Quetico Portage 5096 (McAlpine)

Like a boxer punching over his weight, this portage punches way above its length. It's truly a beast, because the east end is extremely rocky and wet, making for very slow going because of absolutely treacherous footing. STRONGLY recommend using the one long portage from Bachawaung to McAlpine instead of the three, not just because of this but also because the two of the landings, one in particular, on the other two short portages are absolutely terrible. The long portage, while long, is well used, easy to navigate, hardly any rocks or roots. So you can traverse it quickly. If you take this portage, you do not need to take the cliff mentioned in another post - it can be easily avoided by walking through the stream. Also, the photo of the landing on the west side, taken in 2014, no longer reflects reality - not sure why, but McAlpine's level is up multiple feet since then. So the landing is difficult. You can tell the water is up because of all the dead trees along the shoreline whose stumps are sticking up out of several feet of water.

Rough going. Our east to west carry started with beaver dam and flooded portage trail, midway was a cliff down to the west that gear must be lowered to clear, then through a boggy meadow and a rocky bit to McAlpine Lake. "Booger"