BWCA Portage 927

The sun had set when we made it here. Thankfully, one of our crew had done the portage before. As others mentioned, McKenzie does not have this one marked, but they do have the defunct English Portage marked. Follow some ATV trails and then make the turnoff towards the portage finish. There's a big tree down on that end which takes some maneuvering to get over.

This portage is easy to spot, but don't take that as an excuse to assume you will see it. It is critical you take this portage...you'll see why. The landing is a paved 'boat launch' that should stick out like a sore thumb. Head up the hill, continue straight to a clearing on the left which is a campsite. Plenty of photo opportunities above the falls there. The portage continues straight (past the campsite on the left) down a steep hill to a spur trail to the left, hopefully marked with some flags. The portage is narrow, muddy, slippery, wet, and has blowdown. There was a lot of moose sign and even those tracks showed that they were slipping going along the trail. It is 85% downhill. The landing below Partridge falls is nice, but a bit small for a tandem canoe. 3/5 (simply because of footing)

First things first, this portage is NOT marked on McKenzie map 98 (I reported this to McKenzie and they say they will correct it). Go over Partridge Falls and you will have a good shot at death. That said, the portage is easy to spot when going downstream if you know to watch for it. Here's the trick: watch for the long straight-away, and keep an eye on the US shoreline as you approach the bend. There will be a tiny creek with reeds flowing in, and the rocky/muddy portage landing is in that little cove. Once on land, you will be looking at a logging road. Walk a few feet down the road into a grassy parking lot, the portage continues straight ahead toward the left, following the river. It is a grassy snow-mobile type of trail. A few minutes later you will spot a clearing on the left and see the river/hear the falls. Put your gear down and go explore it. It is a powerful waterfall and you don't want to blow past it without taking a moment to appreciate it! Go back to your gear and continue straight ahead, the grassy trail may feel like it is starting to go away from the river, but at the bottom of the steep hill you will see a tiny spur on your left. It was marked with ribbons in the trees when were there. Cruise down this trail which is more like a normal BWCA portage. It will take you down to the river in a few short minutes. The map on paddle planner shows the portage ending closer to the falls than it actually does. Check out my picture to see my gps-traced route in this area. If you are headed to Fort Charlotte you are just a short easy paddle from your destination!

First off, this is certainly more than 78 rods. I may be exaggerating from the dire moment we had doing this stupid portage hand crafted from beelzebub at night, but I would estimate more like 150-200. The trail starts off pretty nice and wide and stays pretty wide, but is super overgrown grassy muddy and buggy. Make sure to not go on diversions, my group spent about an hour looking for a lost team member out here. Almost would rather go over the falls, but ya know, life is valuable