I will be headed into Iron from boulder bay beginning of September. It is just me and my 2 boys age 13 and 11. I have heard the 320 rod portage is one of the worst muck portages in BWCA. I have taken the Bottle portage 10+ times from Lacroix, but coming from Boulder bay this mile portage would shave 3 hours off the trip. My concern is we will probably have to portage 2x as we have packed light but I don't think I can transport canoe and pack while the boys are each carrying a pack.

Thoughts or first hand knowledge of portage?

It is a fairly flat portage with a beaver pond near the LLC end that you paddle across. It really is not particularly difficult, but is two portages and a SHORT paddle through swamp, plenty of mud, and is long, especially if double portaging. It will save some time, but I doubt 3 hours when double portaging. It is a good alternative if LLC is crazy windy, but I personally like the Bottle route a LOT better especially when taking the higher, drier alternative trail. I could see it being a real pita with low water.

I tried going east once from LLC and never found my way out of the beaver pond, it was the damnedest thing, getting to beaver pond the portage was wide open and well traveled, then spent an hour wandering the little pond for the other half before heading up to bottle portage. GPS said I was on top of it, map correlated, I saw no trail I wanted to portage on.

Supposed to be simple navigating going west though and I want to give it another go from that end sometime. That being said most of what I have read about that portage, said to skip it.

Thanks guys! I will take the bottle route unless it is a crazy windy day. I do hear the beaver wall is impressive.

I love this portage. You get to see the LLC ranger cabin and boathouse on your way. The beaver pond along the way is a little sloppy at the west landing, but I've seen moose there twice in 3 trips. Definitely worth it. Once to the other side of the beaver pond it's a flat, easy portage. There's also some relics at the Iron end of the portage in the woods on the south side of the portage landing. I'll never do Bottle again.

quote barracuda: "I tried going east once from LLC and never found my way out of the beaver pond, it was the damnedest thing, getting to beaver pond the portage was wide open and well traveled, then spent an hour wandering the little pond for the other half before heading up to bottle portage. GPS said I was on top of it, map correlated, I saw no trail I wanted to portage on.


Supposed to be simple navigating going west though and I want to give it another go from that end sometime. That being said most of what I have read about that portage, said to skip it.



"

The portage landing is a little further north then most maps show. It took me about 30 minutes to find it the first time I did it. I went too far SE.

Agree with a007, liked the longer portage vs bottle portage. Here is what I have as to the location in the beaver pond (as you can see, took me a while to find it too.

I am also headed to Iron on 9/1, planning on base-camping 2-3 nights. There are 4 of us total, we are taking bottle portage b/c we are being dropped off there by an outfitter. This is our first time to Iron, have you been up there before? See you on the lake!!!

I will be on Agnes beginning on Monday. We will be headed to Tiger Bay on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then to Curtain Falls for a day trip. All the way out on Saturday. I am taking a newbie. Should be a fun trip.

I'm jealous. Have a great trip. I learn/discover something new every time I visit Curtain Falls.

This will be my first trip to Iron, also the longest duration trip for me (8 days) I will be hitting the ep16 bright and early on 9/3 along with 2 friends. Two of us will be in my freshly built cedar strip canoe with matching paddles, the other person in a rented solo. If you see us on the water don't be bashful we are a friendly group.

I was on the fence about which route (bottle or through boulder to the beaver pond portage) but I think we will enter through beaver pond and exit via bottle after reading this thread.

This was taken paddling across the beaver pond back in 1991. I have done Bottle portage many times since then, but have never even thought about taking the other route since the time we did it in 91. As I recall there were blazes cut into the flooded out trees leading the way, but that was over 25 years ago.