What is your All-time favorite "WORST" portage?

Maybe one that surprised you. Maybe one that you dreaded before your trip but you went anyway because the destination was worth it. Maybe it is one that you would definitely NEVER do again!!

I experienced a few this last trip. Portaging from Crooked back to our entry point at Mudro I was not looking forward to the climb out of Nikki Lake towards Wagosh and it was everything it promised to be.

However, as bad as that one was it was nothing compared to the middle portage between Fourtown and Mudro. I imagine billy goats wouldn't even like that trek.

Let's hear it. What is your worst portage experience in the BWCA?

South Round to Round about 10 years ago, when the damn beavers decided to build a dam in the middle of the portage. I was headed back from Gillis through all of the tiny lakes with a lot of hills and the Flying portage. Got to South Round, and not too far down the portage was deep water with floating boardwalks as far as you could see. Tried to walk the floating boardwalks, fell in a few times up to my waist or more, it was freezing.

Got to my SUV, finally, and loaded up my canoe and gear. Shivered all the way down to Grand Marais with the heater on full blast. Seems like I had hypothermia. The trip was in the middle of September.

The Tuscarora portage is no prize, that is for sure. Done that a couple of times.

There are probably more, but why dwell on the bad stuff. I'll never do the South Round to Round portage again though. Not only because of that experience, but also because most of the portages west of there kind of suck too, until you get to some bigger lakes, such as Gillis.

Tomster (Quark)

It’s very subjective based on attitude,weather,time of year, people you are with, load, physical fitness, etc.

With all of that, I will put my hat into the ring with the Delehay Death March. Look it up.
Tom

Agree this is subjective which will make it interesting to read the experiences of others...

For me the first portage from the parking lot into EP #14 - LISN has been rough on my way out. Twice.

The first time my 14 year-old daughter at the time got very sick the day before. We woke up on Steep Lake and my 18 year-old daughter and I did the paddling and portaging in extremely windy weather. At over 20 miles with rough waters and a sick daughter worrying me, it was a tough day but we made it and all turned out okay. On most of the portages, I did quadruple trips which was no fun. That last portage almost did me in.

Last fall I attempted the same trip but shouldn't have tried a week or two after recovering from COVID. I made it about 4-5 miles, fell, and struggled to get back. That last portage was difficult because I was very tired and sore.

Third time's a charm...I plan to go back for a 10-day solo next September.

Usually difficulty and length are strongly correlated.

For me it’s the short to mid length ones with hills, rock gardens and hip deep mud that test my mettle.

With that said the portage from cherry to lunar was wildly challenging but felt like a video game and ended up being super fun in a weird sort of way. It had everything, boot stealing mud, laydown trees obstructing the path, rocks that needed to be balanced on, intense inclines, etc.

The fact that we were on a day trip with nowhere to be no doubt made it feel a bit more fun than it otherwise might have.

Can’t wait to go back!!!!

Monument Portage. I’ve done it a few times and it really isn’t all that bad. However, the first time I ever did it was on my first trip ever with my pops. I was a lean 13 year old, chomping at the bits to get camp set up and to get out fishing. About a fifth (or less) of the way into Monument Portage, we encountered an older gentleman. I remember my dad asking, “Hey fella, any idea how much of the portage we’ve got left?” Maybe this guy disliked that particular question (it’s similar to the kids asking ‘Are we there yet?’ on a long road trip). Maybe the guy simply miscalculated - we will never know. Anyway, his response was, “You’re about two-thirds of the way finished”. Imagine an impatient 13 year old thinking he’s nearly 70% finished with a long portage when we were, in reality, MAYBE 20% finished. If you’re reading this, old timer, I appreciate the hilarity of your response more and more as time passes on.

I have come to dread going South on the Stuart River Portage at the end of a long day exiting the BWCA. Taking a break from it this year!

