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Guest
Guest
I read thes a pose or poser? ,was how long it took fro a voyager to smoke one pipe. I also read that those spots used to be easy to spot.sounds like a good reminder to STOP and rest.
Turtle
Turtle
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Exactly how long is a "long" portage?
- Thread starter stripperguy
- Start date
Just noticed my typo, it should be poses, not poser! The pipe was the measurement used when paddling. Think it was roughly every hour or so, and lakes were often measured in pipes.
Long is proportional to elevation change. There are some Temagami portages that go straight up.. level for a short stretch and then drop down. Same for La Verendrye.
In those areas 1 km is long..its more like mountaineering wearing a canoe hat. On my La Verendrye trip last year I had a few portages and finished with a 260 meter. Breeze I figured. The exit was in loonshit to my waist. Then along a river for a short stretch over longitudinally laid logs.. So went the first 130 meters. Followed by 65 meters with a 20 meter elevation gain followed by 65 yard with a 25 meter drop right to the water (no shoreline level).
So long can be measured in horizontal distance ( I too stage and eat the elephant in 500 meter bites)
Vertical distance... makes a 400 meter one an all day adventure
Condition of trail.. loose corduroy and boot sucking mud are factors.
A long trail is inversely proportional to age.
A long trail is longer if its the last in a series.. Seven ports a day is enough.
Long is longer when its hot.
In those areas 1 km is long..its more like mountaineering wearing a canoe hat. On my La Verendrye trip last year I had a few portages and finished with a 260 meter. Breeze I figured. The exit was in loonshit to my waist. Then along a river for a short stretch over longitudinally laid logs.. So went the first 130 meters. Followed by 65 meters with a 20 meter elevation gain followed by 65 yard with a 25 meter drop right to the water (no shoreline level).
So long can be measured in horizontal distance ( I too stage and eat the elephant in 500 meter bites)
Vertical distance... makes a 400 meter one an all day adventure
Condition of trail.. loose corduroy and boot sucking mud are factors.
A long trail is inversely proportional to age.
A long trail is longer if its the last in a series.. Seven ports a day is enough.
Long is longer when its hot.
G
Guest
Guest
Long is also longer if you're easily winded. Always take a realistic assessment of your physical condition into account.
A long portage is one.....
A long portage is one.....
When during the hike everything begins to ache and the thoughts wander to wondering if the trail will ever end.
A long portage is one.....
When during the hike everything begins to ache and the thoughts wander to wondering if the trail will ever end.
My nephew and I traveled the 5 miles in to Cedar Lakes..as we went along, my nephew said the needle on his "fun meter" was definitely in the red!!
I think Yellowcanoe nailed it. The conditions of the port are the greater factors, as is he heat/humidity, and of course our age/condition. For me, the largest factor to concider is not the length of the port, but the condition of my knees. If my knees are ok, I can climb like a billy goat over steep rock, scamper through muck, mud etc. If they are bothering me, a walk in a park can be an ordeal ... So it goes I guess.
Bob.
Bob.
Took me a while to find this, but it's a portage rating chart me and my students made on a ten day trip in 2006.
The idea is to add up the numbers to determine the level of suffering. The highest score would be 30, the lowest 6.
I just used this scale to compare two very bad ports: Diablo on the Steel, and the sucking bog between Abamasagi and Meta Lakes. They both came out to 21, even though they are completely different types of ports.
The idea is to add up the numbers to determine the level of suffering. The highest score would be 30, the lowest 6.
I just used this scale to compare two very bad ports: Diablo on the Steel, and the sucking bog between Abamasagi and Meta Lakes. They both came out to 21, even though they are completely different types of ports.
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G
Guest
Guest
Ha! Pretty good.
I've never really had a problem being winded though... usually it's just pain... neck, shoulders, back, knees, ankles... pretty much any load bearing joint.
I'd say add a 6+ for an ill-fitting yoke. I had a contour yoke and that thing was hell - it was contoured just right to dig into traps and eventually hit some sort of pressure point where I'd literally feel like screaming and tossing the boat off my shoulders. A pack helped actually - gave me another few tenths before the yoke would work down into those pressure points.
I talked to a Canadian girl on the phone from Swift because I was trying to get a new, standard yoke from them and I was telling her how I preferred going up hills rather than down. She told me to come trip with her and she'd do all the downhill carrying if I'd do the up. Ha! I explained it was really the yoke. Tipping the boat forward to avoid the stern bouncing off the ground going downhill cause the contours to dig ever deeper into my neck. It was crippling pain.
With my current system it is much better. Now I start to uniformly degrade. First taking a step gets difficult. Then scuffling along becomes brutal until finally just standing with my pack and boat becomes unbearable. Just about when I feel like my legs are going to give out I put the boat down and fall over back on my pack. It's a great way to rest!
