I had a GPS so how could I be lost? The portage was lost...not me. I got some time to download my tracks so I could reconstruct where I went wrong. This is the third portage in from in from The Garner Lake EP. It is an 850 meter port, some good uphill work going in but once you get on top it is mostly rock marked by cairns...pretty easy going. Due to high water levels and current I was not able to get to the portage start....about 200 meters short. I was thinking that where I might have taken out was the actual start but it was burned pretty bad and nobody had used it so there was no easy way to tell. I went this way a few years ago but the water levels were a couple feet lower so it was different. Anyhow, I took off with my rucksack, water and gps in hand. I figured if I could get up on the rock ridge I would find the portage cairns. As you can see I meandered north along a nice rock ridge (easy going) before I realized I was not going to find the portage this far north. I worked my way back south but not far enough.....to much burned matchstick obstruction or tough going. I figured if I keep moving east I would get to Jester Lake and then be able to find the portage. I was right on that count but it sure was the long way. And sure enough...when I found the portage it was easy going all the way back to the beginning. (there was a nice tree marking) I had started about 200 meters short from there back to the canoe...not real easy going.

On the way out I put in at the original start (black arrow). The blue route is my exit path. I made it through without any issue. I am a bit embarrassed looking back at it. My exploratory route turned out to be about 2.3 km. I was pretty gassed when done with this port. It was a hot day. My big mistake was following the path of least resistance. I knew I had to get further south and it probably wouldn't have been that hard. It was burned enough I had good visibility in the woods. Had I crossed the portage it would have been very recognizable. I think the picture describes it pretty well.



When I got back to Garner Lake there were a couple of veteran wcpp paddlers camped on the beach by the EP. They were just leaving when I came out so they stopped by. They wanted to know where I had come from. The day before they did a day trip to check out the portages. They were not able to find the start of the portage either or get to it. Made me feel a little better.

Hey, at least you started out in the correct general direction.......some of us were not so sharp ;-)

wow.....top route looks like a fun walk in the woods!