BWCA Portage 681

As others have said, this portage actually meets Snake River on the west side; the spot where it's marked as meeting the river is actually where it crosses over a bridge. The marked distance on every map is also wrong. I measured it at 260 rods. Surprisingly buggy on the parking lot side. The portages on the Snake River are mostly marked wrong, but I would say in general, other than the longer marked one, you might as well try to paddle or line through: they're mostly short.

On the scale of longer entry portages, this one is pretty straight-forward and in good shape for most of the path. From the parking lot that can hold like 6-8 cars with some creative parking, head across the mostly level path free of rocks and stumps. Only the last 10% stretch approaching the put-in on the Snake river after the nice bridge over the river has stumps and rocks to navigate. There is a stretch about the half-way point from parking lot to put-in that was a little muddy, but very doable. The actual put-in was pretty straight-forward, but just a bit muddy.

The portage starts west of the river, crosses on a footbridge, reunites with the logging road that runs parallel to the river, and then is a pretty nice trail to the car.

I agree with Chadd, deceptively tiresome. Expect a 20-30 walk to make this happen. Going to Bald Eagle Lake, stay right, returning, stay left. There were plenty of mosquitoes, had about a hundred hovering in the canoe for most of the portage.

From the parking lot the trail slowly ambles along a gradual descent to the river along a mostly excellent path. There is a small foot bridge and then, at about the mid point, there is a swampy section that could pose some struggles if it's been wet recently. After this, the trail resumes as previous before coming to a well constructed bridge that crosses the Snake River. Once across, the trail climbs up to an opening that was once an old logging camp. There are other trails forking off here; just remember to stay right & follow the river. The trail now noticeably drops down to the small landing along a much more technically difficult path filled with roots, knobby boulders and, likely a little muck as you near the river bank.

The portage is longer than it seems. When coming out it seems like it is a gradual up hill the whole way. The last leg is straight and partially gravel. Tough but no hill for a climber :)

Long portage in poor condition. Knee deep in muck and water at some points, and rocky and steep in others. Downhill on the way in is nice, but all the more difficult to pack out. Once you reach the snake river, there are a few more short portages over rocks and rapids. It is a long paddle before reaching open water.

This is a relatively long portage, but is flat and level along an old road grade for most of its length. After crossing the creek on a nice bridge, the path goes through a nice clearing that was once a logging camp and descends to the entry.