Memory Lane Portages connecting Conmee Lake to Poohbah Lake in Quetico. There are three of them with tiny little lakes in the middle, so it feels like one big portage with about 5 seconds of paddling between them. The time I did it I ended up postholing all the way up to my hip a couple of times which isn't that fun with a canoe on my head and on a solo trip. I've resolved never to do them again, but Poohbah is such a nice lake that I will probably break that resolve someday.

MidwestMan, your comment about the old guy saying you were only almost done with the portage reminded me of what I sometimes tell my friends if they ask that question: "Yer halfway there to being a quarter done!"

Heart attack hill between Mudro and Sandpit comes to mind.

In the bwca; Muskeg-kiskadinna, pine-canoe, tease-angleworm, echo trail-angleworm,big rice lake-hook. South-topper. These are the ones I remember without using a map.

Um...the Fowl portage. It's named that for a reason.

Mine will always be the middle portage between Spoon and Sema. On it's own it's no big deal, but the circumstances made it very memorable. On my 1st trip in the BW, I slipped on the Beaver dam right before it and broke my tailbone. That made for a painful portage!

JimmyJustice: "Um...the Fowl portage. It's named that for a reason. "

Oh, the memory of stepping over all those downed trees...3 times each since I was stupid enough to decide to double portage it since I was unsure which direction was correct.

But the portage that messed with my head more than any portage ever is the one from Davis Lake to Kiskadinna. It was my first solo trip. I was traveling heavy and had to double portage. I had fallen and injured my ankle and knee the day before trying to reach Davis Lake so I could not afford any mistakes with footing. For those who have never been on this portage, it starts in a burn area and the path is very overgrown so you can't see your feet. It is also long and has a beaver pond in the middle that requires waist deep wading. The day was brutally hot and I ran out of water. I wrote NEVER AGAIN on the map. But now I think about trying it again, because it couldn't have been that bad, right?

Rock Island lake to Lake Two was brutal. Actually it was virtually non existent. Places where the canoe had to come off my shoulders and go sideways through the trees. Some hills required my son at the top and me at the bottom trying to push the canoe up. We finally got down to the creek but was much too shallow to float so a lot more scrambling. Our reward was a mother moose and a young one as we entered Lake Two.

All this was about 25 years ago. I have no idea what it is like today.

straighthairedcurly: But now I think about trying it again, because it couldn't have been that bad, right?

Either it wasn't that bad or your memory's not that good . . . ;)

Gratton Death March in the Q. Long, an up and over… You have to look closely for the multiple elevation changes in the pic.


Also the Kashipiwi to Yum Yum portage. There is almost a straight down rock face to negotiate and big elevation changes.



PMA Raven Lake after a storm…



T

Lawnchair107: "Heart attack hill between Mudro and Sandpit comes to mind."

Agreed! Both up and down was an adventure.

I can't say we found much joy on the portage between East Loon and Heritage Creek and Lake last spring. The thunderstorm while on trail made the slick bits treacherous. Felt good having it behind us with no falls.

I'm giving mine to Seagull to Paulson (J.A.P.) lake. It earns its reputation. The portage is long, steep, with lots of slippery exposed rock, and it throws in a handful of false endings at beaver ponds to demoralize the portager. That said, it is absolutely gorgeous. There are a number of expansive overlooks out into Paulson and back into Seagull. The final descent into Paulson when coming from Seagull is this massive view of what looks to be a mountain valley. It's a truly unique stretch of the BWCA and one of the quickest "entry point to wilderness" transitions in the BWCA since almost all traffic from Seagull staying on the lake or heading across the Alpine highway with a small number heading through Grandpa or Rog.

South Fowl to Pigeon River, starts with enough slope to run the bow of the canoe into the ground while being ~5 feet off the ground at the shoulders. ( I know its not the only portage this happens on) then the downed trees were the right height off the ground that the canoe and I could not both go over or under them. And in the summer of 20 with very low water, there still managed to be ankle to knee deep mud on a down hill slope, that might have had water to mid thigh if it had been "wet" as parts of the trail resemble a trench.
Lots of Moose and bear tracks, glad we didn't meet any as there isn't a passing lane on that portage.
tried to go back in 21 but our start date happen to be the day they closed the BWCA, hope to take another crack at it in the next few years.

