BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
May 28 2026
Entry Point 23 - Mudro Lake
Mudro Lake 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 19 miles. Three accesses into Mudro Lake involve portages ranging from 20–185 rods.Easiest access is from private la nd with parking fee.
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.
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.
Mudro to Gun to Moosecamp to Fourtown
by sdgrey
Trip Report
Entry Date:
May 22, 2026
Entry Point:
Mudro Lake (restricted--no camping on Horse Lake)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
Mudro as an entry point has been on my radar for a few years now after hearing reports of the stream coming out of Moosecamp. Seemed like a fun loop to do.
Day 1 - Started in at Mudro in the rain - at least the wind was light at most. The paddle across Mudro was pretty easy - a couple of beaver dams to more or less float over - no need to get wet on the way out.
The triple portage out of Mudro to Fourtown is a "fun" section of portage / short paddle / long portage / short paddle / portage. These portages had fairly decent areas to get out as long as you were willing to get your feet wet. But there are areas on the first that is a real ankle breaker across all the rocks. The long portage I took with caution as to not slip on some of the steeper sections of granite. The last of the portages also has a pretty steep exit going into Fourtown - but made it across without issues.
We continued up Fourtown and portaged into Boot and another portage into Fairy Lake - neither were really remarkable - but I appreciated the shorter distances.
Once on Gun really hoping to get site 1083 but it was occupied. We checked out site 1084 but didn't see adequate tent sites So we went over to 1992 and were able to get our 2 tents to fit pretty nice right near the water on the east side of the site. Nice flat loamy area. Nice cook area with a couple of well placed logs for sitting - granted some of them are showing their age with some rot. I will say the stuaber does have a view of the campsite and is quite full. Probably time to move it.
Day 2 we decided to day trip up through Gull Lake to Thunder Lake for some fishing. One of the 3 portages has some really mushy areas below the beaver dam. Nothing of surprise that happens.
Fishing was pretty good on the west end of the lake - we were able to catch a handful of northers.
We spent time on Gun Lake once the winds calmed down trying our luck at fishing again - no luck - but not carrying bait probably was our downfall being early in the season.
Day 3 Time to move on back to Fourtown. We took the route through Bullet and Moosecamp then down the stream out of the west end of Moosecamp. This was a fun way to get around the corner. There was plenty of water, but I don't think this route will remain open long. The beavers are doing their best to create obstacles along the way. Not to mention all the old logs sitting in the channel from the days of logging. The first dam looks to be a man made structure, this one we needed to empty the canoe out of caution - drag it over - reload and continue on our way. The next couple of dams we were able to just pull over the loaded canoe. One of the dams was runnable so we didn't even get out.
Finally we get through the stream to deal with headwinds on Fourtown. We were able to paddle to site 1102 before a break was needed. This is an epic site. Huge. Great kitchen area - lots of tent pads but we wanted to get a bit further down the lake.
We stayed just a bit down the lake on 1103 - took a while to decide where to put the tents - but found that we could put both on the back right side. Not a lot of great space for tents but I loved the full exposure from south to north. Great place to watch the sun set.
Day 4 - spent the morning checking out the portages over to Horse, because why not. My map failed to show 3 of the 5 portages one goes right through site 1106 as the site is right where there is a really rocky narrow area of water - doubt it is passable except in the highest water even then I'd question trying to run it. Turned into a nice morning to explore. You can see in the pictures there is a nice obstacle to get over on the 60 rod portage out of Horse
We spent time in the afternoon fishing on Fourtown. My daughter hooked a really nice northern (pole bending size) unfortunately she wasn't able to muscle it into the boat before it broke the line. Spent the evening watching the sun set after packing up camp
Day 5 time to head out - hitting the same 3 portages in reverse - lots of people crossing the portages either coming in or going out.
Now those same beaver dams we were able to float the way down the first one we were able to power our way up and across with some quick paddling. The last though was way too shallow and needed to carefully step into the reeds so you didn't sink up to your who knows what in the mud.
Report
Lakes Traveled:
Mudro Lake,
Fourtown Lake,
Gun Lake,
Thunder Lake,
Moosecamp Lake,
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