Quetico Portage 5211 (Russell to Sturgeon)

Visited during the floods of May 2022...steep is no understatement on the west end. Russell side better. A real workout; got the heart rate going! That said, we single-portaged it in 10 minutes.

Might steep as others have indicated. A reprieve at the top but you're going to have steep ups and downs at either end.

The "Staircase Portage" is a steep up, a flat middle and a steep down whichever way you're going. (For those who may wonder, there are no stairs.) Pretty tight landing on the Sturgeon side and kind of hard to get momentum to head up the hill. As mentioned by others, be careful on the ups and downs, but when you're done, if you headed to Russell, Chatterton Falls is just ahead. Seeing it is worth every drop of sweat you made on the portage.

I've traveled on many portages in my life and found this one to be one of the most dangerous due to the steep rocks at both ends of the portage. The weather was wet and rainy and we found ourselves slipping on many of the boulders on this portage. Would only recommend if the weather good and the rocks not wet.

From Sturgeon the portage starts extremely steep for about 100 meters (20 rods). From there the trail is fairly straightforward and flat until you near the end where it now drops but a bit more measured.