BWCA Portage 24

MUD - Leaving Swamp lake that mud is deep, even in September. First time, sunk in knee deep without finding any reasonable alternative without bush-whacking drastically. Second trip, I laid my canoe in the main mud - trail and walked through it. I would like to credit Oregon Trail for a excellent child hood education, always caulk the wagon and ford the passage.

Warnings in other comments are real!! What looks like a large ankle deep puddle from the doc, that could use some repairs, goes WAIST DEEP in places. We had the best luck staying on the south side and hanging on to the trees, but even then it was knee deep plus in very mucky shoe sucking sludge! There is a handy croc exchange program at the end! :) Otherwise the portage was a nice up and down with a great landing on the west side. Doc really needs to continue to the dry area. However, we've had a very wet year. You are rewarded however with sheer rock faces in Ottertrack that offers amazing echoes! After that a long boring pull to get to Knife unless you get wind... then I imagine it sucks!

easy 100, slight elevation changes, but plenty to see along the way!

We followed direction and stayed on the dock on the Swamp Lake end. Unfortunately, some hurried folks pushed past my teen who was carrying the canoe to the portage and just past where the dock ends he had to step off the trail to get out of their way. He immediately sank into muck to his upper thigh (he’s 6’4”) with one foot solidly on the trail and a 56lb canoe on his shoulders. Took us a long while to get his leg out and then his shoe. Rest of portage was beautiful and pretty easy. On our way back thru a woman told us another kid sank in up to his shoulders in the same spot. Be careful on the trail and the dock on the swamp lake end.

Monument portage was really beautiful heading East to West. It was busy though. Getting unloaded on the dock on the swamp end was tricky with impatient groups around. Once on the portage it winds downhill toward Ottertrack and you have a nice view of the trail you are hiking due to the trees that have been cleared along the border.

The boardwalk on the east side was slightly submerged and there looked to be someone who might have stepped through a board at some point (ouch). This can become an absolute traffic jam. We ran into a number of groups, all of whom decided to spread their gear out and block the portage trail and landings. The portage is easy and, but can take longer due to traffic. 2/5

Monument portage. Easy well traveled portage with some mild elevation in the middle. Stay on the docks.

Well used and maintained. As mentioned in the other reviews, stay on the dock!

Gotta love the monuments. This portage is really busy as a lot of people are heading to Knife. As others have said: stay on the dock and it's not a bad portage.

Most of this portage is pretty easy. But there's a "dock" on the Swamp landing. Stay on the dock. In the water around the dock, submerged at the time we visited, was another platform made of timber. It seemed solid, but approaching land on the submerged timber, we found a mucky bottom that will swallow you up to your waist in muck. Stay on the dock! Assuming you followed this advice and are muck-free, admire the boundary markers on this portage. They are pretty cool.

Well-traveled with a hill in the middle. A good place to exercise good loading/unloading etiquette since it sees so much traffic.

I've went over this portage many times. It is literally "up hill both ways". But it's not bad, it has a nice path with a dock on one end and a beach on the other for easy canoe launching. The monuments are always good for photographs too.

Well maintained and easy.

Monument portage - Landing on Swamp Lake is a boardwalk/dock...stay on it! The portage is well-worn and easy with a little elevation along thee way. Landing on Ottertrack is a beach. Nice border markers (monuments) along the way.

Monument Portage is interesting with historic boarder markings, starts with a well maintained dock on the Swamp Lake landing