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What is your least favorite portage?

eckilson

eckilson

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This one is definitely on my list - down the backside of the Ball Mountain Dam on the West River in VT. It is not particularly long (little over half a mile), but the rocky path zig-zags 247-feet down to the river - that's about 22 stories.

https://flic.kr/p/2qhX12x

I used my cart to get my canoe to the bottom yesterday, but once I got there I realized that I didn't want the cart strapped to my canoe for the run, so I left it at the put in. I had to hike back down after the run and lug the cart back up.

Fun run, nasty portage to the put in.
 
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Back in the 80's they used to haul us up in a flatbed truck on the West River dam release weekends. Is that a thing of the past? I had a "learning experience " on that river in an experimental open tandem Sawyer canoe which wasn't suitable for Class 3 rapids. The portage was no problem though!
 
Did the Methy in 2009 after coming down the Clearwater in super duper high water. The first 5 km out of the valley was an exhausting climb up a steep greasy clay trail rutted up by quads and the remaining 15 km was through ankle to knee deep water again made worse by the quads. Dang near caused a divorce.
I’ve had tougher ports through blowdown, and burn but the never endingness of the Methy in those conditions was a real test of our endurance.IMG_3416.jpegIMG_3417.jpegIMG_3419.jpeg
 
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Halpc said:
Back in the 80's they used to haul us up in a flatbed truck on the West River dam release weekends. Is that a thing of the past? I had a "learning experience " on that river in an experimental open tandem Sawyer canoe which wasn't suitable for Class 3 rapids. The portage was no problem though!
Click to expand...
The road washed out in 2020, and they haven't repaired it, so there hasn't been a shuttle from the park since then. The shuttle was great - could do 3 or 4 runs a day, and din't have to deal with the dam

Waiting for the shuttle in 2019 in Jamaica State Park.

https://flic.kr/p/2hiZaCY

The shuttle truck for boats in 2018 - there was another truck for people.

https://flic.kr/p/29X1boH
 
I've had a few that were challenging but none that, in hindsight, didn't seem worth the effort. For physical discomfort, so far, I'd have to say the next-to-the-last on the Marshall Lake loop (from Stone Lake to Ara). I was only knee deep in the muck (several places), not up to my waist but it was pretty nasty and I was really glad to have it behind me.

I was thinking the portage from Santoy to Diablo would be the worst imaginable (and that's why I avoided it) but Mem's picture above makes me think that there may be far worse out there.
 
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The portage into Gillander lake in Northern SK probably tops my list. I've certainly done longer and more physically demanding but this portage had been burned an undetermined number of years ago and vegetation was returning with a vengeance. It was a mixture of jumbled up burned logs on the ground and 3-15 foot high saplings and thick brush.

There was no trail and no portage markers. I think I crossed that portage 12 times and I'm pretty sure I never followed the exact trail twice. I'd try and remember visual keys but somehow, next time I crossed, everything looked the same. And the whole way you were tripping over the dead logs and forcing your way through brush and tangles.

It wasn't a very long portage and there wasn't a ton of elevation but it really got to me. I did other portages on that trip that were about 1 1/2 miles long and I preferred those long ones.

Alan
 
1500 meter portage on the Kopka Rv between Obonga Lk and Kopka Lk, in NW Ontario. Most trips on the Kopka Rv end at the bush road landing on Bukamiga Lk. If you continue on you have to make this portage to get the Hwy 527 bridge, another take-out point.

On our 3 wk trip from Allenwater Bridge off the CN rail stop to Lake Nipigon we did the Obonga/Kopka Lk portage on the second to last day. It is a steady steep climb up and the descent is so steep the canoe couldn't be carried and so was slid down the portage while we hung onto to bushes. No photos, I was too exhausted and po'ed to pull out the camera.
 
Yeah 100 rods is an acceptable length, that is "acceptable" not necessarily enjoyable. Of course I've had to do much longer.

One portage that sticks in my mind is the "Two Pants Portage" around Ringham's Gorge on the Pukaskwa River (north side of Lake Superior).

1727122628817.png
 
Probably the Dubawnt River Canyon--2.5 miles, but we didn't have to deal with trees (brush, boulders, bogs, yes). But, we still had 30 days of food with us, so three heavy trips.
 
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