Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Mudro to Fourtown - paddle vs. portage
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JC007 |
1. Cooking stump at Boot Lake campsite 1093 2. Lake view of Beartrap campsite 3. Low spot at Beartrap where my tent nearly flooded! 4. Pano of Beartrap kitchen area 5. Sunset at Beartrap 6. Exposed Boot Lake kitchen at campsite 1093 7. Pike from Boot 8. Walleye from Thunder |
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Bushman |
I have been through the Billy Goat portages enough and I don't find them to be fun anymore. I figured it's at least a change of scenery on the way out. We plan on heading up towards the Beartrap lake area. We may stay on Boot the first night as I have always wanted to fish it. It looks very fishy! Second night would be Gull, Beartrap or Thunder. I haven't been to any of these. I did walk the portage from Gun lake a few years back just to eyeball Gull Lake. I've been all over the area a few times. I didn't really want this EP again but I was a few minutes late on permit day and 23 restricted was all that was left for my timeframe. If I had more days I would head to Crooked again. My favorite loop is out to Jackfish Bay and into the Basswood River and all the way around Crooked and out Friday bay. |
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Hammertime |
The put ins can be “fun” but you’ll manage. I hope you get the beartrap site, it’s an absolute gem. Have fun!!!! |
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JC007 |
Anyone done this? Is it possible? Is it even worth trying, or is it a fools game? Thanks for any advice / experience notes - my plan is to make Beartrap on day 1 so saving time and energy is top on my mind. |
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JC007 |
I expected to do the portages, really. What was the water level like? Any issues with the Mudro EP? |
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Finnboy |
The longer portage is pretty scenic in my opinion. |
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Aldy1 |
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RetiredDave |
The Beartrap site is so worth it! If you find it occupied you can backtrack and find multiple campsites without to much effort. Good luck, and I hope you get that great campsite on Beartrap, it's a beauty! Say 'hi' to that cheeky food-stealing chipmunk. Dave |
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Blatz |
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MikeinMpls |
Mike |
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Lawnchair107 |
We put in on May 31st out on Jun 7th." How’d the trip go? |
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JC007 |
Lawnchair107: "JC007: "I'm going in with my brother, but will be solo later on in Sep. This will be a good scouting trip for me so I have a good idea of what to expect. We put in on May 31st out on Jun 7th. |
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Aldy1 |
The portages are kind of a bear. Very rocky. Poor landings on most ends. But you should still be able to make it to Beartrap on Day 1 no problem. All the portages after Fourtown are easy. |
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JC007 |
Lawnchair107: "We put in on May 31st out on Jun 7th." Sorry for the delay - It was awesome, thanks for asking. Like it was stated before, there is NO WAY to avoid the Mudro to Fourtown portages no matter the water - unless it was biblical flooding, which would make it deadly anyhow. Portages remain true to form - rocky, steep and occasionally slippery. Expect to be tired and double portage. Day 1 we made it to Beartrap and got the site. Absolutely awesome, except the kitchen is exposed a bit, but two large flanking pines make it possible to get a tarp cover, but evening sun is tough to defeat. The weather was great on the way in - fair skies and mostly favorable winds. The “fun” began early evening when the heat turned into rain, then thunderstorms. I set my tent down by the water in a nice bed of pine needles and flat terrain - so I thought - until the rain hit. After some serious pouring, I found myself in about 3 inches of water and had to jump out of my tent in the rain to reset my tent to higher ground. Luckily I quickly found a spot behind the kitchen in a nice soft clay type spot. High and dry from there on. Beartrap fishing was disappointing - it only gave up a few fish at a time - enough to eat - but the catch to cast ratio was ridiculous. Perhaps a winter kill? Hence the phrase, “That’s why they call it fishing…” We fished Thunder most often and got good, consistent action and results. We ate walleye every night and caught some fun fighting northern - 24” minimums. We moved down to Boot a couple days before exit and got the 4 star rated site next to the 3 star on the eastern side. Nice site overall, but kitchen is exposed. One nice thing was a tall tree stump that made for a perfect table to clean fish and cook while standing up. No more hunching over and getting a sore back stuff! Boot fishing was like Beartrap - very slow, but gave a few good fights. My best was a 27” 4 lb 11 oz pike. My brother caught several about 22-24” along with some small perch, a couple small bass, bluegill and the occasional walleye. Last day out was headwind all the way which made Fourtown brutal. Even after just a week, the water was lower than entry and we had to pull through some low spots back to Mudro portage. Mosquitos were thick as thieves, and the house and biting flies were bad when the mosquitos weren’t - seldom relief at camp from bugs. Thanks for the replies and info - here are a few pics. |
