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       Moose/Portage river vs Mudro
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Date/Time: 03/28/2024 05:31PM
Moose/Portage river vs Mudro

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Previous Messages:
Author Message Text
schweady 05/01/2019 08:58AM
Horse River exits Horse Lake and flows north.
1. Look at a topo map; lines of elevation always point upstream.
2. Many rivers get their names from their 'parent' lakes.
Gopher02 05/01/2019 08:22AM
Dumb question here so get ready... entering at Mudro and going up the Horse river to lower basswood falls, is that down river or up river? Planning to go up horse river, across crooked and out through Friday bay and back through Fourtown.
TominMpls 04/30/2019 12:42PM
Paddlebuddy: "Thanks! Nice to hear that you've done both loops and I'm really considering switching. Do you by chance know which loop is longer?"


According to my records, on my most recent EP23 trip we went 45 miles and on my most recent EP16 trip we went 43 miles. Those distances are what we actually traveled, according to my GPS. According to another site's paddle planning program, the EP23 loop is 46.4 miles double portaging, and the EP16 loop is 45.9 miles double portaging. So call them identical.
Paddlebuddy 04/28/2019 12:50PM
TominMpls: "I've done both of the loops you describe recently and I can tell you I'd heartily recommend the EP 16 route over the EP23 one. It's not that there's anything wrong with the Horse / Crooked / Boot loop - it has interesting sights, varied paddling, and lots of different types of portages - but you'll likely get very little solitude, and in my experience it all starts looking pretty worn and state park like by the middle of the season from all the use.



Once you're north of Agnes (and really Nina Moose is where a lot of people stop) the Agnes / LLC / Pocket / Oyster loop feels much, much more isolated than the Horse / Crooked / Boot loop in my experience. It might actually be a slightly easier loop, technically, though the two are very similar in that regard - lots of relatively easy portages, varied types of paddling. But there are far fewer entry points feeding the area. In a July trip with my daughter two years ago we went 48 hours without seeing anyone when we were traveling from LLC down Pocket Creek and Gebe on our way to Oyster.



I feel like I'm constantly fighting for sites on the Mudro entry loops, while the first day is the only day I've had to worry about a site on the Nina Moose entry loop."



Thanks! Nice to hear that you've done both loops and I'm really considering switching. Do you by chance know which loop is longer?
Paddlebuddy 04/28/2019 12:47PM
overthehill: " You could also go in 16 and across Crooked and out 23."


Would 7 day and 6 nights be enough to do this loop without traveling a ton of miles a day?
overthehill 04/26/2019 01:19PM
You could also go in 16 and across Crooked and out 23.
TominMpls 04/26/2019 12:11PM
I've done both of the loops you describe recently and I can tell you I'd heartily recommend the EP 16 route over the EP23 one. It's not that there's anything wrong with the Horse / Crooked / Boot loop - it has interesting sights, varied paddling, and lots of different types of portages - but you'll likely get very little solitude, and in my experience it all starts looking pretty worn and state park like by the middle of the season from all the use.


Once you're north of Agnes (and really Nina Moose is where a lot of people stop) the Agnes / LLC / Pocket / Oyster loop feels much, much more isolated than the Horse / Crooked / Boot loop in my experience. It might actually be a slightly easier loop, technically, though the two are very similar in that regard - lots of relatively easy portages, varied types of paddling. But there are far fewer entry points feeding the area. In a July trip with my daughter two years ago we went 48 hours without seeing anyone when we were traveling from LLC down Pocket Creek and Gebe on our way to Oyster.


I feel like I'm constantly fighting for sites on the Mudro entry loops, while the first day is the only day I've had to worry about a site on the Nina Moose entry loop.
corvidologist 04/24/2019 05:05PM
I've traveled in this area during very busy times of year. My thought is that if you are on the water fairly early, and are able to check the lake you want to stay on by early afternoon, you'll be ok. There will be people - it's not an area for complete isolation, and lakes can fill. (I've seen people paddling off Horse heading down the river at 7pm, presumably because the lake was full... bad decision making?) But if you're on the lake when people are moving you'll have a site. You might just grab the first one you can see, but you'll have something.
Beast388 04/24/2019 08:34AM
In June of 2018, our group entered at Mudro and pushed up through Fourtown, Boot, Gun etc and camped on Crooked between Friday and Thursday Bays in a long day. You could certainly do that, but camp on Gun the first night, and do the 320rod portage first thing the next day. We were there for four days, base camping and fishing as much as possible.


To return, we decided that we wanted to avoid the 320rod portage so we went down Wednesday Bay to Lower Basswood, Horse River and camped two nights on Horse Lake.


We saw few people on Crooked Lake, more on Horse, but still had plenty of solitude.








SouthernExposure 04/18/2019 10:53AM
We have put in at EP23 to Jackfish Bay then downstream on the Basswood river. This will let you see 3 great waterfalls in one day with fishing below each of them with minimal traffic. Take BWR to Crooked Lake then make your way back down towards Fourtown, Plan on spending your last night on Boot. You can then either head south out of Fourtown through the canyon portages to Mudro or jump over to Horse Lake then portage south to Mudro. I don't believe that that you will have trouble finding a campsite just about anywhere if you go before Memorial Day weekend.


SE
minnmike 04/18/2019 09:29AM
Good luck switching your EP on the permit. I tried and they told me I can't
Blatz 04/18/2019 06:20AM
For the Mudro loop I think you'll find most of the crowding on Horse and Fourteen. Plan to not stay on those lakes and you should be ok. I did that loop solo in 4 days traveling about 6 hour days. That should work out just right if you want a couple of layovers.
Paddlebuddy 04/17/2019 11:45PM
So I'm looking for a 6 nights, 7 day trip. I want to travel about 6-7 hours max a day, possibly have a layover day or two but not a deal breaker. I usually dislike alot of layover days because I get bored but I don't want to run a marathon as well. I do plan on fishing with such short travel days but i do want to do a loop as well which I already looked into the possible routes for each entry points. With ep 16, I want to go to Agnes, LLC to pocket and back out through Oyste. With ep 23, I do want to do the horse to crooked and down to Fourtown and out. I hate fighting for campsites and I know Mudro can get pretty busy in May which is when I'm planning to go. Already have the permit booked for ep 23 but I'm leaning to switch it to ep 16 because I heard Mudro can get busy. I know I can't go wrong with scenery for either routes but which route would provide a possibility for lesser crowds, ample fishing and leisure travel days without killing my wife?