Trousers to Cache is pretty high on my list...

TZ

This summer we hit a few. Stuart portage had the kids and adults swearing on our family trip. Then son and I on our adventure still are discussing which was worse: the Grassy portage this June was nothing but a swampy, mucky mess - we sunk up past our knees no matter which path we took. I eventually had to drop the canoe and drag it behind me, we picked dozens of ticks off of ourselves that night. Then the Fowl portage as noted above was awful, and when I set the boat up on a downed pine across the portage to rest, it slid down and a branch punched a hole right through the bow. And of course, the sheer length of Grand Portage...but we could smell the burgers by that point.

TreeBear: "I'm giving mine to Seagull to Paulson (J.A.P.) "

Now do it in the winter. After breaking trail all the way down Seagull, we had to break fresh trail in deep powder up to Paulson. About 200 yards from the lake, we had a mutiny, nobody would break trail any further. Defeated, we spent the night in the woods, woke up next morning and headed back to Seagull on the nicely packed trail to spend the next 3 nights. This was pre blow down and fire in the area when it was still Jap.

I have thought and thought about this topic. How much you dislike a portage so often depends upon weather conditions at the time, and your own state of mind. What bothers some people doesn't bother others, too.

Muskeg-Kiskadinna came into my thoughts, and then Height of Land (which was particularly muddy the day we traversed it.) Horsetail Rapids on the Granite River trip is one I hated, even though it is short.

And as I gave thought to all of the many portages I have encountered, endured, and survived. . .I suddenly realized that I would just give anything to be young and healthy again, able to do them another time. So there is actually no WORST portage; every one of them that I conquered is a memory that makes me smile now. And when I miss canoe-tripping, believe it or not, portaging is one of the things I miss the most. All part of the adventure.

I've got a few.....:)

I concurr with whats been said about the Paulson portage.

The Mountain-Pemmican portage is almost all up a steep hill with several tight winding sections thrown in for fun. (Side note: the first part of this portage is also the trail to the latrine for the Mountain Lake campsite.)

It's been a few years, but West Pike yo Gogebic is also up a very steep hill and there was a tight spot where the canoe would barely slip through. However, this one afforded a short mostly level stretch before the final ascent to the lake.

Mavis - Missing Link portage is mostly a cake walk but, there is one section that is nearly perpendicular.

Duck - Big Moose might take the cake as it has just about everything. It starts out innocently enough at a beautiful sandy beach at Big Moose but soon morphs into a very rock & root laden climb up a few moderate hills. A creek crossing & some boulder hopscotch before dropping steeply down to the last section; which while exceedingly flat is about 100 yards of challenging bogwalking (See video.) even without a pack or canoe.

Morgan Lake entry portage on my 3rd solo. Under normal circumstances it’s a nice mile long walk in the woods. This particular year it was May 4 and I was the 1st one on the portage that year. There had been a big dumping of wet heavy snow followed by days of sub zero temperatures that winter causing many trees to fall across the portage.

Instead of my planned 30-40 minute single portage, it took me 2 and a 1/2 hours of pushing and climbing over and under trees and sawing limbs where I couldn’t get through.

I was Carl and Mike’s 1st customer after they had purchased Rockwood from Mike and Lin that winter and I felt so bad their brand new Northwind Solo had scratches on it before it ever even got wet.

Spartan2: "I have thought and thought about this topic. How much you dislike a portage so often depends upon weather conditions at the time, and your own state of mind. What bothers some people doesn't bother others, too.

And as I gave thought to all of the many portages I have encountered, endured, and survived. . .I suddenly realized that I would just give anything to be young and healthy again, able to do them another time. So there is actually no WORST portage; every one of them that I conquered is a memory that makes me smile now. And when I miss canoe-tripping, believe it or not, portaging is one of the things I miss the most. All part of the adventure."

