some exploring before everyone else got out of bed. I headed back to the portage on to Bullet Lake and had a walk around. I crossed the stream looking for a better vantage point of the pond. I have wanted to see a moose ever since my first wilderness trip up to Maine but as of yet have been excluded from this right. This pond was perfect moose habitat and I was hoping to see one. I crept around trying to be as stealthy as possible and as I looked around a tree I saw the brown fur of what I knew to be a moose. Wrong, just two white tail deer like you see at the Wal-Mart parking lot. It was still cool to see and I got some pictures, you just have to be the photographer to see them. We fished the rest of the day. My job as bear barrel Nazi has paid off. We have enough dry foods stock to last the remainder of the trip and a couple of extra. So we splurge a little for lunch and include a mid afternoon snack. Pork loin and rice for dinner and the starving hoard has been tamed one more day. More sipping, jaw wagging and star gazing. 
Day 31 of 14
Tuesday, July 12, 2011. This is our last full day on the Lakes and we decided to get our full. We started by jumping off the rock first thing in the morning, oatmeal jamboree with everything we could spare and to lighten the loads of spirits earlier then usual. We fished all day, read all day, drank all day and played all day. My wife is a Librarian and a School Teacher. She turned us on to Harry Potter in 1997 and we have been Potter Heads ever since. We have read all the books numerous times and enjoyed them, and we are looking forward to the opening of the last film on July 15th. Two of the kids on the trip have not read the books and are now fighting over the last book. They have agreed to, two chapters and a switch, it is very funny. I brought too many books for our trip hoping that the kids would submit to boredom and read and my wish came true. On the ride up, I would look in the rear view mirror and see some Kids reading and others looking bored, I would say "grab one of the books and start reading"! By the end of our trip they are fighting over the books.[paragraph break] We started to get our stuff packed up in preparation for an early morning departure. We had a great spaghetti dinner and finished off any spirits that were left. We laughed and joked like familiar friends do, and stayed up too late for an early start, but what the flipping flip it was our last full day! 
Day 33 of 14
Wednesday, July 13, 2011. We have saved a nice chunk of Irish Cheese and about a 24"x 2" piece of deer bologna for a departure lunch. The remainder of the oatmeal, raisins, walnuts, granola bars, apricots and prunes were cooked up in the pot and distributed. We broke camp, and a feeling of euphoria was shared by most members of our group. Conversations about what meal was going to be bought at the Boat House upon return have been passed from young camper to young camper all week, but this morning they intensified. Only my oldest son Nick and I felt sorry for leaving and confessed to each other that our next trip would have to be longer. Each of us have studied our wilderness trips and discussed ways of enhancing them, we were both in agreement that this trip should have covered more ground and more days. [paragraph break] We are about to cover the most interesting scenery yet, the trip down the Moosecamp River was glorious. It was close, with high canyon like cliffs on one side and a sea of lily pads on the other. It seamed like a gorge at times. There was an abundance of wild flowers. We crossed numerous beaver dams. I imagined mountain lions looking down on us from their perch on some high cliff face. Why we didn't see our long expected moose was beyond us, it was perfect moose environment. There was swamp lands as far as you could see with the Moosecamp River snaking its' way through the wild flowers. What a way to end a trip in the Boundary Waters. It was just how I imagined it to be. It was perfect.[paragraph break]When we got to Fourtown Lake we noticed more people then we were use to. A lot of the camp sites were occupied. We saw our first eagles as we settled down for lunch, and they followed us south on Fourtown. We met a group of six women in two canoes and informed them we were going to commandeer their vessel, and splashed them with our paddles. Normally I would not allow such rude behavior from what I know are fine young gentlemen but I guess eleven days without female supervision has taken away our civility. I remember thinking how encouraged I was seeing the six female canoeist/campers and their accomplishments. I was humbled. We finished up our trip back through Fourtown and Mudro. The 125 Rod portage has not gotten any shorter. The truck and trailer was packed and back to Fenskie Lake cabins we headed.[paragraph break] The showers were unlike any showers we have ever had. The dinner at the Boat House was great and Ben the Brew Master turned us on to a new creation he was proud of. Ben Remembered our names. We returned to the cabin and celebrated (whooped and hollered like stupid school Boys, Please forgive us). No damage incurred. 
Day 36 of 14
Friday, July 15, 2011. We drove in to Chicago and were amazed. It was like Ocean City but with a real City. Lake Michigan looked tropical. We walked around the city and really enjoyed ourselves. We had lunch at a local spot and enjoyed some good beer and the best deep dish pizza to date, I'm 53, that's good pizza! We spent the rest of the day just messing around having a good time.[paragraph break] The evening was going to be spent at the movie theater watching the Grand Opening of the last of the Harry Potter Movies. If you are a Potter Head you might understand. The kids were so pumped up about this it was hard to believe. Big movie in a new Big City it was kinda cool to see them so pumped up. Back to the rooms and a nice bed, it was a great day! 
Day 39 of 14
Friday, July 15, 2011. We drove in to Chicago and were amazed. It was like Ocean City but with a real City. Lake Michigan looked tropical. We walked around the city and really enjoyed ourselves. We had lunch at a local spot and enjoyed some good beer and the best deep dish pizza to date, I'm 53, that's good pizza! We spent the rest of the day just messing around having a good time.[paragraph break] The evening was going to be spent at the movie theater watching the Grand Opening of the last of the Harry Potter Movies. If you are a Potter Head you might understand. The kids were so pumped up about this it was hard to believe. Big movie in a new Big City it was kinda cool to see them so pumped up. Back to the rooms and a nice bed, it was a great day!
Day 40 of 14
Saturday, July 16, 2011. Our last day and everything is going to fall in to place. We checked out of the Renaissance and headed for South Bend Indiana to drop off the Rental Suburban and pick up our nice new fixed Suburban. My wife had paid the bill electronically because the place was closed on Saturday. Everything was fine until about 150 miles east of South Bend when I felt the first of many transmission slips. The shop must have know I was coming because it got me just far enough away to keep me going. We struggled with my new transmission all the way home. Some times I could get it up to 65 MPH other times I struggled to maintain 55 MPH. My RPM's were red lined most of the time. I had to cross the Appalachians in second gear and I guess it took four extra hours and $200 more in fuel. Live and learn right? At least my grip on the wheel was good because it was another white knuckle ride all the way home.[paragraph break] We had a great trip. It was full of excitement and wonder. I hope the kids who were not as familiar with wilderness camping learned something and took away with them a love of the wilderness. We are already planning our next trip. It was nice to get home and see Laura. 
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