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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 28 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.

Cummings Lake Trip Report

by hmf4
Trip Report

Entry Date: June 30, 2007
Entry Point: Crab Lake and Cummings from Burntside Lake
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
This is our second trip to the BWCA. Last year we looked like a couple of Paris Hilton's with all the junk we brought. :) We learned our lesson though and this year was alot better. We arrived Friday night, June 29th at about 8:00pm via my friend’s private plane. It’s the only way to travel! We grabbed some chow at the Ely Steakhouse and bunked at Voyageur North Outfitters.

Day 1 of 5


We headed out 7:30 am Saturday morning. The folks at VNO towed us across Burntside Lake to the Crab Lake portage. I broke my ankle in December and had 2 plates and 5 screws installed by the surgeon – needless to say I was a little apprehensive about the mile long portage to Crab. We got about 30 yards in the portage and realized we had not applied bug dope. Whoops! Once slathered up we were on our way. The Crab Lake portage is long but not too difficult. It took about 35 minutes each way and it took us two trips. By 9:30 we were paddling up Crab Lake. We continued on through the 20 rod portage to Little Crab, onto the Korb River, and then took the 70 rod portage into Cummings Lake. We were hoping to set up camp at the first island campsite but it was occupied so we landed at the northern island site and it became “Home Sweet Home”. The trip in was 5 hours total. We set up camp right away and set out for firewood. We found a dead cedar tree still standing across the way from our site and two hours later we had enough wood split up for the whole trip. We went for a quick fishing trip, cooked a little chow, had a fire and crashed at around 10:30.

 



Day 2 of 5


Sunday, July 01, 2007 - Our plan was to get up at 5am on Sunday and get fishing right away, but we decided to sleep in after a long hard day traveling in. After a little breakfast we were on the water fishing. We started catching smallies on crankbaits – infrequently. Back to the campsite for late lunch and with slightly darkening skies we were back on the water. More smallmouth on crank baits and it rained on us for about an hour. That killed any desire for a fish fry so we cooked up one of our freeze dried dinners. Another fire with vodka and fruit drink finished off the night.

 



Day 3 of 5


Monday, July 02, 2007 - Monday morning it started raining about 4:30 am and didn’t quit until close to 10:00am. It was also pretty dang chilly. We guessed it might be only 60 degrees or so. We scarfed down some chow and started fishing. We started catching smallmouths on leaches right away. Not very big, but plenty of ‘em. Ran into the first people we had spoken to the whole trip. Spent mid afternoon reading and napping and picking ticks off our legs – they were everywhere! Once again we finished off the evening with a fire and the vodka/fruit juice combo.

 



Day 4 of 5


Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - Tuesday had been declared serious fishing day, so we were up and at it by 5:30am. We stayed with the jighead/leech combination and started catching smallies right away. Jim caught a really nice largemouth that went close to 3 lbs. I pulled a couple more large mouths out of a blown down tree and it was time for shore lunch. Honest Abe, our resident eagle watched carefully as I cleaned our fish and Jim did a great job cooking up our catch – it was delicious! We took a short break and then got back after it. Late in the day I started catching smallies on topwater. I must have caught a fish on 20 or 25 consecutive casts. It was a blast. All told, we think we caught about 150 smallies on the trip. None of them were very big, but the action was steady the whole trip. And of course, the evening was wrapped up with a fire and the last of the vodka and fruit juice

 



Day 5 of 5


Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - It was time to pack up and head out Wednesday. The weather was fantastic. We decided to take Korb Lake home. It was a little marshy at the portage, but a pretty paddle. The trip out was uneventful and took the same amount of time as coming in. We got back to Voyageur North Outfitters for a shower and shave and a lift to the airport. Jim had us back in Milwaukee at 5pm – just in time for dinner! Great trip all the way around – we would definitely recommend Cummings Lake for some smallmouth action! Thanks to John and Lynn at VNO for setting us up again – Great Job!!

 


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