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marshy4200
  
05/25/2017 11:01PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Anyone been to Sterling Lake in PMA lately? Going in a couple weeks. Wondering about the portages coming from Stuart. Thanks.
 
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05/27/2017 07:42AM  
quote marshy4200: "Anyone been to Sterling Lake in PMA lately? Going in a couple weeks. Wondering about the portages coming from Stuart. Thanks. "


I've heard the portages have been pretty easy the last couple years although I haven't been there myself. If water levels stay high, you'll probably be able to paddle straight from Nibin to Bibon. I'll be up that way in three weeks, but I'll be heading up the Dahlgren river out of Stuart. Good luck, I've heard Sterling is a gem!
05/27/2017 01:17PM  
Been a couple years, but I think you will be OK. Look for a rock cairn at the portage out of Stuart (we went the other direction, but the Stuart landing is rock and pretty clear). Take your time on the portage, as there may be some down stuff, particularly on the low ground at the start. Someone had marked parts of the portage with cairns, when it got on high ground, which was useful, cause it winds around a bit. Second portage, into Sterling, comes down a slope at the end, but you will be OK. Enjoy Sterling: it is a pretty lake and secluded... Conventional campsite is on north stretch of the lake, but we camped on rock landing spot in the south stretch, west of the link to the north stretch. For us, a reasonable day travel was just to go between Sterling and Stuart, though it was a windy and rainy day. You probably know you will want a PMA permit for that zone.
muddyfeet
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05/28/2017 01:04PM  
Found the cairn at the portage from Stewart last fall (2016) without trouble. Traveling the other direction however, from the Bertrap river, it was difficult to find the entry to the creek and we abandoned the attempt as it was late in the day already.
05/28/2017 06:04PM  
Yep, the entrance from Beartrap up the creek can be obscured in emergent aquatic plants. Matter of trial and error, but it is there.
 
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