Boundary Waters Trip Reports, Blog, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

October 31 2024

Entry Point 19 - Stuart River

Stuart River entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Kawishiwi Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 28 miles. Access is a 480-rod portage to the Stuart River.

Number of Permits per Day: 1
Elevation: 1237 feet
Latitude: 48.0955
Longitude: -91.9887
Stuart River - 19

Entry point 23: Iron Lake Loop

by aarontkennedy
Trip Report

Entry Date: September 10, 2024
Entry Point: Mudro Lake
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
We found this Iron Lake Loop route posted at https://www.friends-bwca.org/route/iron-lake-loop/. It calls it challenging probably due to the duration and some of the portages. We did it in 7 instead of 6 so we could camp just before the exit the day we wanted to leave and get out early for the drive back to the Cities.

Report


This week in September ended up being surprisingly warm. It probably got to 80F everyday. Fortunately I believe there had already been a frost so we didn't have to deal with any bugs despite the warm weather. Not only was it warm, but we had almost no precipitation. It rained a bit our last night and then we had to wait out a small thunderstorm the last morning. But none of it really amounted to anything. Generally, water was high enough everywhere we went. Only spots this late in the summer where water level was an issue was right away trying to get to Mudro and maybe a couple spots on the Beartrap river.

First day we started at Mudro and made our way and camped at Boot Lake. Second day we aimed to get all the way to Beartrap lake to set us up for a longer day the next day. Third day you have to get all the way to Iron lake which is probably around 9 miles because there are no designated camp sites between Beartrap and Iron Lake. Until we got to Iron Lake that day we saw no one else as we made our way north via the Beartrap river (not surprisingly we also saw no one while going the wrong way on Spring Creek). We got in very late to Iron Lake after seeing no one and we were awfully surprised to have significant difficulty finding a camp site. Seems like a lake popular for fishing. We had no issues finding a site anywhere else on this route.

Day 4 and 5 we camped on Crooked Lake. I had seen before we left that rain was in the forecast on the day we had planned to exit and this was confirmed by someone we met on the trail. So we decided to exit a day sooner than we planned. Day 6, we went all the way from our campsite in Friday Bay to Fourtown Lake. This section has the longest portage of 300 rods.

Final day was short and easy as we returned from Fourtown to Mudro. Then to cap off the trip we went for brunch at Britton's.

Everywhere was beautiful. Saw tons of swans. We only saw a few beaver which was surprising since we passed so many dams and lodges. It being so hot, swimming in the lakes was refreshing. Video trip report: https://youtu.be/-m9Mcrtc_60

 


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