Hello, I am considering a route in the last week of September that would take me from Silence through Trant to Kahshahpiwi. I would love to stay a night on Trant and see this area.

Are the portages along here pretty tough, boggy, and difficult to find?

I did see a thread here from a few years ago with some notes on the Kahshahpiwi to Trant portage: Kahshahpiwi Lake to Trant Lake Portage

Just wondering if anyone has gone this way recently or has any notes they can share about the route. I will have one new paddler with me on this trip. We will be double portaging.

Thanks for any advice!

I asked the ranger at PP last week about the portage from Kash to Trant and he discouraged it - advising beaver activity is significant and constantly changing the landscape. He gave me enough clues that discouraged me entirely.

It's at least a kilometer of in and out of the canoe - gear included. I'm sure with the right gear and paddling group it's doable - but lower water levels might make it much harder than springtime.

The Aug. 27 portage maintenance map says it was recently visited/gone through.

As I mentioned in linked thread, nice route few people. Iirc there's a large "field" in middle - would love to camp there.

I saw that. I must admit I find the route very enticing!

Trant was I think worth seeing and I’d like to camp on Trant but we pushed through to Kahsahpiwi. I posted the pictures of the route from Trant to Kahsahpiwi a few years ago. I was lucky in that I remembered portage comments I’d read about that portage on PP. In the picture the hiking guy is start and end waypoints I dropped on trip. It was like two portages. Wasn’t that bad . The other portages getting from Silence to Trant aren’t a cake walk though. A few tended to have a lot of knobby uneven rocks.

The other ways into Kahsahpiwi aren’t exactly a cake walk either so I don’t think this route is significantly worse or harder than other ways. Those portages were also maintained in June and several of them in August so that should make things easier.

Ryan

The portages between Silence and Trant are quite rugged. It's a beautiful area with some tremendous timber- it probably the oldest area of the park without a major fire. The Trant to Kahshahpiwi route is ever changing and dynamic- a bit of a mudfest but not unreasonable. Seriously, there is only one easy way into Kahshahpiwi and that is from the north via Kahshahpiwi Creek, every other route involves serious elevation, obstacles and distance.

The route from Silence to Trant has a favorite of mine for decades. Big pines and solitude. The portages are rocky and brushy though and get less use than other routes.

The portage from Trant to Kahshapiwi is pretty tough and gnarly this year. Was there this July. One portage and no beaver pond. Lots of blowdowns, boulders, muck, and brush with a good chance to get injured. Gotta search for the trail in places. Not a place for the unfit or newbie. Not sure if portage crews got there this summer after I was there.

Info is dated 20 years. Take what you can from it. I was in that area back in 2002.
Had a trip loop planned thru there coming from Kash then on up to Conmee.


Good Luck

I echo what everyone else has said about the portages. My buddy and I stayed on Agnes and made the trip to Kahshahpiwi in one day back in 2018. Here are my notes from the journal:

"Saw the petroglyphs on Agnes, past the small island. Started down the portage to Silence. That is a pretty lake. Staying there should be a good choice. Then portage...paddle....portage. They (the portages) were up, and rocky. Tight narrow spots, slipping down spots. But we single portaged them all and got to Trant just fine.

The 5 star site on Trant looks good. And the 2 star looks ok. Couldn’t find the three star, though we weren’t looking. Found the pictograph on the rock face on the western shore, two guys in a canoe and some others.

The portage out of Trant was the adventure for the day. Unlike what the Fishers map said, it was actually in two portages, with a creek part in the middle (remember this is 2018). Not easy, and I got water filled in my boots, but it was fun. Being able to pull the canoe was good."

I went the other way. Camped on island in Kash and made it to campsite by passage from Silence to Agnes. Finding the portage on Kash was a challenge, and I had older maps and they recently rerouted some portages, majorly.

This is all really great info. Thank you!

I'm on the fence. It really depends on how ambitious/capable my first-timer trip partner is feeling. We may just see how we feel when we get to Silence and take a crack at an out and back to Trant, and then exit via the S chain.

This summer I went into Kahshapiwi from the south, and out both eastern (as a day trip) and western routes and agree the portages are on the tougher side and have a wild feel. Loved it!