All good news. Might be worth a return trip next Spring!

Coming from the south it is easy to find the take out, just paddle beneath the high cliffs past the talus slope until you can't paddle anymore. Did this 8/31- the new pond is considerably deeper than the old.

FWIW, I did the east portage on August 5th. There is a fair amount of corduroy covering about half of the boggy part, but probably from heavy use, most of it was 'below surface' and hard to tell it was there.  Most of the rest of the way is boot sucking muck.  We paddled the last few hundred yards to the beaver dam - now about 5' high, I'd guess.  Sounds like the west or talus slope route would be a bit easier/shorter.

pd

We went over this portage on Thursday (9/3/15) coming out of Kahshahpiwi and the reversion to the old, western route is now complete.  If you are coming from Kahsh on the portage, when you get to the junction of the old and new (west and east) routes, you will find that the "new" (east) route is now the one that is blocked off.  Follow the "old" (west) route and you soon come to a put-in in the beaver meadow that has *just barely* enough water to float in, though the depth improves as you head downstream (south).  At the far end of the meadow that you are floating through there is an approximately 10-rod portage over the granite outcrop on the east side of the waterway into the unnamed lake between Kahsh and Side.

The route is easy to follow if coming from the north as we were, but might be harder if coming from the south, because it would not be immediately obvious how far up the shallow waterway in the beaver meadow you should paddle to find the portage takeout.  I took a GPS waypoint when we were there and will add it to this post later on when I get it downloaded.

Thanks. Sounds as though the better time to reach that portage is when there has been enough rain to make it to the point you made it to. Thanks for the report!

Thanks to all who have posted on this portage. We just returned from Quetico on Saturday June 20 but had decided to explore the West side if the water levels looked decent.  From our experience the beaver dam has achieved a water level high enough to paddle up to the NW corner of the talus area.  We landed fairly close to what I recall as the original take out point. The places from which you can do this are quite limited.  From the take-out point we used we easily found the portage path, although it is quite overgrown. We did not encounter any need to pole our canoe perhaps due to some recent rain being added into the water pool level.  We only saw a few other footprints along the portage indicating that only a few folks have passed through this year.  We did not look for the East side portage so cannot verify its current condition.  As long as the water levels hold up the West paddle/portage is doable.

Agree 100%. If you can start your carry (or finish your put in depending upon direction) near the base of that talus slope that is a  somewhat long but very easy and beautiful portage.

Thanks Solus, that makes sense.
Good to know you have multiple options, but IF the conditions allow it, that NW landing isn't all that bad.

I'd take THAT route over a bog walk any day.

ST-

The "new" route on the east side (the one with the long trail over the bog) was constructed because when the beaver dam between the swamp and no name lake went out a few years ago there was no possibility of floating the stream to the old landing. It wasn't possible to use the route on the NW so they blocked the established trail so folks traveling from Kahsh wouldn't follow the more obvious trail to a bottomless muck pit bordered by a giant bolder slope.

The NW route was in use the first time I traveled it in 82 until a few years ago. It is much shorter and easier.

Quote:


I don't know about shortening the route, but by taking that LEFT/RIGHT stuff out, I think it simplify's the route, or at least I hope it does.

I'm a little perplexed on why the Rangers think the NEW landing on the east is going to be the best route IF they permanently block the old one out of the NW corner?

IF the water level is low and you have to go thru a mud bog/corduroy to use the new landing, I'd rather go the rock garden route on the NW corner. At least you stay dry while you unload your gear.

Anyway, people have the choice, because I don't think the old NW path is going away anytime soon, unless they really throw up a road block and literally force you to the new put-in-take-out.