Heck, I've lived here in MN, Crow Wing headwater country for 13 years now.  Have yet to paddle the headwater lakes.  In my eagerness to get one last fall trip in....I rushed into a percieved 4-5 hr paddle and then got 'educated".

Had the wife take me to Akeley, MN...Headwaters of the Crow Wing on 11th CW lake.  Plan was to paddle to my place on 6th CW lake by sunfall.  Gotta late start to boot.

The long and short of it.....the upper CW is not navigable in the fall!  Now why wouldn't I have thought of that before she drove away in the truck?  I was expecting sun and lazy, easy paddlin' and drifting.  I was armed with:
...my camera, to document a glorious float in the autumn colors
...my GPS
...enthusiasm
...a pair of sandals
...cell phone in my shorts pocket
...3 sodas
...a literal boat-load of candy I planned to feast on as I drifted lazily
...my Prism, sans any portage yoke (why would I possibly need that)

The afternoon sun on 11th CW lake was an encouraging start...as I hit the outlet, I had to portage across a iron-gate and road.  Humm, the river sure is shallow here....floated through the culvert under HWY #34 (the last I was in the canoe)....and out into a never-ending cat-tail swamp!  Someone had laid a floating metal bridge across one of the deeper sections and I had to jump into waist deep water to drag over the contraption....only to find 2 inch deep water and thick, 8 ft tall cat-tails.