Well said, Spartan2, and thank you for sharing your perspective and wisdom. You are correct, it is a blessing to be able to remember cherished experiences from the past. I also appreciate that you point out how doing difficult things often becomes positive learning moments that bring us joy later in life. Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts...they hit home for me. :)

YetiJedi: "

Spartan2: "I have thought and thought about this topic. How much you dislike a portage so often depends upon weather conditions at the time, and your own state of mind. What bothers some people doesn't bother others, too.


And as I gave thought to all of the many portages I have encountered, endured, and survived. . .I suddenly realized that I would just give anything to be young and healthy again, able to do them another time. So there is actually no WORST portage; every one of them that I conquered is a memory that makes me smile now. And when I miss canoe-tripping, believe it or not, portaging is one of the things I miss the most. All part of the adventure."

Well said, Spartan2, and thank you for sharing your perspective and wisdom. You are correct, it is a blessing to be able to remember cherished experiences from the past. I also appreciate that you point out how doing difficult things often becomes positive learning moments that bring us joy later in life. Again, thanks for sharing your thoughts...they hit home for me. :)"

These have been my thoughts too. So glad to see you express them here, Spartan2 and YetiJeti. Every time I thought of a bad portage, I realized that there were extenuating circumstances: like it was very hot, I'd just finished lunch & was in my down time of afternoon, it's was very wet with slimy lichens on the rocks, very wet year with lots of sinking into mud or bog. Then if and when I've done those same portages on another trip, they were just fine and lead to another beautiful lake on another great trip with dear paddling partners. Wish body were in better shape. Wish best tripping partners hadn't left for great beyond and we could take more portages together, looking for worst or best or just fine, going to new or previously visited lakes, catch or lose more fish, and sample more of these God-given experiences and build new memories. Blessed to have be able to do so many Quetico (and some BWCA) trips from first in 1978 (with my soon-to-be husband and best paddling partner) to last in 2011 (without Darryl, year after his death, with long-time paddling partners.

Spartan2: "I have thought and thought about this topic. How much you dislike a portage so often depends upon weather conditions at the time, and your own state of mind. What bothers some people doesn't bother others, too.


Muskeg-Kiskadinna came into my thoughts, and then Height of Land (which was particularly muddy the day we traversed it.) Horsetail Rapids on the Granite River trip is one I hated, even though it is short.


And as I gave thought to all of the many portages I have encountered, endured, and survived. . .I suddenly realized that I would just give anything to be young and healthy again, able to do them another time. So there is actually no WORST portage; every one of them that I conquered is a memory that makes me smile now. And when I miss canoe-tripping, believe it or not, portaging is one of the things I miss the most. All part of the adventure."

Well said. You can tell on so many of these posts, people have included extenuating circumstances that might have increased the physical or mental toll paid on a particular portage (weather, equipment, injury, etc). I have done the Seagull to Paulson portage and it didn't make my top list even though it was one of the toughest portages I have done. Why, I ask myself? Because I was doing it on pretty fresh legs close to the end of a trip with my husband and son. And our mindset for the portage was to work together as a team, so we leap frogged and changed loads with each other frequently. We made plenty of rest stops to admire the view and look for berries. That made it more delightful than it probably deserved.

Lawnchair107: "Heart attack hill between Mudro and Sandpit comes to mind."

This one is short but it sucks!

There was an article on Portage North about the steepest portages by the numbers: https://kondosoutdoors.com/upward-upward-which-portage-is-the-tip-top/

I get a chuckle because I remember most of these. Similarly to comments above, the memories are shaded by the context in which the portages were encountered. Pine to Long I had fought a long headwind solo to get there while borrowing the slowest canoe I had ever had the misfortune of paddling, a 12 foot Old Town with a broken solo seat. I then took the punishment of carrying it up there with a clamped on aluminum yoke. I earned the view and made memories.

