How much do you portage?

[yellowcanoe]

This remark got me to thinking ...

"Most of my trips involve significant portaging. Apparently much more than most here."

So how about you?

In old age I prefer big water and less portaging more but do not do rivers. I have found that my max in a day used to be 3000 meters solo double carrying ( the distance measured once). Now I get pooped at 2000..

I don't bushwhack Adirondack ponds though.

Of course not all portages are alike. Some of those Woodland Caribou ports are up and down and require a saw...particularly if you have found an old port or are the first in the season.

I think Temagami is among the roughest. Even a short one can be tiring.

 

[memaquay]

When my buddy and I trip together, our usual torture involves finding the dang things and then cutting them, so it is not unusual for us to have covered the distance five or six times before we are done. Those are long days. If I averaged most of the ports on the trips we do, I would probably be looking at three ports a day, most in the 400 meter range. That's with the usual 30 to 40 k a day of paddling, although with groups, it's usually around 30 k. There are those days in there when there might be a 3300 meter port, or a 2500 meter port, but I try to make those days so that there is only a small amount of paddling and the one port. On personal trips, it is not unusual for me to have three carries; beer weighs a lot.

 

[Philtrum]

Hm, this is an interesting question that got me to wondering. Typically, my BWCA trips have about 15 portages totaling about 2.5 miles. Since I double portage, total portage-walking distance is about 7.5 miles. In a single trip I've done as few as 4 portages (1.1 mi.) and as many as 20 (5 mi.). My longest portage was 320 rods (one mile).

 

[Guest]

All my summer trips involve carrys. My longest single carry was 5mi. I don't do no stink'in meters or portages.
Turtle

 

[Iskweo]

I hear ya YC. I get tired a lot quicker now also. The thing is, if you trip in the Shield country, you are portaging. No way around it. Some are longer than others but I am not really into anything more than a km if I can help it. Some of our trips, like up to Leaf Lake, have 10-12 smaller ports that all take time. That makes for a long day too.

When I get tired, I just stop. Wherever we happen to be. Cuz I can. That has led to some wonderful "smell the roses" kinds of moments.

Portaging on solo trips is not my favourite thing though I have to say. It's nicer to have some help along. I keep them shorter and will be looking for more float trips I think. Maybe do the Assiniboine from out in Saskatchewan somewhere. That would be cool.

 

[redoleary]

I typically paddle the Manistee R. a few times a year here in MI and the section we do has no portages which is awesome so a cooler with lunch meat and fresh food is the order of the day on those trips. However when we've done the BWCA and this summer in Algonquin we're going to see a fair amount of portaging. I don't like it but its a necessary evil, most the portages for this summers planned trip are fairly small but there is one over 2000 meters! Had one a few years ago in the Adirondacks around Raquette falls that was over a mile also. We double portage so it's a fairly time consuming event for us but, we enjoy a comfortable camp and I need my photography gear so I'm willing to trade some extra effort for more enjoyment or as Nessmuk wrote "we do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it".... but portaging is a bit rough.

 

[Canotrouge]

I didn't have to portage ever up here yet, other than on ww day trips, to go around sections of rapids that are too technical for my abilities. Wile tripping, I'm usually on rivers, and most of the time we can paddle, pole or line our canoe and gear.

 

[yknpdlr]

The annual 3-day staged Adirondack 90 mile canoe race with 275 boats has a total of about five miles of portage, the longest couple of portages are a little over a mile each, the roughest being 1.1 miles up and down around Raquette Falls.

For several years some of us crazies make it a habit in mid June to enjoy paddling the unofficial and unsupported legendary Cannonball-90, paddling the entire contiguous race route in a single day. Without the intermediate end of day vehicle transport provided when on the official race, doing the Cannonball without ground support doubles the portage total to ten miles over ten portages. The longest single Cannonball portage is 3.7 miles around Buttermilk Falls and associated sections of rapids.

A few years ago I solo paddled/portaged the entire New York portion of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail to Lake Champlain, but instead of beginning at the official NFCT start in Old Forge, I began my trip at a point 30 miles further to the southwest. The overall total distance of 185 miles included 62 total miles of portage, all single tripped and completed within 7 days.

 

[ppine]

In the West we portage around dams or obstructions sometimes, but mostly line the boats around difficult rapids. We tend to go heavier with bigger boats as a result.

 

[Guest]

I used to dread them but now I usually look foreword to carrys as a change of pace and a chance to stretch my legs. Since I travel lite they aren't an ordeal. I have even started to double some even though I could tough it out and single carry. Some carry trails are beautiful hiking trails with a lot of different things to see. On one long hot carry,I spontaneously decided to make camp and finish it the next morning when it was cool. A change of attitude really improved my experience.

Turtle

 

[Mihun09]

I used to dread them but now I usually look foreword to carrys as a change of pace and a chance to stretch my legs. Since I travel lite they aren't an ordeal. I have even started to double some even though I could tough it out and single carry. Some carry trails are beautiful hiking trails with a lot of different things to see. On one long hot carry,I spontaneously decided to make camp and finish it the next morning when it was cool. A change of attitude really improved my experience.

Turtle

We've split portages in the past as well. First time doing the "Mothers" to get into Obukowin we did the first 2.2km leg, then set up camp in the middle of the second leg, 1.7km. In the morning we finished that and then completed the 3rd leg, 1.1km. We were doing 2 carries each on that trip.

Portaging is a necessary evil but at times the quantity of portaging can just stop us from going... The Bloodvein River being a good example. We don't do whitewater thus, we port everything. The Bloodvein, although accessible by a 4 hour drive and some paddling/porting for us, has 64 marked rapids/falls between Artery Lake and Lake Winnipeg. That would be more like backpacking with a canoe.

