Anyone gone in recently from Poplar lake to Skipper off the Gunflint? This was my first portage ever, a few years back, and I remember there being a lot of downed trees and it being extremely difficult/not maintained. I'm not sure if this was partly my perspective being on my first portage (and solo) or if it really is that rough? If anyone has been through recently, let me know.

Thanks

I'm doing it Friday, so I'll be able to report back after.

Awesome, keep me posted! It was such a beautiful trip. You going all the way out to Long Island Lake and looping back? Have fun!

Bit further actually - we have a Monday Quetico permit on the Man Chain and thought we'd like to see a bit before we get there. Long Island Lake is the Friday night target, we'll see how it goes.

I recall low/wet areas being much more prevalent than downed trees.

Its been 6 years I think since I've done it. Other than it being long I only remember one or 2 downed trees. One you had to duck the canoe under and one was a step over. The one that was a step over I distinctly remember seeing it toward the end of the second leg of a double portage and thinking to myself "I have to watch out for that stub of a branch sticking out of the log" apparently that thought didn't make it down to my fatigued legs in time because as I stepped over I cracked my shin right on that stub of a branch. By the time I had finished the portage my lower leg was pretty well covered in blood. Thankfully it was on our way out so I just bled in the canoe as we paddled back to Rockwood where I was able to shower and get it cleaned up.

I don't recall any major wet areas. All in all I remember it as a fairly straightforward portage, just long. Although exact conditions do change from year to year and can be weather dependent.

The Poplar lake side of the portage is fairly small and looks just like a small opening in the forest until you get close. The Skipper lake side I recall it being bigger and more open with a large rock to launch from.

Curious here also, entering EP49 2nd week of September and planning to do the loop out to Long Island and back. We decided to do this portage at the beginning and get it over with, of course we'll also be fully loaded so a trade off, plan to just take it easy. Hoping the fact that we are after the busy season it will have been cleaned up some and not too many downed trees.

We did a trip through there a couple years back. Trip report

I think the portage creates more concern than is really necessary. Yes its long but beyond that it doesn't offer anything else unique to be concerned about. There may be a few wet spots, some ups and downs, and maybe a downed log or 2 but those are common to many portages. The length is the only real difference with this one.

Maybe its just me but I didn't think much of it but then again I usually target long portages early on as a way of weeding out some of the crowd. On entry I actually remember double timing the portage in order to get ahead of a big group of 9 that was way overloaded with gear and that was clogging up both ends of the portage. My wife single portaged with the largest pack and paddles, I portaged the canoe, day pack, and life jackets on the first trip then jogged back to get the food pack on the 2nd trip.

My wife and I have been through there a couple of times. The portage into skipper is long for the first portage of the trip but its a easy walk. The portages out of Banadad to Long Lake are muddy but short.

Well, I'm back and can give you some first-hand recent reconnaissance information. The Skipper-Portage chain to Long Island Lake is in pretty good shape but hasn't seen much use this year - very few downed trees, nothing I recall that required me to set down the canoe although I'm taller than most and can step over minor treefalls. That said, they were pretty tight portages, much tighter than what we encountered from Long Island Lake northwest, and with my Northwind 18 that was occasionally annoying. They were also a bit wet and swampy at places, though not too bad, but that was surprising given how extremely dry things are just a bit further west (we were headed to Quetico which was as dry as you'd expect given that it's on fire).

Anyway, I found this chain to be pretty pleasant and quick going - we covered the 20 miles from Poplar to Snipe in just over 10 hours that day, single portaging with our two packs at their first-day weight of about 65 lbs.

Thanks for reporting back!

How long did it take your group to get to Banadad?

swiftkip: "Thanks for reporting back!


How long did it take your group to get to Banadad?


"

We entered from the Poplar Lake access at 6:29, and we pushed into Banadad from the portage at 9:28 - so three hours.

thanks for the insight!

You had a solid day getting all the way to Snipe single portaging with those packs, nice job!

swiftkip: "Thanks for reporting back!


How long did it take your group to get to Banadad?


"

It took my wife and I 4 hours to get from Rockwood Lodge on Poplar to the island campsite on the western end of Banadad. We stopped and checked out a campsite on Rush and the eastern island one on Banadad. On the way home it took us 3 hours to get from the western campsite on Banadad back to Rockwood. We single portaged.

we were estimating/hoping it would take us about 4 hours with single portaging, glad to hear that, thanks

Thanks for the details regarding portage times. Don't think we will aim to cover as quick as Tom but we are hoping to make Banadad the first day so definitely sounds like it should be doable. Counting down the days, under two weeks now.

Thank you so much for the great info!!

Thank you so much for the great info!!