Anybody been through lately? What can you tell me about the general conditions and reasonable time to budget for four healthy men single portaging?

I am an old man double portaging solo and 4 years ago a days travel for me was Jean to Bentpine. There are two ways to get on the portage from Clar to Bentpine. If water is high you can paddle up the creek about 500 Ft past the first portage landing to a second landing.

I did this many years ago and stopped doing it because the Clare end of the portage was a boggy mess. Three years ago I walked it for fun and discovered that the portage had been redone by making longer but a a lot drier so I did it for real the last two years.

The first point I would make is that the portage starts at the same location as the old one. About 30 yards in from the Claire starting point you go south instead of straight. The portage is fairly long about 1200 yards. The only difficult point with the portage is the cliff that you need to climb heading to Bent Pine. Two years ago it was over 90 degrees and I nearly died. Last year I came from Bent Pine and it was only 70 degrees and didn't have any problems. ( I should point out that I am solo with three loads)

There are normally 2 short portages to get from Burntside to Claire. If there is was in the creek you will not have any problems. Last year in early September I had trouble with water levels even though I was solo with a light load. In addition to the two portages I has to push the canoe up the creek till I got to the unnamed lake in the middle of the creek. Then I ran out of water completely and had to portage along the side of the creek until I got to the portage that takes you to Burntside.

So in summary there is a cliff on the portage and the water level in the creek is an issue. There is no question that you can Make it in a day. The only other is sue is the Burntside landing which can be challenging depending on the water level. You can slide right into the lake.