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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 23 - Mudro Lake

Mudro 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 19 miles. Three accesses into Mudro Lake involve portages ranging from 20–185 rods.Easiest access is from private la nd with parking fee.

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.

Mudro to Basswood

by pboba
Trip Report

Entry Date: September 20, 2010
Entry Point: Mudro Lake
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
We go to the BWCA twice a year - in June and September. This is September.

Report


Mudro to Basswood / September 20, 2010

We left Moorhead, MN., at 6 AM for the 330 mile drive to Ely. We stopped at Piragis for a roll up camp chair for one of our old men and I got a great end-of-the-season deal.

We got our permit and headed up the Echo trail to the entry point at Mudro. We were on the water by 1 PM with only a short run up to Fourtown for our first night. The weather was overcast and mild and a moderate wind from the West.

Day 2 started at 9 AM with partly cloudy and a brisk westerly wind. We headed west out of Fourtown into Boot Lake. We had to buck the wind and waves for a solid hour until we gained the West side on Boot and turned our course north along the sheltered shore. We continued north through Fairy, Gun, 300 rods into Wogash, Nikki, Chippewa, Papoose, Papoose Creek and into Friday Bay for our 2nd night.

Day 3 started at 9 AM. This would be our long day. We would be mostly on water with only a few portages around the several falls on Basswood. We traveled east with the wind at our back and made good time through Thursday Bay (lunch at Table Rock, of course), down the Basswood River, portages around Lower Basswood Falls, Wheelbarrow Falls, Upper Basswood Falls and into the north end of Jackfish Bay of huge Basswood Lake for night 3. We determined that the weather was going to change so we set up camp for rain.

We had heavy rain overnight, and woke to air that was more wet than rainy. It was a very dense mist. Day 4 was pretty much all water. The wind had switched to the northeast at 10 to 15 mph. We had this at our back all the way down Basswood. The farther we went, the larger the swells became as they built over the many miles down the course of the lake. By the time we started into the creek heading into Sandpit, the rollers were borderline dangerous.

We had made tremendous time, and determined that we were only an hour or so from the entry point. We had completed our route for the most part, and decided to head home instead of setting up in the cold and wet. We sped through Sandpit and the up hill portage into Mundro and we were back to the car by 2 PM.

The Black and Blue cheeseburger and fries at the Moose Cafe was worth the somewhat shortened trip. We had covered 42 miles and 19 portages totaling 1353 rods (4.23 miles).

Our trip home was entirely in a heavy rain storm that covered most of the state on Minnesota and Wisconsin. This was the system that put 10 inch and 14 inch accumulations of rain in the southern part of the state. This is what we missed by getting out a day early. Smart or Lucky? You decide. 

 


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