BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
June 30 2025
Entry Point 77 - South Hegman Lake
Number of Permits per Day: 1.5 (varies by day)
Elevation: 1282 feet
Latitude: 48.0336
Longitude: -91.9250
South Hegman Lake - 77
Can we do a more difficult loop?
Entry Date:
May 30, 2025
Entry Point:
South Hegman Lake
Number of Days:
3
Group Size:
2
We dropped off a vehicle at Mudro and headed over to South Hegman. We were on the water shortly after 9:00. We settled in nicely and moved along up to the Picto's on North Hegman. 
From there we continued on to the Trease to Angleworm Portage. Now, I've done the Horse Portage, Gun Portage, Muskeg to Kiskidinna, Tuscarora to Missing Link, Seagull to JAP and a few others that consistantly make the worst portages in the BW list. A quick rating...1. Seagull to JAP; 2. Trease to Angleworm 3. Tuscarora to Missing LInk (in that direction).
The portage was longer than advertised, the swamp is hard to pick your way through. There's easily a dozen options of people trying to find higher ground or less mud...good luck, if you miss stepping on a log or grass patch, your calf to knee deep in muck. We arrived at Angleworm, put on some bug dope and had a quick lunch. We paddled straight into a strong headwind up Angleworm and made our wat to Gun Lake by 5:00. The 271 portage into Gull was a breeze. Every portage, even those around a mile in length felt easy for the rest of the trip. We camped on Gun Lake, site 1083. This is a 5 star site in my opinion. One of the best i've come across. 
We awoke to a gorgeous morning on Gun Lake. 
Plan for today was to head up to Crooked and paddle until we've had enough. After some cakes for breakfast and a quick pack up, we were on the water around 9:00. I forget which portage between Gun and Crooked, but we came across the always beautiful Lady Slipper. 
We made it to Crooked and as is usually the case for all canoe trips, we were paddling straight into the wind. We stopped at site 1869 for some lunch, took a swim to cool off and clean up a bit. This site is elevated doesn't have much for tent pads and the fire grate is oddly placed off to the side. It's best feature would be the 4ish or so high rock where you can jump into the lake. It's plenty deep right off the site. 
From there we made our way up the bay hung a right and headed towards the falls. There was a surprising amount of current. In spots where the lake narrowed, it was full throttle with the solo and single blade to keep it moving forward. The current was easily visable and lots of little swirls and whirpools. If you got turned sideways at all in the more narrow points you would just be swept back down. We paddled until around 5:00 and settled into site 1859. 
This site had decent tent pads, but it was hard to get comfortable using some of them as a number of them had widowmakers leaning over them. This site also gave me the creeps a bit. Yep I said it. It gave me the creeps. Let me expand: This was my 41st overall BW trip and in addition to that i've spent countless hours and countless other nights in the SNF. In 26 years of spending ALOT of time in the woods, I can count on one had the times I've got the "creeps". In this case, we kept hearing this odd, louder than you'd expect sound back in the woods behind camp. It sounded like either a big stick getting snapped in half or rocks clanking together. After hearing a few times and kind of around sunset, we wandered back into the woods to investigate. We came across an area where the were some large swan feathers laying around and at one point, my son and I were maybe 30 feet apart standing still and listning when we heard the loud cracking sound right between us, with no apparant cause of the sound. We walked back to camp and had a kind of uneasy nights sleep, being woken multiple times by various strange sounds. It was just weird. I had something very similar happen many years ago on Kekekabic...just unusual clanking/cracking sounds that just kind of seemed out of place.
Monday, May 22, 2021
We awoke the next morning to a picture-perfect boundary waters morning: blue skies, calm breeze, and bird song from as far as the ear could hear. It was chilly but definitely warmer than yesterday. I was so grateful to have gotten a good night sleep with a full day of travel ahead.
We again sent a check-in message home with the Zoleo unit and learned later that our messages were received and appreciated. This turned out to be a successful test of a nice purchase for us . With five trips planned this year, it'll definitely get used to provide some peace of mind back home. Hope we never have to use the SOS, but it's there in case we or others we encounter need it.
We heated water for another breakfast of oatmeal, coffee, and cocoa, and broke down camp. Fortunately, after a rainy start in camp on Saturday, everything was nice and dry Monday morning as we packed up, which always makes packing up a bit more pleasant. As I loaded the canoe, Josef eagerly took on site-policing duties, searching out any bits of trash we may have missed. By now, as the temp warmed, the black flies and mosquitoes reappeared, and we donned our head nets and picked up our pace.
Once we were satisfied that we were leaving a clean campsite (except for that darned Rapala in the tree), we shoved off for our 3-mile paddle down Crocodile, our portage back to East Bearskin, and our 2-mile paddle to the car. We were in good spirits, chatting a bit and scoping out fishing spots we missed hitting yesterday because of the windy conditions.
About a mile in, Josef exclaimed, “this was so much fun. We *have* to do this every year.” Not sure if sweeter words have ever landed upon these ears. It was heartwarming to know he had a great time and it was awesome to hang out with him one-on-one. So, for us, this trip has now officially become known as our *1st annual* father-son trip.
I have to hand it to Josef, at every turn where conditions could have dampened enthusiasm or derailed the trip for some, Josef didn’t bat an eye and instead offered alternatives. Can’t fish? Hey, let’s go play more cribbage. Too cold? Let’s hang out in the tent or collect firewood. Turns out we didn’t really *need* to catch and eat walleye (though we really wish we had!), nor did he *need* his long-awaited wilderness ramen. We just really needed to be together in the woods. And I do believe he's got a heart for the wilderness. What an awesome trip partner. We had so much fun together. I look forward to many more years of tripping with him.
