Last year we did a loop starting and ending at Mudro up the Beartrap river and down the Horse river on the way out. The pictos are a neat site up the basswood river. You would be going against the current on the Horse, but it really won't make much of a difference. Sites will be a hot commodity around Lower Basswood falls, we were lucky to nab one a little more North of the rest. Finding a site on Horse Lake can be tricky around the weekends I think, as we didn't find any open at about 2 pm on our way out. We had to move on to Tin Can Mike lake where we picked up the only open site. Your trip should be relatively smooth with little or no portaging in the beginning. Here are a couple pics of the pictos: