What's your favorite portage (if there is such a thing for you) and why? 

Yum Yum portage has to be one of my favorites.  Its got a little bit of everything.  Mud, rocks, challenging ledges to surmount, but best of all has to be the clifftop view about 2/3 of the way from Kash to Yum Yum.  Simply spectacular!  It's a great place to stop for lunch and just drink in the scenery.

As far as just a pleasant walk in the woods, the 2nd portage from Basswood to Kett is about as good as it gets.

The northern Cache Lake portage is also a very scenic walk and quite enjoyable if you don't mind the length.

Portaging is what you make of it, IMHO.  If you go into them with the mindset that they are going to suck, you're probably right.  If you go into them with a positive attitude and an eye for the beauty of the land, sometimes you'll find yourself a little disappointed to see the lake at the other end.

Between the Rolands for the pretty falls and Bentpine/Clair 'cause it was "spooky" yet recently cleared and I didn't notice all the tape until my second and third carries. DOH!

I really don't mind most portages either. They're often a nice break from that pesky sun or wind. Favorite? OR most memorable?

Sturgeon to Russell the hard way has a "you gotta be freaken kidding me" factor I'll not soon forget. It is what it is and will get your heart beating rain or shine though.

I rarely have found myself "a little disappointed to see the lake at the other end"  , but I did love the portage from Beaver to Adams.  So much that I went back and walked it again with the camera, and really didn't want to leave!  It remains, in my BWCA memory, high on my list of most beautiful places.

It was a long time ago, and it is a place to which I would like to return.  I wonder if I would still find it so enchanting.

Haven't ever done the Sturgeon-to-Russell portage so I can't comment on that one.  I've always just gone up the river, doing a short portage around the swift if necessary.

Kash to Joyce is definitely a lung-and-thigh burner though.  Keats to Baird is another one like that.  It's worth it to get into the Cutty Creek area, though.

At least I did it loaded from Baird to Keats.  It seems more downhill that way.  But traversing it either way when its been raining can be a bit of a challenge.

McDougal to Keats is another one I remember.  Its good for a laugh when you reach the Keats end and wonder where your packed your parachute.

But my favorite is a favorite for a difference ... Bayley Bay to Burke.  It was my first ever wilderness portage and it still says you are leaving "civilization" behind.

dd