BWCA Portage 872 (Basswood to Newton)

Pretty much as easy as a portage can get with basically rock-free landing on both sides of the portage, room for lots of canoes coming and going, plenty of room for gear, and a straight gentle rise and fall from lake to lake.

Difficulty of a 4 out of 10. As noted by another post, there is a fork in the road as you are heading back toward the south end. We were tricked by it on our double portage heading in. We took half our gear to the north end, and on the way back accidentally took the fork and ended up on a different load zone. No big deal though, the two load zones are pretty close in proximity so we just muscled through the trees to get back to the original load zone we landed on. Approximately 20-30 yards separated the two. It should be noted that the water was pretty high, so when the water is lower, the two load zones may actually connect, but I can't be sure.

Nice easy portage.

Nice easy portage. Wide and flat. No problems here.

Highway of a portage (mechanical). Used by motorboat people so, wide and flat - no obstacles (other than lots of traffic). Good put-in and take outs. South end has two portage paths that lead to the same place so don't worry - take either one tho the more westerly one is slightly shorter. Side paths for views of rapids.