BWCA Portage 698 (Island River)

**see note at end. Short but difficult portage due to large rocks and moving water on the downriver side (closest to road) when you need to heft the boat and scramble over extremely uneven ground. Rocky on trail as well in places. Upriver put in is fine with a makeshift campsite there. **avoid this portage altogether by putting in at the bog to the west of here via the dirt road spur that heads south before the bridge (about a half mile before or so). Drive until you see the obvious put in with rail road ties leading down to the water and a staging area next to the road. Leave your vehicle parked as far into the ditch as you can as people use this road as a north south route. Note: water level will dictate whether you can use this put in. The bog gets shallow in the late summer at times tho we have never been completely stopped by this - simply polled thru it with paddles (tho not in a loaded down boat - day tripping). Make a note of where you are emerging from when you reach the river and how to return to your car when you come back downriver as the wild rice paddy you are going thru is likely to obscure your path. This area is a huge paddy and the rice gets quite tall. The unusual pictographs on the large rock upstream is well worth the effort to get on this river and paddle the distance to it. They are black and big but kinda hard to see at first cuz they are not what you expect. On river right as you go south.