Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Can we do a more difficult loop?
by Speckled

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe

Entry Date: 05/30/2025

Entry & Exit Point: South Hegman Lake (EP 77)

Number of Days: 3

Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:

Previous trips with my son had always been with the family (Myself, Wife, Son and his Girlfriend, Ella). He had been pushing for us to do more traveling and go further, not something my wife and my sons girlfriend were super interested in. So the trip with just the two of us was born. I planned the trip with difficulty in mind. We would each paddle our own solo canoe, with a single blade paddle. We would start at South Hegman Lake and move up to Crooked. This would take us through the Trease to Angleworm portage, listed at varying distances on various maps...gps put it at just over 500 rods. We would also be taking the Gun to Wagosh portage. From Crooked we would make our way against the current up to the falls area and then again against the current up the Horse river and down to Mudro to exit. Double portaging, so counting each portage three times, this put the total portage distance at 18 miles for the trip.

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Day 1 of 3

Friday, May 30, 2025

We dropped off a vehicle at Mudro and headed over to South Hegman. We were on the water shortly after 9:00. We settled in nicely and moved along up to the Picto's on North Hegman.

From there we continued on to the Trease to Angleworm Portage. Now, I've done the Horse Portage, Gun Portage, Muskeg to Kiskidinna, Tuscarora to Missing Link, Seagull to JAP and a few others that consistantly make the worst portages in the BW list. A quick rating...1. Seagull to JAP; 2. Trease to Angleworm 3. Tuscarora to Missing LInk (in that direction).

The portage was longer than advertised, the swamp is hard to pick your way through. There's easily a dozen options of people trying to find higher ground or less mud...good luck, if you miss stepping on a log or grass patch, your calf to knee deep in muck. We arrived at Angleworm, put on some bug dope and had a quick lunch. We paddled straight into a strong headwind up Angleworm and made our wat to Gun Lake by 5:00. The 271 portage into Gull was a breeze. Every portage, even those around a mile in length felt easy for the rest of the trip. We camped on Gun Lake, site 1083. This is a 5 star site in my opinion. One of the best i've come across.