Hello Everyone,

Please pardon the length of this post since I need to provide a little background.

I have a 14' rowing dory in which I've now done three 1-week trips in the BWCAW. Last year I posted in the trip planning forum asking for ideas of other possible trips, my previous trips being Brule and Seagull lakes. Since I cannot portage my boat on my shoulders, I must rely upon routes with a mechanical portage or that allow for use of a kayak cart.
https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&threadId=1335744&forumID=16&confID=1&vt=1697747860

Two very helpful recommendations were made last year:
1) Crane Lake to Loon River to Loon Lake (without shuttle)

2) Fall Lake to Basswood to Moose with the use of a kayak cart at Newton and Pipestone Falls and the mechanical portage at Prairie Portage.

The first itinerary I did in July of this year without the use of a shuttle but happily used the mechanical portage into Loon Lake. I had a permit for the second itinerary but had to cancel that permit. I intend to try for that same permit for the 2025 season.

Questions:

Can anyone tell me the trail conditions of the Newton and Pipestone portages? Narrow or wide, rocky or smooth-ish, etc.?

How about doing this itinerary clockwise versus counter-clockwise? Any advantages to one direction over the other. I have the Voyager map #4 but the contour lines are pretty coarse so I can't tell if I'll be going uphill or downhill or both. I do realize that if I go counterclockwise the boat will be lighter because my dog and I would have gone through much of our food.

Thank you for any insight you can provide.

The Newton and Pipestone portages are both very wide and mostly really smooth and easy to negociate. They are regularly used by fishermen in power boats which they portage on wheels. The landing are also fairly easy. Both portages were short railroads which were used to transport logs to the sawbills at Winton.

WHendrix: "The Newton and Pipestone portages are both very wide and mostly really smooth and easy to negociate. They are regularly used by fishermen in power boats which they portage on wheels. The landing are also fairly easy. Both portages were short railroads which were used to transport logs to the sawbills at Winton."

This is very helpful and exactly the sort of information I was looking for. Many thanks! -Jim