BWCA Kahshahpiwi Lake to Trant Lake Portage Boundary Waters Quetico Forum
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      Kahshahpiwi Lake to Trant Lake Portage     

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Crooked_Paddle
senior member (91)senior membersenior member
  
01/23/2020 06:49PM  
Need feedback on portage, anybody went from Kahshahpiwi Lake to Trant Lake?
 
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billconner
distinguished member(8600)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberpower member
  
01/23/2020 07:50PM  
A few years ago. Was hard to find. Iirc the start probably varies a lot with water level and beaver activity. We found a spot the "could" be a landing and worked - trail led to Trant as desired. It's possible we could have paddle, poked, and pulled over further.

Wonderful trip. I'd like to do it again at least as far as silence, maybe in opposite direction. Really liked Trant.
Minnesotian
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01/24/2020 08:05AM  

Took it back in 2018. From Trant to Kahshahpiwi in August.

It's there. But it is pretty thick and narrow. It was in two sections at that time as well. In the middle we could briefly paddle on the creek to the next section.
marsonite
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01/24/2020 08:05AM  
My intel is probably too old to be of much use, but when I did it nearly ten years ago, the beaver pond on the creek was very full, and we were able to paddle much of the 200 rod portage. If I remember right, the trail from the beaver pond on the Khash end was on the right, not left as the maps show it. (viewed heading downstream to Khash)

I'd plan on asking at the ranger station when you pick up your permit.
01/24/2020 08:52PM  
We daytripped from Kahshahpiwi Lake to Trant Lake in early June 2012, a high water year. The portage starts in a back bay and runs along the east side of a stream with two big beaver dams on it. The whole valley was flooded by the beavers, spring snowmelt and rain. We paddled up a winding channel choked with lily pads as far as we could and then dragged the canoe over the first big dam. The portage was flooded with no way to detour on dry ground so we had to pole and paddle and drag our way through flooded willow thickets and shallow water over waist-deep beaver-pond muck and then over another beaver dam and wade through knee-deep mud to get to a nasty, narrow ad hoc landing in deep brush before we finally got to dry ground, then there are about 60 rods of narrow, very rocky trail with the stream cascading over little rapids and waterfalls right next to it and occasionally over it. We may have been the first party through that spring and there were a lot of downed trees--we cleared what we could with a small saw. It was a struggle and I wouldn't want to try it fully loaded with packs but it was worth it to see Trant Lake, check out the sweet campsite and the pictographs and catch a few largemouth bass.







 
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