River Length: From its source at Hook Lake to its mouth at Nina Moose Lake, the river is roughly 19 miles long.
Campsites: 0
Wildlife Seen on Visit: Waterfowl
Last Visited: July 11, 2021
Creek Elevation: Headwaters at Hook Lake at 1490 feet. Mouth at Nina Moose Lake at 1255 feet. Average of 12 feet per mile of elevation loss.
Water Clarity: N/A
ROUTES/PORTAGES FROM THE PORTAGE RIVER:
To Big Lake: Paddle the short creek that connects them
To Big Rice Lake: Paddle In
To BWCA Entry Point 16: Technically the Portage River shares Entry Point 16 with the Moose River North entry point. This route would start where the Echo Trail crosses the Portage River. This route is not recommended because it is not maintained. Use the Moose River (North) instead.
To Duck Lake: Walk the 140 rod portage
To Lapond Lake: Paddle In
Portage River
LaCroix Ranger District
Technically the Portage River is part of BWCA Entry Point 16, sharing it with Moose River - North. However, almost nobody enters the BWCA on the Portage River because the route from the put in on the Echo Trail up to Nina Moose Lake is not maintained. If you insist on using the Portage River for the entry point, expect to encounter submerged trees, many beaver dams and some areas of fast current that require portaging, where there are no portages (aka bushwhacking).
Some of the Portage River is along a well traveled canoe route. Namely the stretch from Big Rice Lake downstream to the Duck Lake portage. The rest of the river downstream of the Duck Lake portage is not maintained by the U.S. Forest Service and is not part of any regular BWCA canoe route. When water levels are good, it is possible to paddle a little ways upstream of Big Rice Lake in the direction of Hook Lake with minor difficulty, but making it all the way between these two lakes would be very challenging and is not part of a regular canoe route either.
References:
Beymer, Robert, Boundary Waters Canoe Area – Volume 1 – Western Region (Berkeley: Wilderness Press, 2006), 58, 62, 64, 67, 70.
Traveling the Portage River (Upstream)
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Section of the Portage River between Lapond Lake and Big Rice Lake.
Paddling up the Portage River from its weedy mouth at Lapond Lake to the start of the 35 rod portage that skirts a series of rapids.
The portage starts on the right side of the river. Where it exactly starts depends on the water level. In this image, the river has almost stopped flowing. The entire flow of the river on this day is about equal to a garden hose.
Regardless of what your map says, the start of this portage is on the right side of the river. This is short portage, but its kind of tough. Also, most maps show this as a 15 rod portage. It actually measures out to around 35 rods.
View from the upstream end of this portage. You are seeing this view while standing on a gigantic beaver dam. To get your boat back into the river, you launch from the top of this dam.
Sweeping view of the entire beaver dam (on the left) and the Portage River (click on the image to enlarge it - use back button to return to this page).
After you leave the massive beaver dam, you have about five minutes of paddling still before you reach Big Rice Lake.
The remaining navigable sections of the Portage River will be added at a later date.
Traveling the Portage River (Downstream)
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Section of the Portage River between Big Rice Lake and Lapond Lake.
A quick paddle from where the Portage River flows out of Big Rice Lake downstream to the big beaver dam where the start of the 35 rod portage is located. The portage will be on your left side as you approach the beaver dam.
View of the beaver dam from whence you start the portage. This is a truly huge dam. Some mighty beavers builty this thing! It is well over two paddle lengths high (about 11 feet). It spans the entire width of the river. This dam raises the water level of Big Rice Lake several feet. Because of this, the shoreline of that lake is lined by thousands of dead trees that have drowned because of the higher water table. You can see some of those unfortunate trees in the background here.
This is not the easiest portage, but lucky for you, it is rather brief. The portage is rocky with a lot of undergrowth obscuring the path. There is also some deadfall.
View of the Portage River (or what's left of it) along the portage. The beaver dam upstream has diminished the river flow to nearly zero.
Looking downriver from the end of the portage. Water is murky here and also kind of deep. Where you can put in is dependent on the water level. The flow is so minimal that the water is stagnant here (just right of center, middle background). The river level here is probably equalized upstream to this point with the water level of Lapond Lake. There is no detectable current along this section of the Portage River.
Paddling along the lazy Portage River downstream from the 35 rod portage until reaching Lapond Lake. The lighting has a yellowish tint to it because there is a thick layer of smoke that is scattering the sunlight. The smoke is coming from a number of large wildfires burning in the western United States and Canada at the time of this video.
The remaining navigable sections of the Portage River will be added at a later date.
Route Connections for the Portage River
From the Portage River, you can paddle a short connecting creek to Big Lake. You can also paddle in and out of Lapond Lake from the Portage River. There is a 140 rod portage to Duck Lake. You can also paddle into Big Rice Lake.
