Is this portage still flooded at the midpoint from the beaver dam? I couldn't remember if I read that the dam was gone or not.

Any other considerations or strategies here? I'm thinking about stopping at the midpoint to break it up a little.

We traveled over this portage last fall after a day of thunderstorms rocked the Sawbill area.

This portage was a disaster.

To your specific question. No. The boardwalk was dry - ish. Mud at both ends. But beavers can change that in a day or two.

The rest of the portage was horrible. There was water running everywhere. There were 8-10" ruts eroded down the middle of almost every small hill. There were holes knee deep in places. Water was running everywhere making mud and slippery footing. One of our party fell and almost ended our trip first day. There were intermittent streams running down hills and at the bottom of hills.

Take your time. Watch your footing. Yes to the breaking it up. We tend to do either thirds or quarters. But we are double portaging.

Where are you going after the portage?

My plan so far is to stay on Wine for 3 nights so I have 1 day to do the loop through Bug and Mesaba, and one rest day to relax. The loop is ambitious at 11-12 miles and about 600 rods of portages, but I figure we can get it done without too much trouble if we don't bring any fishing gear on the daytrip and single portage.

We did this portage in mid-June 2024 and, as with Michwall, we were unlucky to get caught by rain on the trail. There were definitely some deep holes, in between roots along the trail mostly, that could cause injuries when they're filled with water and you can't judge depth.

It's not really a tough trail, just long as far as portages go, so I'd just do a few hikes with your gear before your trip to make sure you're in shape for it. If you do get caught in rain be extra careful about where you put your feet. Sometimes you might go in up to your knee without any warning.

I came through on June 27th 2025 and then back on the 30th. I was planning your exact route but I rolled my ankle lightly on the scramble down to Zenith so I just relaxed on Wine for a couple of days and headed back the way I came. I believe it rained about a half of an inch the day before I entered but it wasn't especially wet on the portage. I was hoping to crown this as the most difficult portage I had taken but other than length and that scramble down to Zenith, I was underwhelmed (albeit injured). It was a relatively dry spring if you remember the fires. There was barely a trickle coming over Mug Falls on the 29th. I don't remember any beaver dams or bad mud. Some mud, some running water, but nothing hip-deep and I didn't lose my shoes. I single portaged in about an hour and a half on the way in, taking 3 breaks, but then I doubled on the way out, nursing my ankle, and it took over 3 hours. I was solo and leap-frogging my food bag as they want you to do nowadays. I'd say I got lucky, the portage did 'ruin' my route, I just didn't let it ruin my trip. Lakers were biting!

Z4K: "I came through on June 27th 2025 and then back on the 30th. I was planning your exact route but I rolled my ankle lightly on the scramble down to Zenith so I just relaxed on Wine for a couple of days and headed back the way I came. I believe it rained about a half of an inch the day before I entered but it wasn't especially wet on the portage. I was hoping to crown this as the most difficult portage I had taken but other than length and that scramble down to Zenith, I was underwhelmed (albeit injured). It was a relatively dry spring if you remember the fires. There was barely a trickle coming over Mug Falls on the 29th. I don't remember any beaver dams or bad mud. Some mud, some running water, but nothing hip-deep and I didn't lose my shoes. I single portaged in about an hour and a half on the way in, taking 3 breaks, but then I doubled on the way out, nursing my ankle, and it took over 3 hours. I was solo and leap-frogging my food bag as they want you to do nowadays. I'd say I got lucky, the portage did 'ruin' my route, I just didn't let it ruin my trip. Lakers were biting!"

Other than the unfortunate injury, how was the trip? Is Wine worth the portage? We're going in June so I'm hoping for a little more flow on the Mug falls.

It is good to hear that the portage isn't always muddy and wet, but I will keep that in consideration. I plan on wet footing with mid height boots that drain. I find that not bothering to stay dry prevents a lot of situations where I feel at risk of an injury.

Wine was great. 10/10. Worth the ankle sprain. I just laid around, read, and ate lake trout for a couple days. Struggled to catch em small enough for a solo meal... I think I ate every fish I caught that was under 20". I stayed at the eastern site after inspecting the rest and it was fantastic. Only ran into one other group north of Kelso on the entire trip and they were just cruising through. Kelso River is worth the paddle.

I had the high-topped hiking boots on too, and the rocks were dry. Just can't take it slow enough, especially when you're solo. Could have been worse. Looking back at my last post, that portage probably took me closer to 5 hours on the way out, I was not moving very fast.

I know that you weren't asking me about Mug falls but they looked like this on June 21, 2024. We had almost 16 hours of rain on the night of 18-19 June while at the site on Zenith. I didn't measure the rainfall but we cooked our dinner and breakfast under tarps and it sounded heavy anytime I woke up overnight.

8 years ago Zenith to Lujenda_

This is the most gorgeous and colorful photo of the BW I’ve seen! Woulda voted for this one for photo of year. Give this person a Fishell paddle!

Thank you FKS! No filters! It was raining that day and I'm not in love with how the camera was focusing... zoom in. but thank you! Maybe I will try and submit it this year.

I took that portage 3 years ago around the 19th of May; the portage was pretty dry and the boardwalk was several feet above what little flowing water was beneath it. The bummer was that there were no open campsites on Wine. Give yourself enough time to move further in or to backtrack or you might have a rough night.

How commonly are all 3 sites on Wine full? I'm going in later June, is this a major consideration?