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Knuckles624
member (22)member
  
04/14/2019 08:34AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Hey folks,

After weeks of planning and preparation, we are drawing nearer and nearer to our trip into the BWCA! We're going to be doing the Crooked loop from Mudro and would love any input or advice from your experiences, such as any gear, fishing, sightseeing, campsite or portaging info. I'll try to provide as much info as I can!
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Entry Point: 23, Mudro Lake
Entry Date: May 27, 2019
Exit Date: June 3, 2019
2 People; experienced
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PRIMARY GEAR
Canoe: 17' Grumman Eagle
1 UL tent, 1 hammock w/ fly
1 UL canopy hex tarp
Pulley, rope to hang food
Fishing Gear; Zulu Magic method (Thanks Mike!)
Food: MRE, dehydrated meals, planning on eating a lot of fish
2 Teton hiking packs; attempting portages in 1 trip if possible
Garmin GPSMap 60CSx with Boundary Waters Chip
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TIMELINE {general outline, not strict]
Day 1: Mudro to Lower Basswood Falls
Day 2: LBF to Thursday/ Friday Bay
Day 3-5: Basecamp on Crooked, western region
Day 6-7: South through Gun, Fairy, Fourtown back to EP

What lakes would you hit? What kinds of lures would you bring for this time of year and region? What would you do to optimize this trip?

Thanks for all your help!
-Knucks


 
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ksprinkles
member (11)member
  
04/14/2019 06:00PM  
Knucks,

I have been to that area via your route 4 times and heading there for the 5th in June. It is a great area and the fishing is incredible. I have never been there in May so I might not be much help on the fishing, but we have always done well on Senkos, jigs and it wont hurt to have a couple J-11 Firetiger Rapalas.

You mention you are going to "attempt" single portaging. I would suggest you make sure you can before the trip and if not, plan on taking 3 packs instead of two. We always double portage and it really doesn't cost us much time. The 3 light packs will make it much eaiser to navigate some of the rougher terrain. Get an early start, camp sights at LBF fill up fast ....!!

We generally go from Mudro to our base camp on Thursday Bay on the first day, and go out though Friday Bay and back to Mudro on our last day. The travel days are long but it gives us the most time fishing .!

As far as sights to see. The Pictos just past LBF are incredible. Table Rock is an interesting sight in Wednesday as well

Hope that helps

Good luck and let us know how the trip goes

Ken

singlebladecanoe
distinguished member (163)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/14/2019 06:10PM  
A word of caution, you mention planning on eating a lot of fish. If you pack food with that thought and plan on eating fish you catch instead of packing along food, you may go hungry. Any trip I take I plan my food with the mind set of catching no fish. That way if I for some reason do have a less than stellar time fishing I don't have to worry about going hungry.
04/14/2019 09:17PM  
Bring a map and compass and know how to use it ( it's easy). GPS is nice but can malfunction. The Table Rock campsite on Crooked is not hammock friendly. It's nice trip. Did it October 2017
04/14/2019 10:15PM  
I did a very similar trip 4 years ago.

Crooked Trip Report

As far as meal planning, I plan eating all carried in food for the first 2-3 days, then one meal of fish per day, usually lunch. If your not catching fish you can usually hit the snacks to get to dinner. If you plan to cook sides to go with the fish, a couple of foil packs of chicken can be thrown in to make a decent fish less meal.
BobDobbs
distinguished member (472)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/15/2019 07:14AM  
it's a nice route. You will see people.

Sounds like you don't intend to stay on Horse, which means you can get the restricted Mudro permit.

You are really going to enjoy the portage from Fourtown into Mudro with that Aluminum Canoe! It's not called mountain goat for nuthin'!
Knuckles624
member (22)member
  
04/15/2019 08:21AM  
Knuckles624
member (22)member
  
04/15/2019 08:28AM  

Knuckles624
member (22)member
  
04/15/2019 08:31AM  
singlebladecanoe: "A word of caution, you mention planning on eating a lot of fish. If you pack food with that thought and plan on eating fish you catch instead of packing along food, you may go hungry. Any trip I take I plan my food with the mind set of catching no fish. That way if I for some reason do have a less than stellar time fishing I don't have to worry about going hungry."


Absolutely. I opted not to type out my entire menu, but I'll be bringing plenty of light and fresh food for sides and lunches. I don't even usually eat the MRE, its more of an emergency meal since I have a bunch and they have a lot of calories.

On that note, I'm weighing out using my food vacuum sealer to bring in portioned and prepared foods such as veggies, potatos, etc.
Knuckles624
member (22)member
  
04/15/2019 08:32AM  
BobDobbs: "it's a nice route. You will see people.


Sounds like you don't intend to stay on Horse, which means you can get the restricted Mudro permit.


You are really going to enjoy the portage from Fourtown into Mudro with that Aluminum Canoe! It's not called mountain goat for nuthin'!"


Would you recommend staying on Horse on night one? I don't have the restricted permit! :)
04/15/2019 10:50AM  
We have the same trip planned for the end of August.

We are thinking
Day 1: Mudro to Horse Lake
Day 2: Horse to Thursday or Friday Bay.
Day 3 layover at Thursday or Friday Bay
Day 4: Thursday or Friday Bay to Gun Lake
Day 5-6: Layover on Gun with daytrips to Moosecamp, Gull, Beartrap
Day 7: Gun Lake back to EP

We will play it by ear. Depending on how early we get started and how we are feeling on Horse we may continue on up to LBF area for the first night. May also move one more time to Fourtown to make the last day a little easier.
04/15/2019 03:37PM  
IndyCanoe: "We have the same trip planned for the end of August.
We are thinking
Day 1: Mudro to Horse Lake
Day 2: Horse to Thursday or Friday Bay.
Day 3 layover at Thursday or Friday Bay
Day 4: Thursday or Friday Bay to Gun Lake
Day 5-6: Layover on Gun with daytrips to Moosecamp, Gull, Beartrap
Day 7: Gun Lake back to EP

We will play it by ear. Depending on how early we get started and how we are feeling on Horse we may continue on up to LBF area for the first night. May also move one more time to Fourtown to make the last day a little easier."


This is similar to the trip I did in September 2011, except we had an extra day that we were pinned on Crooked due to wind which ate our daytrip option for doing a mini Gun to Moosecamp River loop.
Atrain
distinguished member (130)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
04/16/2019 11:26AM  
I was planning on this same itinerary loosely (7 day trip, with 2 layover days for cool sites and inclement weather). How much travelling is there on average between these campsites/bays? I know there is some moving water to help out, but I just want to make sure I'm not under planning mileage and end up bored.

Done EP 14 to 16 loop (pauness, hustler, boulder bay, nina moose) and EP 19 to EP 16 loop (stuart, iron, iron, nina moose) most recently each in 4 night trips as a point of comparison.
04/16/2019 11:58AM  
Knuckles624: "
BobDobbs: "it's a nice route. You will see people.

Sounds like you don't intend to stay on Horse, which means you can get the restricted Mudro permit.

You are really going to enjoy the portage from Fourtown into Mudro with that Aluminum Canoe! It's not called mountain goat for nuthin'!"

Would you recommend staying on Horse on night one? I don't have the restricted permit! :)"

Not necessary, but you could if you wanted to. There’s nice sites on Horse. I went from Mudro to LBF in October of 2017 in one day with a 6 year old along. I think it took us a good 5 hours. Great area, hope you share a trip report with us some time this summer!

Have fun,

Tony
 
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