Quote:

Sturgeon to Russell the hard way is something that sticks in your mind forever.

True be that! Holding the canoe on my shoulders with one hand, grabbing a tree root and pulling myself up a muddy hill in the rain with the other? Priceless.

But for me, nothing -- NOTHING -- compares to the Bon Homme and Sauvage portages south of Fern, which we did that same trip. 400 rods and 291 rods, back to back (and double portaged each one). First time we did those I had a 70-plus pound aluminum canoe with NO YOKE -- just some foam wrapped around the middle thwart.

A storm had recently come through, and trees were down across the trail all over the place. In one place, three trees fell on top of each other. And you couldn't go around. I spent a lot of time pushing, pulling and lifting that canoe through the mess.

In addition, there was "the bog". I was walking in two inches of water, a canoe for a hat, when suddenly I was waist deep. They said it was like a cartoon -- half my body suddenly disappeared. Then my foot got wedged under a root in that muck, and I had to be pulled out. Another guy had to "dive" down and get his sandal.

So, "favorite" portage? Hmmm. Certainly one of the most memorable.

(We took the long Fern River portage on the way out.)

-- kypaddler

Years later, we retraced our steps with a slightly different group. We tried to warn the "newcomers" in the one canoe what was ahead, but they laughed at us. After Bonhomme and Sauvage, they didn't talk to us for two days.