I've grown to love the tough portages though in a way since I know they are one of the fastest routes to solitude.

I asked my three brothers and they all said the same - the Hanson to Cherry portage on a 90+ degree day kicked our butts....

TreeBear: "There was an article on Portage North about the steepest portages by the numbers: https://kondosoutdoors.com/upward-upward-which-portage-is-the-tip-top/ "

Thanks for sharing this, I had never seen it before. One on that list that I have experience with is Wench to Brule, and we did it with fishing gear only. Between the many downed trees, rocky areas to traverse, steep (in places) slope, and small amount of room to maneuver a canoe, it is the toughest "short" portage that I have experienced. By comparison, the Eddy Falls portage, which we did with full gear, both directions to and from SAK, and a 2nd time to go back fishing in Eddy from SAK didn't seem so bad. Maybe that's because although it was steep, it was too short to really add up to much of a challenge.

papalambeau: " I asked my three brothers and they all said the same - the Hanson to Cherry portage on a 90+ degree day kicked our butts...."

Thought my heart was going to burst from my chest on this one!

Heart Attack Hill between Sandpit and Mudro always makes me crabby, especially when it's really buggy, wet or cold which is always in my experience.

Four portages come to mind for me, all in Quetico:

Kahshahpiwi to McNiece

Pond to Unnamed (between McAree & Wicksteed)

Badwater portage (from West Bay)

Staircase Portage (Sturgeon to Russell)

Boot into Abonidji - only 73 rods, but it's a bear. Worst part is that I didn't believe the reviews

Sturgeon to Antoine (Quetico) Classic Princess Bride portage, a forest to get lost in, Cliffs of Insanity, Fire Swamp ect. Only missing the ROUS.

Misquah Hills Portage.

When I was 15 years old I went on a long canoe trip out of Sawbill. One of the first portages was 450 rods or so to Zenith Lake. I remember being pretty miserable. Then every portage after that seemed tolerable.

The 399 from Missing Link Lake into Tuscarora Lake. I've done it multiple times. It is both a great walk, and an annoyingly long portage. Nothing too difficult, just looooooooooooong.

Two portages come to mind for me. The first was my first time in the bwca. I had terrible gear, a heavy canoe, and no experience. It was Grace to Beth in a thunderstorm. My boots did not drain, we wore jeans and other cotton, my pack was my highschool backpack and completely waterlogged, and the canoe weighed 95lbs. The portage was 280 rods. That day was the worst experience I've ever had in the boundary waters.

The second one that comes to mind was a portage that could have been terrible but ended up being not too bad after an attitude change. It was East Pike to West Pike and it was storming on us. It was a long day that we started on Moose so this was our 6th portage and it was going to get dark soon and we needed to find a campsite. We were wet and cold in early June with flooded portages and lots of rocks. We were double portaging and the canoe was second. Both of us were looking at each other and the canoe waiting for the other to volunteer to carry it, when I just said "F it", threw the canoe on my shoulders and half jogged down the trail. At a certain point you just need to ignore the water and trust that your boots and ankles can handle it, and just go.

Both of these portages were learning experiences for me. The first, I gave in to how much the experience sucked and the excuses for why I couldn't do it easily. The second, I went the other route and gave my best without holding anything back. It kind of felt like I redeemed myself a bit from that first trip.

Angleworm

Two come to mind:

The first is the 409R from Seagull to Paulson ( was called Jap back when I did it). Did this on a winter trip pulling sleds. Sugar snow was a bear going uphill. Reward was amazing solitude and killer lake trout fishing.

The second is the 340R portage into Morgan Lake From FR315. Again did this one several times many years ago. The beginning of the portage was a hip deep bog of muck. If you were lucky there was a few branches or logs thrown down to balance on to cross. I'm thinking boards have been added by now. Back then, Carl Lake had some outstanding Rainbow trout fishing and a beautiful 4* site (the only one on the lake), fast forward to now; the pike got the trout and the blowdown got the site. Bummer x2!

