Great picture! After looking at the satelite image a few hundred more times, I concluded that the dark area which was the same color as the lakes is actually a shadow from a cloud. Thanks for the photo, though. I still think I see a trail in there!

If it is any value, here is the legacy forest photo covering that area (link is temp, the photo will go away in a few days);
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Belwo and attached is a low res version of the photo.  From your description it was not clear what the "very large body of water covering the area north of the Tuck River up to about 1/4 mile south of Marj" was.  Are you talking about the small pond in the upper right of the picture?  Or the two lakes running across the bottom?

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Well, now I am going to HAVE to check it out. A couple other paddlers did write back saying they hadn't any luck finding out if there is a portage. I did get a response from Fisher Maps as stated below. Have you ever used Google Earth? The funny thing with using the satelite view in that particular area is that it appears to show a very large body of water covering the area north of the Tuck River up to about 1/4 mile south of Marj. What I mean is that if the satelite view is correct it doesn't look like more than a 50 rod portage from the edge of the water (Tuck River & backwaters) to Marj Lake. Check out the satelite view.


From Fisher Maps:
To answer your question, the U.S. Forestry updates their portages, campsites and entry points annually, as necessary. We send all the maps to them each December, and they return them early in the year when they know what changes need to be made. Unfortunately, the Canadian Forestry has refused to work with us on updates for the past approximately 15 years or so, therefore, we have no way of knowing what has changed on the Canadian side.



I’m very sorry this has caused you confusion – please contact the Ministry of Natural Resources, Atikokan, Ontario, Canada P0T 1C0 for information on the Canadian side of the BWCA.



Regards,

Lynda @ W.A.Fisher

I almost took that portage last year.  Our planned route was going to take us thru it, but some late-breaking hot tips on a good fishing lake caused us to alter our destination for the day.  We still could have gotten where we were going using that portage, but it would have been towards the end of an exhausting day out of North Bay on Basswood so we decided to detour thru McIntyre/Paulene and the shorter portages of that route.

So I guess the short answer is that I can't help you.  I'd like to hear what I missed out on if you do end up going that way, though.

Does anyone have any opinions/knowledge on the 300 rod portage from the north part of Sarah into Marj? It doesn't look like an area that would be used too often, but if the path were somewhat used, I'd like to take it and see something different. Thanks! Paul