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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 16 - Moose/Portage River (North of Echo Trail)

Moose/Portage River (north) entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by La Croix Ranger Station near the city of Ely, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 27 miles. Access is a 160-rod portage heading North from the Echo Trail.

Number of Permits per Day: 5
Elevation: 1348 feet
Latitude: 48.1230
Longitude: -92.0991
A favorite route offering many trip options and memorable things to see including;

World Class fishing for all four BWCA Species
Pictographs
Soaring granite hills and cliffs
Small lakes
Small rivers
Tumbling rapids and waterfalls
Wildlife, including Moose
Vistas from high points across the region if you're willing to climb. Rating Easy to Moderate. Day One. Get to EP16 off of the Echo Trail early. The initial portage is long, but well worn and smooth, sloping gently downgrade to the launch area. Load your canoe and head North. You'll be paddling with the slight current on this narrow winding river. The water is clear and make sure to tell the bowperson to watch for looming rocks!

Moose River to Tiger Bay

by Porkeater
Trip Report

Entry Date: September 06, 2019
Entry Point: Moose/Portage River (north)
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
My wife and I decided to take a long weekend trip with just the two of us, now that the kids are starting to get older. She had not been on an overnight trip for many years. I started a thread earlier looking for input on the route, and we selected EP 16.

Part 1 of 2


We drove up on Thursday 9/5, and encountered rain for much of the 2nd half of the drive. The forecast for Friday onward was for cooler temps in the 60's, but not much rain. This proved pretty accurate, and we did only saw about 10 minutes of rain the whole time we were out. We had a nice dinner at Sir G's and spent the night at VNO. I've stayed there several times, and this was the first time we had to share a space with a common area. Fortunately, the family we shared it with were very nice. 

We arrived at the Moose River entry point about 7 a.m., stopping to take in the Echo Trail pictographs:

I decided to dress in period attire for the first day. It was a fun conversation starter along the fairly busy Moose River. 

We met several parties on the way out who had camped on Agnes, and all of them had bear encounters at their campsites. This reinforced our plan to try and make it all the way to LLC. This portage right before Agnes has to be one of the prettiest in the BW:

We ended up making it to camp in about 7 hours at fairly easy pace, double portaging. We took the island site at the West end of Tiger Bay:

We had a nice dinner of steak & potatoes, and a delicious apple crunch that I found online and will post in the recipe section.

Day 2 was a layover. We tried fishing for an hour or so, but the wind picked up considerably, forcing us back to camp. We caught a couple of small northerns, but was very slow otherwise. 

 



Part 2 of 2


On day 3, we paddled back to Nina-Moose in order to make for an easy final day. The portage landing between Boulder Bay and the Boulder River is quite rocky:

We stopped for lunch at the South end of Agnes, when the family that we shared the bunkhouse with paddled by. Small world. It turned out to be a very pleasant day, partly cloudy and in the 60's.

The paddle out on Monday morning was uneventful. Met a group of four brothers taking a trip as a sort of reunion. One of them was kind enough to take our photo. 

After showers at VNO and lunch at DQ, we headed for home and drove through rain most of the way. It turns out that we had the perfect window of weather for this trip. 

 


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