Already planning next year's trip and thinking about heading up to Mack from Saganagons and then on to the Waiwag and back down the Falls Chain.  One option I'm am considering is going upstream on the Wawiag and then hitting Bellaire and then McKenzie Lake.  

Has anyone done this route recently or have knowledge of it?  How hard is it to find the portage into Bellaire from the Wawiag?  

Would probably then continue to Ferguson Lake via the creek and then head down the Cache River to Kawnipi.

Any help is appreciated.  Thanks!

Maybe not recently, OK...but I've done that route. See if you can get my piece, "Mysterious McKenzie," Boundary Waters Journal,Summer, 2001.

After the article appeared I got a long letter from an attorney in Chicago asking why we didn't go from McKenzie to Belaire to the Wawiag. It was a good question. While there does not seem to be much current in the Wawiag at Kawa Bay, further upstream it's a steady paddle or slip back. I'm told the portage from Wawiag to Belaire is better marked than when I made the trip.

Let us know how you do.

Tim

Kiporby wrote on Sep 6^th, 2009 at 3:56pm:


Flat bog, spongy moss and lots of step - overs during a dry August 2008. Seems like it takes a little extra effort walking on the soft surface, kinda like walking on the beach. It would probably be very wet during a wetter time, otherwise pretty easy but long.