Allan wishes to go both ways on the Bloodvein this Summer, do plan for more than a month.

 

[red langford]

Depends on the portage and the number of portages. The trip up to Mexican Hat on the eastern route involves 14 portages at less than 2000m if I recall and that takes the wind out of my sails pretty quick. The in and out is usually equally as demanding trying to load and unload at some non-ideal landings. I also double or triple carry solo depending on the portage. I carry a main pack with all my gear, a food barrel and the canoe. If it is short and relatively easy I'll take the food and canoe together. I don't carry a 30 pound solo so sometimes I just make three trips.

 

[Marten]

Woodland Caribou is my stomping ground these days. 15 years ago when all that new country beckoned I enjoyed 25k-15 mile days with 3k-2 miles of portage distance measured once. I would triple portage so it was 16k-10 miles of walking. I would be done-in at the end of the day but relished in all that new country. I turned 64 this week and exercise a lot so I can still canoe trip. The lake miles don't matter but now-a days one mile of portage distance measured once is all I care to do. As Iskweo said "smelling the roses" is much more important now. I do 30 day trips and only drink the water but I eat well so my three carries across the portage start out at 70 pounds each. That can get very tiring so anything longer than 500 meters will see me leapfrogging my gear across. If I come across a good blueberry patch or a serene place in the forest I will stop for a while. With 30 days to play with there is no place I "have to make it to."

 

[Adk Keith]

Well I do bushwhack to Adirondack ponds. My longest to date is 4 mi. Of course it was a day trip so I did 8 total that day.

Then there was the time I carried 2.5 miles to what I thought was a stillwater, only to find it was not, and carried the boat back to the car and never wet it....

 

[Seeker]

I don't avoid them, and actively seek waters that require at least one, even if short. Seems to insure a bit more solitude. My longest to date is a little short of 2 miles. I don't do rivers much, preferring the quiet flatwater of Adirondack ponds, mostly the St Regis, Lila, and Low's, and each with at least a small portage at some point.

We have a few "rivers" here in LA, but they're mostly slow, muddy, and flat... the only riffles are caused by strainers or low water flowing over the rare sandstone ledge. (I know of only 3 sets of riffles within a day's drive.) They're typically run with a shuttle. We also have a nice lake, Toledo Bend, but the wind and motorboats limit my ability to enjoy it.

As I age, it's getting harder to lift a 50-75lb wood/canvas canoe overhead... it's never felt good to portage it, but as my endurance declines, the lifting itself is becoming more troublesome. But it feels so good when it's over!

I've told this story before, but my wife went with me on a trip to Low's last October, her first. She's kinda small, and pooped out 1/3 of the way through helping me carry the canoe over the portage at the upper dam, which was not unexpected... I simply tied the paddles in and resumed the work. She watched me shoulder the now-double load, alone, and afterwards said "I get it now... and you're getting a portage cart for the next trip." So, it's come to that... I will soon have a portage cart. Kinda like a Zimmer Frame. But if it keeps me fit, unhurt, and tripping, I'm ok with that.

 

[ppine]

I like Marten's post.

 

[riverstrider]

I got my introduction to portages (and carries, in the Adirondacks) while doing trips on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Early on, I invested in a sturdy canoe cart, and to my relief have found that most of the portages and carries I have done were traversable on wheels. Including some that were not necessarily considered wheel-able, such as nearly all of the Indian Carry (Stony Creek Ponds to Upper Saranac) and most of the Racquette Falls Carry. The longest portage I have done is 10 miles on my trip across RI, and all of that was on wheels. I also have the Grand Portage in Quebec on the NFCT on my resume, and a nasty deer-fly-infested 5-mile long log-road portage from Spencer Lake to the Moose River in Maine. Soon I hope to add the Mud Pond Portage in the Allagash to my list.

Portages are what you make of them. Even if the portage cannot be traversed by cart, and everything has to be carried, I just make sure I am not in a hurry and live in the moment. I haven't yet come across one that I haven't been able to complete one way or another.

-rs

 

[Philtrum]

[snip]

Portages are what you make of them. Even if the portage cannot be traversed by cart, and everything has to be carried, I just make sure I am not in a hurry and live in the moment. I haven't yet come across one that I haven't been able to complete one way or another.

-rs

Well said. This aspect of tripping is what makes, for me, time in the BWCA a spiritual experience, one where I'm willing to give up what I'd like in order to get something of far greater value.

 

[scoutergriz]

sadly, my portaging days are almost over thanks to a serious back injury, unless I bring Sherpas .
Where I would do up to 3 miles easily by portaging 1/2 mile in stages, and could handle up to about 1/4 mile single carry, Now I have to double (or triple) everything and am limited to about 2-3 350yd stages with a 40lb canoe or 30lb pack per day.
Fortunately, I often trip with young people who are more than willing to help an old codger, and quite often won't even let me carry my daypack

 

[Iskweo]

Well, we were talking tonight and " The Trip " is back on for end of June. I have things under control apparently so we are going to tackle a lake that we have been jonesing to get into for years. It's going to be epic I tell you. I am thinking we will take a page out of the arctic explorers handbook and do a series of caches along the way...it's an in and out route... We will be carrying heavy on the first day or two but will be lightening things as we go and retrieving on the way back. That should make the portaging easier.

I figure we will be doing some pretty extreme portage clearing along the way so this will be a chainsaw trip for sure. If only I could get my hands on some detcord, thaaaaat would make for short work on the downed trees.

There are some longer ports on this one and a whole mess of short ones. No matter, we stop where we stop when we need to.

Griz, I concur with the Sherpa thing...I have been mulling that over for years.

Christy