BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
July 15 2025
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.
EP 62 Clearwater to Caribou: Johnson Falls, Palisade, Fishing, Fallen Tree Almost Hits Our Tent
Entry Date:
June 07, 2017
Entry Point:
Clearwater Lake
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
4
Had been planning this trip since January. We wanted to find a lake that we could base camp, catch fish, and do fun day trips. After a bunch of research, we had settled on Caribou Lake, which is east of Entry Point 62 and Clearwater Lake. We reserved our canoes, tent, and packs ahead of time from Clearwater Lodge and Outfitters. First time using them and I highly recommend them.
We had made our permit entry date for Thursday June 8 but wanted to get there the night before so we could get an early start so we had a bunkhouse reserved for Wednesday night. We left the twin cities around 2:30 pm and arrived at Clearwater Lodge around 8:00. We were able to have our own bonfire in a fire pit right on the lake. It was a great way to start the trip.
Sunday morning, we packed up and were out of the campsite by 8:30. We got back to the outfitter by 11:00 and headed back home without a hitch.
Overall, it was a great trip. The day trips to the palisade on Clearwater Lake and then to Johnson Falls were very fun and memorable. The fishing was great. I highly recommend this trip for anyone looking for a good base camp lake.
Friday morning we awoke to a dense fog over the lake. We got some great pictures.
Me and one other had woken up early and decided to head out fishing while the other two slept. We paddled through the fog to the opposite shoreline and were once again treated to great smallmouth fishing.
We caught approximately 30 smallmouth in about 2 hours.
After heading back to camp and hanging out and eating lunch, we went on our day trip back to Clearwater Lake to the palisade overlooking the lake.
We were told of a small trail that leads up to the top. After some searching of the shoreline, we were able to find the start of the trail. We parked the canoes on the shore and headed up the steep trail to the top. It took about 20 minutes to reach the very top. The views were amazing and it was one the highlights of our trip. These pictures just don't do it justice.
We spent some time enjoying the views and then climbed back down the trail and headed back to our camp on Caribou. We finished the day by eating the walleye from the day before and it was spectacular.
After sleeping in a little later on Saturday, we ate breakfast and hung out until late morning. Our day trip was to Johnson Falls. It took 2 short paddles and 2 portages to reach the hiking trail that led to the falls. The trail was very wet, muddy, and rocky. After about a 15 minute hike, we reached the falls and they were amazing. There were 2 levels to the falls, an upper and a lower. We swam in both. The upper falls were more rocky and you were able to sit in the lower part of the falls near the river bank and be blasted with cool refreshing jets of water. It really was like sitting in a hot tub except it was cool refreshing water, which was great because the temp was into the 80's. We were also able to stand under the falls, which was quite an experience.
The lower falls was deeper where the water came down and you were able to swim without touching bottom. After swimming down and not being able to touch the bottom, one guy in our group made the jump from the top of the falls and it was really cool to watch and I'm sure very thrilling for him.
After a lunch at the falls, we headed back to camp. The wind had started picking up and by the time we got back to the start of Caribou Lake, the wind got very strong. It made for a tough canoe ride back to camp, but thankfully we were paddling directly into the wind so we could hit the waves straight on.
Once we were back at camp, the wind picked up even more. Thankfully the campsite was pretty well protected by the trees but it was nothing but whitecaps on the lake. Then the scare of the trip happened. As we were sitting in our camp, we heard the very loud sound of a nearby tree snapping and falling. That is a very frightening sound. Thankfully it missed us and the tent, but it didn't miss by much. It ended up about 20 feet from our tent.
The rest of the day was spent at the camp just hanging out because it was too windy to go out onto the lake. It was a Saturday and I couldn't help but think of those poor souls trying to navigate bigger waters than ours in their canoes.
Sunday morning, we packed up and were out of the campsite by 8:30. We got back to the outfitter by 11:00 and headed back home without a hitch.
Overall, it was a great trip. The day trips to the palisade on Clearwater Lake and then to Johnson Falls were very fun and memorable. The fishing was great. I highly recommend this trip for anyone looking for a good base camp lake.
