BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 01 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.
Trout Lake Base Camping
Entry Date:
May 27, 2025
Entry Point:
Trout Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
1
Kayak - Perception Sound 10.5ft (45 lbs with nothing in it) Bags - 60L sea to summit Dry bag - This was tied to the back of my Kayak which has a nice cut out square area in the back which it fit into nicely. - 25 L Day pack - Put between my feet in the front of the Kayak - 20 L Food pack. - Placed behind my Kayak seat. - 2 Fishing Poles tucked on the insides of my kayak - 1 spare paddle also tucked on the inside of my Kayak. - Spill Bag - dry bag with rain gear and dry clothes incase of a capsize.
Day 1 - Tuesday - 4/27 - Picked up Permit from Ranger Station in Cook - Drove to Moccasin Point on Lake Vermillion Parked Car and dropped in to paddle across the lake. Took me about an 1 hour to paddle in my kayak from Moccasin Point to EP. 1. Just over 3 miles. When you arrive to EP. 1 you are greeted by a beautiful waterfall and an old submerged dock. - The Portage was short and a little up hill with one downed tree that I was able to step over comfortably. A few rocks but overall a very smooth portage. I did this it 2 trips. One with my 2 packs and 1 with my kayak and paddles. - From Portage Bay on Trout Lake I paddled about another 3 miles to an island Camp Site right off of Norway Point which I base camped from for the duration of the trip. One of the things I loved most was it had a great Fire pit area with several great sitting logs as well as a huge rock front porch that sloped down into the lake which was great for views and drying off on after a dip in the lake. All said and done it took me about 3.5 hours to get to my campsite from where I dropped in on Vermillion.
The Campsite also had a Latrine with a lid! The entry for canoes and kayaks was very nice just on the back south east side of the island. It also had a nice calm back bay to fish. If the wind was up and the waves were rolling on the main Trout Lake this would still be an okay spot to fish. Really enjoyed this campsite. Definitely room for 2, 2-3 person tents maybe more. Had a tough time finding trees to hang my food pack from but managed. I had a 50 ft rope that I ended up tying a rock to and throwing up and over a couple of branches and made it work.
Day 2 and 3 - Spent the days trolling, jigging, and casting spoons for lake trout. Unfortunately I struck out on this trip. It goes without saying that Trout lake is HUGE. I did have success with small mouth bass right off the back side of my campsite in the back bay area I mentioned above. Rocky bottoms and lots of cover from overhanging branches, bushes, and trees.
I also took breaks looking for lake trout and scouted some of the other campsites on trout lake for future trips.
Norway Point - Right behind my campsite and to the north around the point if you follow the coast line of Trout Lake there will be another campsite. It has a gravel driveway like entrance which made exiting my water craft super easy. Probably the best one I found on the lake that week. It was like someone built a gravel driveway for Canoes and kayaks. From there a trail leads to the left to an elevated camp area which is surrounded by tall trees. You still had some views but it definitely felt insulated from the wind. The bathroom was standard. Wouldn't mind staying here for future trips.
Sioux Pine Island I stopped at the southern most and northern most campsites on the Sioux pine island and would have stayed at either. Lots of room and maybe better trees for hanging food packs. Decent landings for Canoes or Kayaks as well. Okay latrines. Great Views. I would imagine the north site would have some decent fishing.
Cramer Island - on the East bay of the lake is Cramer Island. I stopped for a snack break here and scouted it out. It's on an exposed point with gorgeous views. Bathroom is okay. Small trails around part of the island with rocky shores that could be nice to fish from. The Fire pit area was okay, several downed trees from years past. Definitely wouldn't mind staying here if I had to. The views alone would make it a good stay. But the other sites I think would be more comfortable being less exposed.
Day 4 - Paddling out from Trout Lake - This was the roughest weather day where I experience the most chop of the entire week. It definitely required all of my focus paddling out. Once I reached the portage bay the water was MUCH calmer the rest of the way.
It was a Friday so Vermillion was MUCH busier that when I had entered. I stuck to the shore line and most boats steered clear of me once they saw me.
I definitely would go explore trout lake again. It is a big body of water and involved LOTS of paddling which I expected. Next trip I'd like to make it to the North arm of Trout lake and maybe 1 or 2 of the surrounding lakes like Orinack and Little Trout Lake for day trips. It is a lake which allows motor boats, but it never really bothered me or made it feel any less like the Boundary Waters to me. I only saw 2 other paddling groups from a distance the entire week.