BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
September 18 2025
Entry Point 26 - Wood Lake
Wood 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 13 miles. Access to Wood Lake is a 180-rod portage. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.
Number of Permits per Day: 2
Elevation: 1361 feet
Latitude: 47.9691
Longitude: -91.6001
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: 2
Elevation: 1361 feet
Latitude: 47.9691
Longitude: -91.6001
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.
Ensign Lake
by birdonbats
Trip Report
Entry Date:
September 05, 2022
Entry Point:
Moose Lake
Number of Days:
4
Group Size:
6
Trip Introduction:
Guys fishing trip
Report
Thursday, July 02, 2015 We were all very excited to head north and explore Crooked Lake as well as enjoying the open water with no more portages until the food was eaten down. Right off the bat I caught a nice 20” walleye trolling a deep diving rapala in firetiger; a lure that would catch many walleye on Crooked Lake. We spent a good bit of time viewing the pictographs and enjoyed feeling the link to the people of the past. I had intended to bring some tobacco to appease Maymaygwayshi, the mischievous trickster thought by the Ojibwe to live in the cliff, but never followed through with purchasing some. I had my nephew pick out a couple of small lures that we left in nocks of the cliff face.[paragraph break] We stopped for lunch along the route and made plans to fish a narrow spot on the lake that created a lot of current. We marked large schools of fish on the portage depth finder and drifted leeches on many different types of jigs for almost an hour. Not one fish caught among the group. We headed north again when I spotted the white head of a bald eagle bobbing up and down in the brush on a small island. I told my nephew to get really quite while we let the wind push us up to the island. With camera in hand I was the eagle struggle to take off; flapping it’s wings in an awkward manner. When he finally did take flight I saw what was hindering his take-off; one of the biggest small mouth bass of the trip hung from his talons. He flew off to eat in peace.[paragraph break] The wind picked up as we headed towards Wednesday Bay and the sky began to darken with rain laden clouds. We began looking for a suitable campsite and passed up a few before finally settling on an exposed camp on the southern point of a large island. We hustled to get camp up before the clouds unloaded. Typical of my nephew, he had his fishing rod in hand and was working a zulu around the perimeter of camp. He got a massive strike in an open patch of weeds from a giant bass we dubbed the “camp bass”. Over the next couple of hours we managed to get nearly a dozen strikes out of this bruiser but could not hook and land it. We joked Maymaygwayshi was messing with us and did not like our offering we made earlier in the day. Everyone had been skunked since leaving Picture Rocks.[paragraph break] The weather settled a bit as it neared the late afternoon. Nathanial and I went out in search of fish. We headed south back to a place not far away where a narrow point caused noticeable current. Nathanial had at a half dozen or so misses of both small pike and bass. We finally tried a weed cocked cove off to the side. Bingo! We got a couple of rises out of some bigger pike. Nathanial was still fishing a zulu on light tackle when a big pike came us and grabbed it boat side. It bent the rod and broke the line. After that I picked up my heavy rod rigged with 30 lb braided line and a titanium leader. I attached a Lucky 13 in the frog pattern and threw it out far from the boat towards shore. I let it sit until all the ripples faded and then popped it once. A huge pike lifted its head and tried to inhale the lure but missed. I popped the lure two or three more times and the pike came charging. It smashed the lure and dove, racing towards the canoe. It went right under the boat where we got our first good look at it and turned right and ran some more. It took line at will and would then turn and race back under the boat in the opposite direction giving us another look at it. I told Nathanial to work the boat towards the shore as there was no way I was going to bring this beast into the canoe with us. Each time the pike turned and charged in the opposite direction the lures trebles began to work themselves free of its boney mouth. On the 5th or 6th pass the pike finally spit the lure and swam free. I turned in disbelieve to my nephew. His hands were trembling as he held the paddle, but had the biggest smile I had ever seen stretched across his face. Maymaygwayshi would have the last laugh today as we paddle home skunked. It was the only day of the trip Nathanial failed to catch a fish but I would bet his most memorable of the trip.[paragraph break] It rained and thundered throughout the night. 
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