BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 18 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.
EP 27 - Snowbank to Thomas and back in May 2018
Entry Date:
May 15, 2018
Entry Point:
Snowbank Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
2
Lazy day, pinned down by high winds. We wanted to go out fishing but with sore muscles and the wind gusts, we elected to fish from our campsite. Caught 2 beautiful, ~20" Lake trout from shore, and had plenty of food for dinner. Gut them, put butter and fresh dill in their bellies, wrapped them in tinfoil, and cooked them over the fire. Finished with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and it was a 5 star dinner.
Also caught a 30" beefy pike that put up one heck of a fight.
There were a pair of very friendly loons that hung out with us most of the day. With Thomas being such a clear lake, and our elevated positions while fishing from up on shore, we were able to watch the loons dive and swim underwater. It was incredible, what amazing critters!
We checked the weather forecast that evening, and saw rain starting the next night, and continuing all day on Saturday, which was the day we were supposed to exit. We made the call to leave the next day, and do the majority of the travel, to put ourselves in a better position to exit on Saturday as planned, even if the weather was awful. Our decision ended up being the correct one.
Lazy morning, coffee, breakfast, and breaking camp. We departing around noon to begin the trek back out, targeting a campsite on disappointment lake.
A little windy, but tolerable, we headed back out the way we came. The wind gradually picked up as the day wore on. By the time we hit disappointment lake, it was pretty intense. We checked the map, confirmed we had about a mile to paddle, most of which would be straight into the gusts. White caps, a couple close calls, a quick break in a small sheltered bay, and one final push and we arrived at the campsite we wanted. Luckily it was unoccupied, because we didnt have anything left in the tanks to find another one.
We set up a very basic camp, expecting rain all night and the whole next day. My friend cooked up an amazing thai stir fry with loads of fresh produce we had been lugging around. Totally worth it. Then we went to bed after some unsuccessful fishing at dusk. As soon as we turned off the lights in our tent, the woods came alive with critters. So noisy, not sure what it was but there were at least a few of them running all around our tent. Sounded bigger than a squirrel... but nothing bad happened, and I must have been tired from the days travel because I fell asleep almost instantly, even though I was on high alert from all the critter action. Woke up several times throughout the night from loud rain, and a major temperature drop. It was around 72 when we went to bed, and around 37 when we woke up. I was very thankful for my sleeping bag liner that I brought on a whim in case we had some cold weather.
We woke up around 8am to more rain, but it tapered off and was mostly just windy for the rest of the day. We packed up our camp, had a quick cup of coffee, and chose to split a bag of jerky instead of making something more elaborate for breakfast so we didnt have to do any more dishes. We piled into the canoe and set sail around 10:30am, and the paddle across disappointment lake was easy, and gave me a glimmer of hope that snowbank wouldnt be miserable. Just in case, though, we decided to bypass some of snowbank, and instead do an extra portage into Parent Lake. Im very glad we did. Parent was quick and easy, but once we got to snowbank it was a whole different story. Ive heard about it being difficult. It was hell. A monster wind out of the north allowed waves to build over a the majority of the lake before they smashed into the side of our canoe, as we tried to dart across to the west and find some protection behind an island. That 20 minutes is high up on my list of the most scared Ive ever been in a canoe. But we made it to the island, and after another brutal paddle into that same monster, now headwind, we arrive at the dock and collapsed - see below: 
Loaded up, and headed back to town for our post-trip tradition: Many handwashings and then a delicious burger from the Boathouse Brewpub. Then back in the car for the drive back down to the cities, and back to reality.
Overall it was an awesome trip. One of the hardest Ive ever done, but in my mind you need to earn your solitude and isolation, which is why we love the bwca. We saw some amazing sights, and not everything went exactly according to the plan, but it rarely does. It fulfilled our need for a yearly reset, away from technology and our normal day to day lives and responsibilities.
THE END! [paragraph break] Lessons learned:
1. the pool noodle trick to cover the metal gunwales is genius
2. the book "the singing wilderness" is wonderful
3. 10 miles a day, while doable for my group, is probably a little too long
4. we always bring too much food, and it pains me to carry it back out
5. Early may trips are not good for my anxiety level, probably wont schedule another this early
6. Permethrin might not be as important right after ice out - we only saw 3 mosquitos, and 2 ticks
7. My new favorite adjectives: "Portagey" "Campsitey" "Moosey" For example, "That looks pretty portagey to me over there."