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Quetico Portage 5086 (Batchewaung to McAlpine)

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Approximate Length:
1120m (223 rods)

Lakes:

Climb/Descent Meters:
92.6

"Hilliness" Index
83

# of Comments:
4

On 11/22/2025 1:43:02 PM, rick00001967 said:
Visit Date:

did this portage in the early 1980's and then again in may of 2024. it is a long one, but fairly flat with no surprises. there was a lot of blow down that i had to cut or detour in 2024 so it added quite a bit of time as i was double carrying. i saw mention that the mcalpine landing was hard to find?? i certainly did not find that to be the case. it was a nice, open, grassy landing. i dont remember any issues on the batch end either. i would like to try the southern portages next time but eddavies post from earlier this year has me terrified to even try lol i have seen some online videos of the southern route and they made it look like a cake walk. maybe i will just have to go see for myself some day.
On 7/8/2025 11:38:48 PM, EdDavies said:
Visit Date:
8/4/2023

Use this portage to get from McAlpine to Batchewaung (or vice versa), not the three portages which serve as an alternative. This portage, while long, is FAR easier to deal with because it has hardly any rocks or roots, is dry, the landings are very good especially the one on the Batchewaung side - all in all just plain easier. We were so glad we took this portage on our way back to Nym Lake. The landing on McAlpine is hard to find. The map shows it to the east of the stream coming from Batchewaung. It's not - it's to the west. It's there, you just have to look hard for it. Mackenzie has this at 223 rods, Fisher has this one coming in over 260 rods. It didn't seem anywhere near 260, not even sure it's 223, it's that (relatively) easy a portage. If you're thinking of taking the other three portages instead of this one, read my reviews on each one of them first.
On 6/22/2020 6:08:48 PM, Kara said:
Visit Date:
6/26/2019

There was blow down across trail in several places. Portage crew had not been through yet. Other than that it was just a walk in the woods. Overall fairly dry.
On 8/27/2017 3:03:13 PM, marcink said:
Visit Date:
7/31/2017

Quetico has a lot of easy and short portages. This is a longer one, but other than length it was not difficult. On our passing, after a summer weather that promoted a lot of growth, the path did seem a little grown in - lots of new growth reaching into the path.
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