Lakes Visited: Bentpine, Clair, Burntside

Miles Paddled: 4.7 miles

Miles Portaged: 2 miles

Total Miles: 4.9 miles

Total Trip Miles: 67.5 miles

This day I would again see no one else.

The weather was just fine when I woke up. According to my McKenzie map, there was a 65 rod portage into Clair. Because I didn't have an exact route, I did not research every last portage of the open area of Quetico. About halfway into my first portage I realized something was off on the distance - but knew I was on the right portage. I used OnX on my return and some quick math found McKenzie to have forgotten to add a 1 to the 65 rods.

This portage has it all and if a person could only ever experience one Quetico portage, this woudl be it. Slick boulders, moss-covered granite inclines/declines, switchbacks, some route-finding, a peat-bog overlook, planet Endor-looking pine forests, boot-sucking bog, and put-in/take-outs that require some navigation and route-finding skills. The entry on the Clair side looks especially hard to locate. This portage would be more difficult from the Clair side due to it's hidden location and the switchbacks being uphill. I had to drop the canoe on one of the inclines to hoist it up due to the steep incline and slick rocks. In the morning it's challenging but not a big issue. After a long day in the wind with miles stacked up, I wouldn't want to tackle it.

Clair was very tannin stained and I heard it was filled with walleye. I didn't fish it, preferring to get to Burntside early in case the Labor Day weekend crowd was trickling in.

The portage into the creek connecting Clair to Burntside was an easy up and over. The creek itself was a superb paddle visually. It also brought out the worst in the Magic - she doesn't like to turn with any hull speed whatsoever. The last portage into Burntside was an easy up and over a very well-built beaver dam. I expect this dam was the reason for the high water level on the creek and also being able to get right up near it. I didn't search for the actual portage and simply took the trampled manpath on the left.

Once on Burntside I took a look at island campsite FA. It's a nice site and I liked the fire pit. It had endless trees to string a hammock into. But the evening view wasn't quite what I was looking for. Had there been a storm coming in, this would have been it.

The lake was nearly flat with a very light breeze. I decided to take a look at site 35R and ultimately chose 35R. Wonderful view, lots of room, and enough exposed granite to lay everything I had to completely dry out. I found nothing at all wrong with this site and it's a 5-star site with a wonderful view.

Bentpine > Clair Portage

Clair > Burntside Creek

Burntside Sunset