Quetico Portage 5438

Rough one when we were there - current water levels in the middle of the portage (bog area) made a stretch impassable and people were obviously making a go of a woodland bypass. We had to work hard as a group to get the canoe through the tight trees, but it could have been worse.

The portage between the 3rd and 4th un-named lakes from Trant requires care. This area has seen lots of beaver activity and required scouting to locate the appropriate portage entries at each lake. There are two portages entries in close proximity at the east end of un-named lake #3. One leads north to another large un-named lake, the other leads southeast to Silence lake. The portage you want is about 60 rods in length and exits un-named #3 on the left side of the stream over a beaver dam. There is a false trail on the right that will lead you into a boggy mess. Scout the area on foot first and check your compass to find the correct portage trail.

When planning for our trip, the only information I could find about the five portages between Silence Lake and Trant Lake is that they are seldom used. On our trip we portaged all of them going both directions. We found the trails are easy to follow and relatively free of downed trees. The downside of these portages is a lot of challenging round rocks which are particularly bothersome and slippery while loading and unloading the canoes. At times on the portages there were concentrations of these round rocks where you had to walk on them or put your foot in the mud and walk between them. The string of no-name lakes were stunningly beautiful, and refreshingly solitary.