My brother and I are headed to Crooked via Mudro in the first week of September. I am looking for route advice that time of year, as I know there are some options. We plan to base camp for 4 or 5 days once we arrive at Crooked. Any tips regarding campsites on Crooked would be awesome. We are hammock campers. Primary goals are fishing and relaxation. This will be our 4th trip to the BWCA. Trip, fishing or general advice are all welcome.

If you haven't seen it already? We did a very similar route (albeit in June) in this trip report.


Paddling with Padres, a spiritual Exodus adventure

Ill be through the area July 17th ish. Will check in after if I have anything to share.

M

My buddy and I made a 4 night loop from Mudro entry point and we spent one night at campsite 1878 on or near Sunday Bay. The island campsite fire pit area is elevated with a nice view that receives a comfortable breeze keeping the insects at bay. Just behind the fire pit area is a tree lined hill, the trees and the hill offer shade and wind protection for the fire pit area.

We do not fish but the campsite is not far from Curtain Falls and Iron Lake which I believe is a good fishing lake.

What route did you take and would you recommend it?

I have a 7day trip planned for the end of August. 4 of us will be going from Mudro up through Sandpit, Tin Can Mike, Horse lake/River. We will spend a few days on Crooked and head back out through Friday Bay in Crooked to Papoose, Chippewa, Nikki, Wagosh, Gun, Fairy, Boot, Fourtown and back to Mudro.

I took a similar loop last year during the first week of September. Our goal was waterfalls and pictographs, not fishing. We did not spend much time on Crooked. We entered and exited Mudro, took the Horse river on the way in and then the Basswood River/Basswood lake on the way out.

For your trip I recommend going up to the border via Sandpit/TCM/Horse River and returning via Friday Bay/Wagosh/Boot, just as JayRod describes. The Mudro-Sandpit portage is the most difficult portage on this route. It is somewhat easier if you're heading east. The next two portages after it are retired railroad grades. The Horse River might be a little low when you go but we didn't have any problems going downstream in September 2025. Upstream would have been slower and frustrating. We split this up into 2 days, staying on Horse for a night, but you should be able to get to the far side of LBF if you get an early start and portage efficiently.

The last time I went south out of Friday Bay was in 2017 and it was a bigger day for us, starting in Saturday Bay and ending on Home. I would plan for 2 days from Crooked back to Mudro, even if you start at the southern end of Friday Bay. Stay on Fourtown or wherever you run out of steam. There's a couple challenging portages but nothing that should break your spirit like Sandpit Hill. Wagosh-Gun is just long: well maintained with gradual elevation gain for the most part. Most will recommend against the Moosecamp River. I'd ask here a week or two before your trip and only take it if someone else has recently.

There are so many great campsites on Crooked, with so much good fishing near them that I don't even want to recommend one. Every site should have trees for hanging. Can't go wrong with this lake.

Regarding fishing, is it worth the extra effort to head toward the west end of Crooked?

Great fishing all over Crooked. The west end would give you access to Iron and Curtain falls, but for just fishing, it wouldn't add much benefit. Iron is a good fishing lake, but not really better than Crooked imho.