HighnDry wrote on Mar 14^th, 2020 at 7:47pm:



That route is the "old" trail- used year after year while the beavers kept the water level navigable. I traveled it for the first time in 83.  I think that the dam blew out in 2014. The beavers repaired it during the course of the following summer and it was possible to paddle the pond and use the "western" portage late in the summer in 15 and it was still passable in July of 17, though when I used it then  the portage crew had "barricaded" the trail to the "western" route by piling limbs at the junction of the western route and the bog route.  In 18 I heard that it was no longer possible to paddle the pond- but I haven't tried since July of 17.

On the op's original question the route between Sarah and Kahsh is very nice. It's rugged with a couple of difficult portages- but it is also beautiful. I love Irene and the portages between Kahsh and Irene hold some of the tallest white pines I've seen anywhere.

I'll clarify a bit if I can. The last time I went through there about 2 or 3 years ago, the park had relocated the bog trot portage to the western side of the bog. I paddled carefully through the bog, on  the western side to the northern end of the cliff face. At that point, I was able to take out on a narrow, flat landing and follow a new trail cut into the woods, the trail I followed met up with the old trail at a turn in the old path, just after it climbs out and heads north away from the bog.

It would be interesting to head in that way and see if that new trail is still in service.

That's the way I remember it. Before I realized I could paddle further as you mentioned, I thought no way in hell am I going to cross that huge talus pile!

HighnDry wrote on Mar 14^th, 2020 at 2:11pm:


Haven't heard this and doubt the possibility of a western route around the bog pond. There is a tremendous talus pile below the cliff that ends in the pond- this talus pile is huge, unavoidable and almost impossible to cross unburdened much less with a canoe. When the beavers were cooperative and the pond was navigable the portage path began a hundred yards past the talus pile. This path eventually intersects with the bog corduroy trail.

Photo is of talus pile- the base of it is in water/muck

I could be wrong but I thought that the park rerouted the Side entry to Khash via the western coast line (rock wall, wood path) that intersect with the old "bog route" after it enters the woods? Is this route still open? If it is, it's a lot easier than the old bog trot.

I've not gone into or from Kash from West, but have from Yum Yum, McNiece, Trant, and multiple times both ways from side, only once with water in the bog. I don't mind the south entry even with the long trek on corduroy. Silence and Trant may be my favorite, but they all have virtues. By Side may be fastest from PP.

Either the Yum Yum or Sarah is your best bet. To enter via Sarah you need a Sarah Permit rather than a Kahsh permit. Its possible to enter via Side, but if the beaver dam is still out it requires a considerable bog crossing. There is corduroy but its treacherous.

This year, my group is going back to Robinson, but in the future, we'd like to head into Kahshahpiwi. Is the route better from the east via Grey and Yum Yum, or is coming through Sarah from the west best? I've read the south entrance from Side is a no go these days.