I've done the Tuscarora portage many times and while it is indeed long, it's not especially difficult otherwise. IMHO.

I will say that May of 2022 presented some interesting portage conditions as I put in on Round and made my way through Snipe and Missing Link down to Long Island and beyond. Many of the early portages in the route were under knee high water (running water!) and looked more like streams than footpaths.

Duplicate post

A couple of years ago, I was on a solo trip going from Alice to Thomas. I had read numerous reports of how nasty and muddy that 237 rod portage was. I anticipated the worst, and when I started the portage, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a new boardwalk had just been installed! The portage was a cakewalk and quite lovely. One of my best worst portages ever!

Misquah to a Little Trout

It's got to be the portage to nowhere. 1st ever trip was with the church youth group going in on Seagull. After spending a night on Cherry, we headed north through Lunar, Lake of the Clouds, etc. Identifying portages was not our strong suit throughout the trip but we made a doozy of a choice once we got onto tiny little Rivalry Lake. Such a small little lake, how could we have missed the portage to Giji?? Well, there's a portage lookalike in the sw corner of Rivalry. The biggest problem with this pseudo portage was that it went straight up, like crawling on your hands and knees but still standing up kind of straight up. Not sure how those kids got those aluminum canoes up that hill, but they did. Once there though, the "portage" disappeared. After some bushwhacking to search for the trail, we gave up and lugged everything back down the hill to the lake. Low and behold, there was the actual portage 30 yards to our left.

JRUWL: "It's got to be the portage to nowhere. 1st ever trip was with the church youth group going in on Seagull. After spending a night on Cherry, we headed north through Lunar, Lake of the Clouds, etc. Identifying portages was not our strong suit throughout the trip but we made a doozy of a choice once we got onto tiny little Rivalry Lake. Such a small little lake, how could we have missed the portage to Giji?? Well, there's a portage lookalike in the sw corner of Rivalry. The biggest problem with this pseudo portage was that it went straight up, like crawling on your hands and knees but still standing up kind of straight up. Not sure how those kids got those aluminum canoes up that hill, but they did. Once there though, the "portage" disappeared. After some bushwhacking to search for the trail, we gave up and lugged everything back down the hill to the lake. Low and behold, there was the actual portage 30 yards to our left."

Didn't lug everything up but, I made the same mistake. :)

I wonder what that trail is or, why it is there? It was so well worn and close to the real trail that it's an easy 'trap' to fall into.

Of course, the actual trail between Gijikiki & Rivalry is worthy of mention in this thread in its own right. Very steep climb out of Gijikiki and the bottomless mudhole landing on Rivalry can be outright treacherous.

We did EP 14- Hustler lake on Day 1 in 2021 and that was a doozy. Shell portage was 222r and the Ruby portage was 265. We were going uphill both portages and sections of the ruby portage were super steep. Such a long day, but worth it to get that deep in on the first day. We saw very few people.
Also made it over to the steep-north portage that trip and that was a terrible one too. The lower portage into lower pauness is crazy too if you can't just float through. It's very short but easily the steepest incline and decline the whole trip.

Many of the portages listed here I have had the pleasure of not ever being on:) But of the many hundreds I have been on I agree with the posts about the portage through the Misquah Hills, specifically Little Trout Lake to Misquah Lake. Late 70s, we were 4 guys in our mid 20s in good shape and headed for Vista. After finishing this portage we unanimously swore that we were going to find another way...any other way to get back to our cars because we weren't taking that one again. After looking at the options including traversing the south brule river back to the road we ended up taking the Morgan lake portage and hiking the 7 miles back to the car. Morgan Lake was a pleasure compared to the Misquah portage, and the Morgan portage is no cakewalk.