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JC007 |
Happy to hear the Beartrap site is worth the effort - the reviews say as much, but first-hand testimonial is priceless. I'll keep an eye out for the cheeky bugger - I enjoy making new friends on these adventures - especially solo! |
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Tomcat |
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Lawnchair107 |
JC007: "I'm going in with my brother, but will be solo later on in Sep. This will be a good scouting trip for me so I have a good idea of what to expect. Whens your put-in and expected date out? I might reach out regarding water levels in acouple weeks. |
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HayRiverDrifter |
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Lawnchair107 |
JC007: "Lawnchair107: "We put in on May 31st out on Jun 7th." Nice!! We had the same results. We fished Beartrap hard for 3 days, with everything we had. Minnows, cranks, tails. Not much to speak of besides some Pike. Much better results on Thunder. |
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Tomcat |
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Bushman |
walleyejunky: "My son and I did the "Crooked Lake Loop" last year and had an amazing trip. Entered at Mudro the first morning making it to Lower Basswood Falls in about 6 hours. We spent three nights on Crooked. Coming down thru Friday Bay our goal was Beartrap Lake. We arrived later in the day and ended up staying at the site on Thunder next to the portage to Beartrap. That way we had easy access to both lakes. The site on Beartrap is nice and offers lots of solitude. It would be an awesome spot to spend 3 or 4 nights in a row. Fishing is good on both lakes but ironically we did best on Thunder for walleyes. What time of year did you go? I was really thinking hard on a few nights on Thunder. I'm not sure how busy it will be. I really dislike that ominous feeling of pushing hard and not being sure if you can find a campsite. |
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walleyejunky |
Bushman: "walleyejunky: "My son and I did the "Crooked Lake Loop" last year and had an amazing trip. Entered at Mudro the first morning making it to Lower Basswood Falls in about 6 hours. We spent three nights on Crooked. Coming down thru Friday Bay our goal was Beartrap Lake. We arrived later in the day and ended up staying at the site on Thunder next to the portage to Beartrap. That way we had easy access to both lakes. The site on Beartrap is nice and offers lots of solitude. It would be an awesome spot to spend 3 or 4 nights in a row. Fishing is good on both lakes but ironically we did best on Thunder for walleyes. We went last year (2022) June 8th to the 16th. There are four sites on Thunder but only two are decent. The first one next to the portage would do in a pinch. The second (#1884) and third (#1885) are both nice. My first choice would be #1884 but the convenience of #1885 next to the portage to Beartrap is nice with super easy access to both lakes for fishing. We spent 4 nights on Thunder and we only saw one other group camped on the lake. No one was on Beartrap all 4 days we were there. We hardly saw anyone traveling thru Thunder...maybe a group or two. It's kind of the end of the road. |
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walleyejunky |
On the way out we stopped at Fourtown the night before exiting at Mudro. Everyone is right those portages are tougher than most. I would stack them up against any of the "toughest 3 portages in a row" in the entire BWCA. However, when done with them the last day I felt like I definitely accomplished something!! If you got after it early and are fortunate to not have heavy winds then Beartrap is realistic the first day. None of the portages after Fourtown are brutal by any means. |
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BonzSF |
We left the entry point around 9:30. We did 2.5 portage trips on each portage. It was moist as it had rained the day before and a LOT of work. On the last portage into Fourtown there is a false end/landing that is difficult to use. Walk another 50 yards up the trail and it is MUCH easier. Didn't get to Fourtown until 11:30.. Then we fought a headwind to the Boot portage. Another hour. Ate some lunch and waited another hour and 15 for a lighting hold in place. And then the "showers" hit while going up boot. So we stopped there at campsite 1093 (aka. the first site that was open) around 3. Left the next morning around 9 and got to Beartrap campsite around 2:30. Once again 2.5 portaging and some wind on Gun and Gull. Then the interesting peat bog that you had to find a pathway to the water on the end of the Gull / Mudhole portage Thunder had one site occupied and one more group came in around sunset. We only spent the night and headed down the Beartrap river the next day. Nice site but the one on Iron two days later was just as good. On the loop back, we decided to go back down the Fourtown portage because it was the end of the trip, we had a day of rest at Fourtown, and all the food was gone. It was sure to be better. WRONG. we got the added factor of rain falling. Now it was just a hard cliff slippery portage. No actual fear of falling off but did I mention slippery? Either way it was NOT fun. Not to mention the need to unload and load twice in the middle. |