I was planning to go Russell to Chatterton (I've done this portage before), then Chatterton to McDougall (short portage which is new to me), then McDougall to Keats (to avoid the boulder hopping at the Keats end of the Split Rock Falls portage), then Keats to Baird and on along the rest of this chain. (This is the opposite direction of what I mistakenly indicated in my original post).

However, reading Mad_Mat about going "down" that near cliff between McDougall and Keats makes me rethink the direction. Anything that steep I'd rather go up than down (and this is doubly true for my wife).  A few years ago we did the portage from the unnamed lake east of Pond into Pond in the uphill direction (in the Wicksteed to McAree area). That is the steepest start to a portage we've ever encountered in Quetico (I think). If this one is steeper it should be "fun".


DentonDoc: looking at my topo map, I figured there might be a pretty boggy portion on the McDougall end of the McDougall-Eag portage (which you confirmed) which is why I want to avoid that.