BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 26 2024
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.
24 Hour Canoe Challenge
Entry Date:
September 13, 2014
Entry Point:
Kawishiwi Lake
Number of Days:
2
Group Size:
2
The long portage from Elton to Little Sag is hilly and overgrown, so we opted to take the two shorter portages instead. The wind was calm, so we made good time from Little Sag through Mora and across Tuscarora, reaching the 30 mile mark just before noon along the portage between Tuscarora and Howl. Traveling on through Copper and Snipe, we met the first people of the day on Cross Bay Lake. By the time we got to Long Island Lake, a south wind had picked up, which slowed us down a little as we headed across Cherokee, still on track to reach our goal of 60 miles before midnight.
The long portage south of Cherokee is not difficult, but because a beaver dam has gone out on Ada Lake, the portage between Scoop and Ada is longer and muddier than before. We crossed the 50 mile mark on Sawbill Lake just as the sun was setting, then turned west through the Lady Chain lakes. It was pitch dark and we were exhausted by the time we got to the portages between Alton, Beth, Ella, and Grace, and the miles seemed to crawl past. We had to do everything very slowly and deliberately, but we pushed on across Grace and through three more portages, arriving on Phoebe Lake just before midnight. It took another last hurrah to circle around the lake looking for an unoccupied site, where we finally stopped and crashed, having traveled a total of 60.7 miles, including 8.4 miles of portages.
After sleeping for 12 hours and getting a slow start the second day, we got back on the water and paddled 16 more miles through Polly back to Kawishiwi, finishing the trip around 10 pm on September 14.