BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 25 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.
Wind Lake Winter Camping Trip-2013
Entry Date:
February 04, 2013
Entry Point:
Moose Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
1
I planned what I thought was a reasonable distance to go in, which was across Moose Lake through a 1/2 mile portage trail then half way across Wind Lake to set up camp. This is approximately 2 1/2 miles. Now I thought this because I run through trails almost everyday, compete in ultra trail marathons and regularly do push-ups. So what's the problem?
I packed my toboggan like it was Santa's sleigh, and almost impossible to pull! I used my running shoes with ice spikes on, another big mistake. I brought my snow shoes and did used them on the haul out.
It took everything I had within me to get my toboggan half way across Moose Lake on a pre made dog sled trail, only to find out that it went north and I had to turn west and start breaking my own trail. I could only move the toboggan about 50ft at a time before my heart rate was getting to high. So I kept moving it and resting until I got it to the portage trail. I looked at the portage trail and it went straight up, and I thought this would be impossible to get my gear up and across to the next lake, so I decided to take 2 trips across to get my gear to Wind lake (which I had to break my own trail). This worked but this got me set up just before dark and I had to go searching for my firewood in the dark.
Some of the weight issues, were that I brought many items that I either didn't need or did not use. I weighed these items when I returned just for fun and the unnecessary items weighed 17 lbs.. The other heavy items were my choice of food, I brought fresh apples and banana( which froze) and hydrated soups and chili. In general I just simply brought way to much stuff.
As far as setting up my camp on Wind lake goes it could not have been better, the lake had no one there all week. I only saw 5 snowshoers passing through. My fishing experience was great I kept a few and released a few including a 35" 10 lb. Northern Pike. The weather was calm and mild as well.
One morning I was fishing and started hearing some howling and yipping. I got a little nervous thinking it was a wolf pack and they were very close by. It occurred to me that I hadn't had my morning coffee yet so I went back into my tent, honestly it was the coffee that I was after; I just happened to be closer to my Survival Knife.
Luckily one of those snowshoers was passing by and I shouted if he could hear the wolves and he said it was a dog sled team, phew....
I kept having trouble with my stove backing smoke up into the tent and it seemed like it took me forever to diagnose that my spark arrestor was clogged. I pulled it off an banged off a soot cake and ended up having to clean this thing a couple of other times. There was a lot of wet wood to deal with.
A couple of the nights the sky was clear and I was able to see more stars than I've ever seen before quite awesome! I'm sure that no one could count them all.
One of the things that I noticed right away that is different from anywhere that I've ever been is the silence that is in the boundary waters. It was a little eerie at times, but mostly peaceful.
I made a plan to get my gear out and I would do it in 2 hauls. So Friday the day before I left I took off with what gear I didn't need for the last night. It didn't seem like a big load and so it was wasn't. I did the 5 mile round trip in about 3 hours.
One of the new things that I did on this trip (besides the trip,itself)is to read a novel. I read "Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand" check it out! I had plenty of time in the evenings since I would not allow myself to go to bed until 10 pm.
The last load on Saturday was still very heavy to get out. By using the snowshoes on the trails that I and the snowshoers made, it was doable, although still very taxing.
In summary it was a very challenging trip, but at the same time fun and rewarding... and there is no way I'm telling you where I caught those fish!
Thanks for reading.
William Boyle 
Moose Lake, Wind Lake