Quetico Portage 5304 (Mack to Munro)

Mack side of the portage is definitely the challenge. Use the prior comments to help navigate the portage. Most of it is through a cedar/birch forest with a steep decent down to the Mack side. The Mack side is a muskeg bog. It wasn't too bad in 2023 with lower water levels. The last 100 feet is a mess. Floating, suspended vegetation, and the whole surface moves with you. Be wary carrying your gear through here, as clearly it would be easy to break through and go deep into the muck. We were able to get the canoe into the worst of the boggy stuff and load from more stable ground during a relatively dry time, then shuffle/push/pole the boat out into Mack loaded.

This portage is downright dangerous with mucky quicksand at the end into Mack. One of our party got stuck in it and had to climb up into a tree while the rest of us bushwhacked west to try to find an entry away from the muck. Other comments indicating there's a trail bypassing it are wrong. There is a bit of a trail but it appears to be a game trail that leads to a swamp that's not connected to the main lake. We eventually found access and picked up our stranded party member. The muck was so bad that on our way out of the park we stopped and told the Cache Bay ranger that they should really reroute the portage trail around it. If you are soloing, you could get into a lot of trouble here. Even worse, it had not rained much at the time of our visit.

It had been raining all morning when we got here. The portage was hilly coming out of Munro, and muddy toward the Mack end. We avoided any major mishaps though. Was pleasantly surprised to find no significant deadfall despite warning that we should expect some.

If it wasn't for the fact that we lost over an hour following a moose trail this wouldn't have been a bad portage at all. Good landing on the Munro side. a bit long, but not hard. About three quarters of the way in you come to a beautiful young birch stand, and then start a long and kinda steep hill down. At the base of the hill you can either keep going straight, or go to the left (west). Straight is the main portage that is marked on the maps, and it leads to horrible muck and swamp. We tried scouting it, thinking that if it wasn't far to the lake we could tuff it out, but the lake is farther away than you think. If you go the left instead, you end up paralleling a stream that empties into Mack. Its roughly (a very rough guess) about 20 rods from the base of the hill. Here is the catch: the short path that connects with this literal moose trail comes from the NE. So when you are walking west, its VERY easy to miss as it connects from behind you. If you miss it you can end up walking a LONG ways on the moose trail. We ended up missing the path at first and then after following the moose trail forever got on the stream and then stream was impassable at that point. But, if you do it right and take the path to the stream, you avoid the swamp and just paddle a short ways on the stream and into Mack. Note, in lower water times the bay (regardless of which way you access it) can be quite shallow and weed choked. We got a good workout pushing through a little bit at a time with our fully loaded canoe.

Yah, there's hell to pay if it's rained, at all. It starts out hilly from the Munro end. One of us who had two packs went down hard on a rock. The Mack end is a swamp. Three went up to their wastes and the lead guy with the canoe dropped to upper chest. Just be careful and sidestep when necessary.

This portage is most definitely a challenge. After a rapid ascent and descent that could qualify as a black diamond ski hill in winter, we arrived in a floating sphagnum bog. Do not do this portage with multiple packs. I double packed and fell over into the mud behind my brother and another brother fell waist deep in the bog with a canoe. This is a very taxing portage, yet it is short enough to be fun to conquer. If it is raining, do not attempt.