BWCA Portage: Stuart River to Contest Lake

Portaging from Stuart River

So from your canoe on the Stuart River, you are looking for this little creek mouth coming out of the grass. To help find it, this spot is just a short ways upstream from the portage. Enter this small opening in the peat bog along the Stuart River and follow the creek about 150 feet. At that point, the creek will become impassable for a canoe and you will have to bushwhack the rest of the way into Contest Lake. Contest Lake is about 25 vigorous rods from where you have to get out of your canoe.

Bushwhacking into Contest Lake from the Stuart River until about midway across the peat bog along the tiny creek. Throughout this bushwhack you are sticking to the left side of the creek. Forget about walking in the creek as it is hip deep mud and also quite deep in general. Creek is fairly easy to follow except for some brush you have to go around.

Picking up again from the halfway point between the Stuart River and Contest Lake, continue the rest of the bushwhack heading east to the shoreline of Contest Lake. It takes you about ten minutes total to get that first glimpse of Contest Lake.

This will be your first view of Contest Lake when approaching it along the small crick from the Stuart River. You are looking east. If you look very, very carefully, you can see five trumpeter swans on the very right side of Contest Lake in the far distance. They will become more visible as you get closer to the lake.

Now that you've made it over the portage, visit: CONTEST LAKE

Portage from Contest Lake into: No portages from here

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