BWCA Portage 564 (Malberg to River)

Trail is good, but two sections require floating. first section out of Malberg can be waded through, second section required me to paddle. Landing on River Lake side was muddy and swampy but not challenging.

What a mess! There are two beaver swamps to paddle across on this one! From the east, the first is the longest, just hugged the bank to my right through the trees and such. Then a short walk to the next paddle, a much shorter paddle across a shallower swamp. Then a short walk to River. Takes some time due to all the loading/unloading.

Agree with the overall length but, wound up being 3 separate portages for us as there were 2 flooded sections. Real nice landing on Malberg and the river end was a mushy mess.

We were here before the aquatic plants really came up for the year. We just portaged the first stretch and then paddled around the corner to finish. Nothing difficult.

Went from east to west. The river end had very low water and could not be paddled from the normal landing, and the mud was much too deep to try.walking the boat. Took a path through the grass on the right to an alternative landing. Water was deep enough there. This was a very low water year. As mentioned, the beaver pond in the middle has deep water (mid to upper thigh on me).

Fall of 2020 was definitely a low water year, and the flooded portion in the middle of this portage is thigh deep. It is hard bottom, so if you want to get wet just trudge through and keep going. It was kinda cool when I did it so I didn't want to go over my knee high NRS boundary boots, so I treated it as two portages and actually paddled across the flooded portion in the middle.

Been through here multiple times. Fairly easy, straight forward portage. There is a segment in the middle where you will be wet-footing in rainy years. In dry years, count on a mucky push into the river. Nice moosy area on the river side.

Some of the big boulders on the path make travel difficult. There was a strip about 50 yds. long that was shin deep in water and mud. My nephew saw a moose and 3 deer in this area.

UPDATE as of 8/3/16: The flooded portion in my previous review was now only about ankle deep. ORIGINAL COMMENT: Swampy and mucky on the River side, we just pushed through it but the heavier guys in our group had to scramble along the shore line a bit to get to a spot they could launch their canoes. Also, there was a flooded portion of the portage about half way, but it was only about knee deep. There are a few large boulders to climb over.