One time my boat got caught on a tree and I barely got it to the ground before I toppled over. Funny enough I really didn't care if the boat smashed to the ground at that point. It was really hot that day! Still I think I was only maybe a 12 or so on the chart!
I've never really had a problem being winded though... usually it's just pain... neck, shoulders, back, knees, ankles... pretty much any load bearing joint.
I'd say add a 6+ for an ill-fitting yoke. I had a contour yoke and that thing was hell - it was contoured just right to dig into traps and eventually hit some sort of pressure point where I'd literally feel like screaming and tossing the boat off my shoulders. A pack helped actually - gave me another few tenths before the yoke would work down into those pressure points.
I talked to a Canadian girl on the phone from Swift because I was trying to get a new, standard yoke from them and I was telling her how I preferred going up hills rather than down. She told me to come trip with her and she'd do all the downhill carrying if I'd do the up. Ha! I explained it was really the yoke. Tipping the boat forward to avoid the stern bouncing off the ground going downhill cause the contours to dig ever deeper into my neck. It was crippling pain.
With my current system it is much better. Now I start to uniformly degrade. First taking a step gets difficult. Then scuffling along becomes brutal until finally just standing with my pack and boat becomes unbearable. Just about when I feel like my legs are going to give out I put the boat down and fall over back on my pack. It's a great way to rest!
One time my boat got caught on a tree and I barely got it to the ground before I toppled over. Funny enough I really didn't care if the boat smashed to the ground at that point. It was really hot that day! Still I think I was only maybe a 12 or so on the chart!
Took me a while to find this, but it's a portage rating chart me and my students made on a ten day trip in 2006.
The idea is to add up the numbers to determine the level of suffering. The highest score would be 30, the lowest 6.
I just used this scale to compare two very bad ports: Diablo on the Steel, and the sucking bog between Abamasagi and Meta Lakes. They both came out to 21, even though they are completely different types of ports.
Per your chart the trip in to Cedar Lakes rated a 22, everything but poor weather...definitely in the red for my nephew's "Fun Meter".
So far, this thread has been a great source of entertainment and information.
The first leg of the Obukowin Portages rates a 19 in a dry-ish year, 23 in a wet year, we have done it both times, although the first time, the wet year, we gave up on it and went the long way around by paddle instead.
G
Guest
Guest
L'oiseau: LOL!
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Guest
Guest
I would take issue with the distance part of the otherwise excellent portage difficulty/misery chart. A portage of 1,600 meters (320 rods or 1 mile) is really no big deal unless some of the other complicating factors are present.
My left ankle is loose from many sprains over the years, and when it gets twisted I can usually just walk it out in 5-10 minutes. Still, I watch my step carefully both on portages and at campsites. All it takes is a moment's lapse of concentration and it can roll out from under me, which has happened twice on portages. The first time was on a 120-rod portage in the BWCA known variously as Billy Goat Ridge, Heart Attack Hill, or something else unprintable. (It's between Mudro and Fourtown Lakes.) I was climbing with about 40 lbs on my back when I went down in a heap. Fortunately the 1-mile portage was behind us and I could walk, but barely. We got out that day and the ankle hurt for a couple of months afterwards. The portage was one of the toughest I've ever done, never mind the sprain.
The second time was weird. The portage was from the Isabella River to Quadga Lake - a narrow, flat, dry, grassy trail with good footing. I stepped on a stick about 1/2" diameter that was angled just right for my left foot to roll outward off it. I know because I was watching my step. The boat and I went sideways into the underbrush. That was in September, and it hurt all through the winter. So hazards can lurk on even an easy portage.
My left ankle is loose from many sprains over the years, and when it gets twisted I can usually just walk it out in 5-10 minutes. Still, I watch my step carefully both on portages and at campsites. All it takes is a moment's lapse of concentration and it can roll out from under me, which has happened twice on portages. The first time was on a 120-rod portage in the BWCA known variously as Billy Goat Ridge, Heart Attack Hill, or something else unprintable. (It's between Mudro and Fourtown Lakes.) I was climbing with about 40 lbs on my back when I went down in a heap. Fortunately the 1-mile portage was behind us and I could walk, but barely. We got out that day and the ankle hurt for a couple of months afterwards. The portage was one of the toughest I've ever done, never mind the sprain.
The second time was weird. The portage was from the Isabella River to Quadga Lake - a narrow, flat, dry, grassy trail with good footing. I stepped on a stick about 1/2" diameter that was angled just right for my left foot to roll outward off it. I know because I was watching my step. The boat and I went sideways into the underbrush. That was in September, and it hurt all through the winter. So hazards can lurk on even an easy portage.
The hardest portage is the one from the takeout to the truck.
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