Fourtown Lake/Mudro Lake Area

Overlay #11 in the BWCA

If you are looking for an area of the BWCA where you can leave the crowds behind, it is probably the region covered by the McKenzie #11 Map. There are three entry points on this map and all require hefty portages to reach interior lakes. These long portages are what keep many groups from starting their BWCA trips in this area.

Entry Point #20 and Entry Point #21 are for Angleworm Lake and the Angleworm Trail respectively. The portage from the Angleworm Lake parking lot to Angleworm Lake is 716 rods (over two miles). Few folks enter here. Angleworm Lake is a long, pretty lake that leads up to the remote area around Beartrap Lake. The Angleworm Trail is a relatively short BWCA backpacking trail that circumnavigates Angleworm Lake and a few other lakes just north of Angleworm Lake. Both the Angleworm Trail and the long Angleworm portage share the same trail down to Angleworm Lake. Spring Creek is crossed along the way.

Mudro Lake offers the easiest entry points into this area and the most route options. Mudro Lake Entry Point #23 is restricted because if you enter the BWCA with this permit, you cannot camp on Horse Lake. That is the only restriction. From Mudro Lake you can head north up to Fourtown Lake. There are three portages between Mudro Lake and Fourtown Lake with the longest being 141 rods. The route between Mudro Lake and Fourtown Lake along Fourtown Creek is very pretty with bald eagles very common in the area, especially in spring. The other route out of Mudro Lake is up toward Horse Lake. The portages up to Horse Lake from Mudro Lake are 80 rods, 160 rods and 90 rods respectively. The portage between Sandpit Lake and Tin Can Mike Lake is the longest (but very easy as it is an old railroad grade) and is interesting for the long boardwalk installed to traverse the marsh.

Lastly, Entry Point #77 at South Hegman Lake is impelling because it provides access to a short paddle up to the North Hegman Lake pictograph site. This is one of the easiest pictograph sites to reach in all of the BWCA and Quetico and is also probably the best in the BWCA. There are only four easily accessible lakes from Entry Point #77. After you have explored those four lakes, it is a 428 rod portage from Trease Lake up to Angleworm Lake if you want to continue farther into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The Trease Lake portage is a really tough portage. This 428 rod portage intersects both the Angleworm portage and the Angleworm Trail as they near Angleworm Lake.

The following major lakes (and many other minor lakes) are shown on the McKenzie(TM) #11 (Jackfish, Beartrap) Map:

Angleworm Lake
Basswood Lake
Beartrap Lake
Beartrap River
Boot Lake
Crooked Lake
Fairy Lake
Fourtown Lake
Gun Lake
Horse Lake
Horse River
Jackfish Lake
Mudro Lake
Sandpit Lake
Sinneeg Lake
South Hegman Lake
Spring Creek
Sunday Lake
Thunder Lake
Tin Can Mike Lake