BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog
April 28 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.
2007 Moose River Trip
Entry Date:
May 10, 2007
Entry Point:
Moose/Portage River (north)
Number of Days:
5
Group Size:
8
Left motel in Ely around 4:00 AM. After a stop at Holiday Station for breakfast snacks and coffee we were off. Arrived at EP 16 around 5AM and started portaging. It went slow because of the group size, and the age of the younger kids. We made a mistake of pairing up two of the kids that had little paddling experience. They zigzagged down the Moose River. As we hit Nina Moose Lake the wind came out of the north and was strong. We ended up stopping at the peninsula camp site. After we regrouped, we set out again. The next two portages on Nina Moose River were rough. I made a huge mistake by going down the rapids on one of the Nina-Moose portages. First two canoes made it ok. The one my son Rob and Carol's son Ryan was in ended up capsizing. We almost lost our food bags, and equipment. My son Rob often tells me he should have said no and taken portage instead! We arrived on Lake Agnes to once again face wind. We stopped on a site to regroup and ended up staying the night. Ryan caught a few Walleye and let them go.
Woke up to sunshine and warmth. We lazed around finally decided to push on to Lac around 2PM. By then wind rose up and we had some small waves to contend with. We took the 24 rod portage to Boulder Bay and decided to paddle the Boulder River. We had to dodge a lot of rocks and portage a small area of the river that had a small drop off. We were all feeling good about the time we were making at that point. We came to an area of the river where there were boulders all across the river. We found a small opening on the left side where we had to go thru to continue. The first two canoes made it ok. My canoe got hung up on a rock and the current pulled the canoe down and swamped us. We were cold wet and tired. We retrieved everything including three soaked sleeping bags. It was almost dark as we finally warmed up somewhat in dry sleeping bags. We took out the rest of the bags and spent the night there.
By this time my 17 year old daughter Jenny was ready to go home. I felt if we made it this far we had to go all the way to our campsite. After a vote, we pressed on. Got to LLC and had some wind again. Found our site and set up camp. Was a nice day. Kids fished, but no luck. Younger kids played on the beach. I slept most of the afternoon. Had Bear Creek Chili that night and went to bed feeling happy.
We woke about 8:30 AM and knew we had a long day ahead of us. By the time we all packed we left around 11:00AM. Took the 65 rod portage instead of Boulder River. Ran into white caps on Lake Agnes and stopped at a site and fished. Ryan caught a small Walleye off shore. After several hours of fishing the wind switched from the NE and we started out again. Made it off Agnes ok. We were all beat, portages took time. The last portage on Nina Moose River we ended up leaving in the dark with lightning off to the SE. I knew we could make Nina Moose Lake. We camped on the first open site, and watched the intense lighting display to the SE. Jenny thought she saw a funnel cloud when we were at the last Nina Moose River Portage. I could not sleep since I knew severe weather was in the area. I finally got the boys up and we pitched up the tent just in case the weather got bad. Younger kids slept in the tent. Fell asleep around 3:AM
We awoke to a cooler morning. The sun was out and had not stormed that night. I was kind of mad we pitched the tent, but you never know what the weather may bring in the BWCA. Since we were a day late, we were greeted by search and rescue at the mouth of the Moose River. My family had called to report us overdue. Was embarrassing, but I was relieved to see that if there was an emergency they would be there for people. The final portage took us 2 hours. Had a tough time getting everyone motivated including myself. We finally got packed up and left the parking lot at 3:PM. Ate at Pizza Hut in Ely and was home by 10:15PM. I had to work that night too! :(