Just as we were finishing the Misquah portage we ran into a couple forest ranger guys on Vista and chatted a bit. They asked us, rather incredulously, you took that portage? On purpose?

I think the “worst” portage ended up being a winter trail more then a portage. Thompson to Lac la Croix. I learned later the 300 rod “portage” was more of a winter trail. Hot and many bugs of various kinds. Another trip years later I took a paddle over (I fished Thompson many years). Took my daughter to see the portage head. Between us we had nearly 200 ticks on us. Haha

I base camped on Ram one time and did a day trip to Little Trout to fish for the little trout there and also to tackle the Misquah portage one more time just for kicks, but this time with only a small pack, fishing equipment and my Prism in tow. There and back in one day and there was nothin to it this time, actually was fun. That portage goes up and down hills 3x if I remember, stepping from slippery odd angled rock to rock for a lot of the way, definitely one to remember.

Seagull to JAP

Never did this portage but the map makes it sound interesting.

I don't recall a worst portage. I do recall unpleasant aspects such as the length, insects, mud, elevation change, rocks, navigation, congestion, obstacles, carry weight and so on while portaging. I tend not to be in a hurry and it shouldn't matter but for some reason the worst portages for me are portages so short that it takes more time and energy to unload and load the canoe than to cross the portage.

John

scat: "I base camped on Ram one time and did a day trip to Little Trout to fish for the little trout there and also to tackle the Misquah portage one more time just for kicks, but this time with only a small pack, fishing equipment and my Prism in tow. There and back in one day and there was nothin to it this time, actually was fun. That portage goes up and down hills 3x if I remember, stepping from slippery odd angled rock to rock for a lot of the way, definitely one to remember."

I videod my walk back from Misquah to Little Trout a couple years ago if anyone wants to experience this one...sorry the audio sucks, but you can see the terrain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHGP7RyAU2Q&t=1s&ab_channel=PaulGehrmann

I don't know if it even exists anymore but there is a portage from west Sag to Ashdick. The only thing it doesn't have is a big hill.Thigh deep mud and swarms of every biting insect on earth. Also it's not used much so its always overgrown.

maxxbhp: "I don't know if it even exists anymore but there is a portage from west Sag to Ashdick. The only thing it doesn't have is a big hill.Thigh deep mud and swarms of every biting insect on earth. Also it's not used much so its always overgrown.


"

Did the Ashdick to Swamp a few years ago....I think this is the one you're referencing???

I've been on quite a few of the portages mentioned so far and agree with most of the sentiments. Weather, time of day and other circumstances all matter but some portages are objectively harder than others. I was surprised it took so long for Ashdick to Sag to show up on the list.

Portages are kind of like the weather. Sunny and 70 for a week makes for boring stories to your non-tripping friends unless the fishing was fabulous. Short and flat portages? Eh-no big deal. But if the wind blew, there was a storm, it snowed every day for a week or there was an ugly portage here and there--those make the best stories.

Having said that, I'll throw a couple I haven't seen listed into the ring. SAK-Holt-Ogishkemuncie stands out for me. Maybe it's been maintained since but downed trees, hopskotching through a creek and finding the trail was a treat.

Ottertrack to Gijikiki, although fairly short checks all the boxes.

And for some reason-Snowbank to Boot. There's nothing objectively difficult but it always seems like it's much longer than the maps indicate and is one of those that I just don't like.

I think the unofficial portage from Slim to Fat ranks pretty high on this list. Another one is the portage from Lamb to Nina Moose. It’s about 220, but it’s definitely an ankle breaker.

1. Any portage, anywhere that gets extended along a river due to low water.

2. Wine to Mug - When wet. Open rock face, set me on my bottom twice.

3. Fente to Hub - Rivals any climb anywhere else I have been in the BW. (Including "The Wall" between Muskeg and Kiskadinna.)

4. Sitka to Cherokee - Not a flat piece of real estate anywhere along this portage and a rock face scramble.

5. Lujenida to Zenith - Hot day and running out of water.