The Portage
 |
| Carrying a canoe and paddles on a BWCA portage. |
The Portage - Wikipedia says of the portage: "Portage or portaging is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage."
Many would argue that the portage is the least glamorous of the canoe travel experience. Portages are rough and tumble, often rocky and heavily wooded, steep climbs up down and around that can be flooded with stagnant water and soupy mud, usually boot sucking mud. Portages don't have beautiful sunsets or sprawling views of picturesque lakes, they don't lend themselves to cozy camp fires or even a place to rejuvenate in the wilderness. One bit of wildlife you are almost sure to encounter on a summer canoe trip portage is the mosquito. Buzzing around you as you struggle to carry heavy loads across uneven slippery ground, the north woods mosquito is always ready to help keep you company. All this sounds terrible, reading my own thoughts written down I wonder what it is about the portage that makes it such an important part of a north woods canoe trip experience. Recently, Modern Wild Man made a new trip into canoe country and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. This post is Volume II of some thoughts and impressions taken from the Northwoods of Minnesota, If you enjoy the read, please be sure and check out Volume I.
Looking over maps when planning a canoe trip at home, scouring over routes in hotels and around coffee cups at roadside diners en route to the north, and finally on the trip, portages are a key topic. Maps gripped in dirty hands come under scrutiny considering portage lengths and topographical lines showing elevation gains and drops. These primitive trails offer us a love / hate relationship with our canoe experience, with explorations and adventure. The more off the grid we go, the farther we reach to the wilderness, the rougher and more rugged the portage we find. The portages we use today were laid out long ago by native americans, fur traders and voyageurs. Often time no more than the lowest place to cross between two lakes, sometimes little more than handing a canoe and gear across a dry spot between lakes and other times a walk more than a mile across swamps up rocky inclines and around white water.
I would argue that the portage may be one of the most impactful and lasting contributions that a northwoods canoe trip has to offer us. Time in the wilderness has a way of bringing a clarity and simple focus to life. Distractions we didn't even know existed fade away. The heart of the matter is easily found when our focus shifts to simple things like the warmth of a camp fire, a hot cup of coffee in a wild place or muscles sore from exploration. Often times we find in wilderness travel that we find ourselves.
The struggle of canoe country portages is a struggle adaptable to the struggles of life. Transitions occur in our everyday, year in and year out. Often times we fail to realize we've even been changed. It's these transitions that season us, that build character and provide for us a history. Portage travel becomes the salt of a canoe trip. Before you encounter that magical lake or the serenity of solitude far from the reaches of civilization, first you must become seasoned by the portage. Just like with the transitions of life some portages are short, maybe even flooded enough to float and we barely notice them. Suddenly we are wrapped up into a new experience, a new lake, a new dot on the map and a new story to tell. Other times just like the transitions of life the portage is long and tough, full of obstacles you swear are trying to trip you. Portages like these are more times than not the most fulfilling. After a long struggle across rough untamed country heaving a heavy load, legs quivering and lungs burning, the launch of a canoe loaded with those heavy packs onto a new lake at the end of that portage delivers more value than any currency can measure. As in life, often times the greatest beauty lies beyond the greatest struggle.
We don't travel to lake country to hike and pack and carry, but it is a necessity, it is necessary. The BWCA is untouched by motor boats, roads and float planes. To explore here a man needs the muscle and sinew of his arm to pull a paddle and the strength of his back and foundation of his legs to portage his trappings. The struggle of an encounter that we can measure, that we can time and know will end is a test of ourselves many times more a mental or spiritual test than a physical one. The seasoning of difficult portage into lake country makes the almost effortless paddle across a smooth remote lake blanketed in beauty more satisfying than we could ever presuppose.
I suppose untamed portages are more than simply a right of passage in the actual and literal canoe country of the north. The portages are a right of passage of sorts to the north woodsman both in idea and in deed. Stories are shared days and decades later of the struggle across a slippery rocky slope with a heavy canoe teetering on worn shoulders. My first trip to the BWCA was as a young teenage boy with eyes full of wonder I traveled those lakes with a group of young men and dads who are now aged twenty some years past that trip. When we chance to meet each other and reminisce of wilderness and trips past it is the portage that seems to bring smiles and laughter. With names like Yum Yum, Misquah and Horsetail; tough portages build a mystique and a following by those who have put them under their belt.
You could say we all paddle our own boat, and no one knows what waters we will travel. Storms will come and go, and we will float both rough and still waters. I hope that I can take life's portages in stride, that what I carry in my pack is worth the trouble and I can't wait to see the beauty on the lake to come.
 |
| The start of a BWCA portage, taken from an approaching canoe. |
I would argue that the portage may be one of the most impactful and lasting contributions that a northwoods canoe trip has to offer us. Time in the wilderness has a way of bringing a clarity and simple focus to life. Distractions we didn't even know existed fade away. The heart of the matter is easily found when our focus shifts to simple things like the warmth of a camp fire, a hot cup of coffee in a wild place or muscles sore from exploration. Often times we find in wilderness travel that we find ourselves.
 |
| Modern Wild Man with a food pack on a flooded portage. |
The struggle of canoe country portages is a struggle adaptable to the struggles of life. Transitions occur in our everyday, year in and year out. Often times we fail to realize we've even been changed. It's these transitions that season us, that build character and provide for us a history. Portage travel becomes the salt of a canoe trip. Before you encounter that magical lake or the serenity of solitude far from the reaches of civilization, first you must become seasoned by the portage. Just like with the transitions of life some portages are short, maybe even flooded enough to float and we barely notice them. Suddenly we are wrapped up into a new experience, a new lake, a new dot on the map and a new story to tell. Other times just like the transitions of life the portage is long and tough, full of obstacles you swear are trying to trip you. Portages like these are more times than not the most fulfilling. After a long struggle across rough untamed country heaving a heavy load, legs quivering and lungs burning, the launch of a canoe loaded with those heavy packs onto a new lake at the end of that portage delivers more value than any currency can measure. As in life, often times the greatest beauty lies beyond the greatest struggle.
We don't travel to lake country to hike and pack and carry, but it is a necessity, it is necessary. The BWCA is untouched by motor boats, roads and float planes. To explore here a man needs the muscle and sinew of his arm to pull a paddle and the strength of his back and foundation of his legs to portage his trappings. The struggle of an encounter that we can measure, that we can time and know will end is a test of ourselves many times more a mental or spiritual test than a physical one. The seasoning of difficult portage into lake country makes the almost effortless paddle across a smooth remote lake blanketed in beauty more satisfying than we could ever presuppose.
 |
| Wet boots lined up in the sun on a granite boulder, trying to dry after a soggy portage. |
I suppose untamed portages are more than simply a right of passage in the actual and literal canoe country of the north. The portages are a right of passage of sorts to the north woodsman both in idea and in deed. Stories are shared days and decades later of the struggle across a slippery rocky slope with a heavy canoe teetering on worn shoulders. My first trip to the BWCA was as a young teenage boy with eyes full of wonder I traveled those lakes with a group of young men and dads who are now aged twenty some years past that trip. When we chance to meet each other and reminisce of wilderness and trips past it is the portage that seems to bring smiles and laughter. With names like Yum Yum, Misquah and Horsetail; tough portages build a mystique and a following by those who have put them under their belt.
You could say we all paddle our own boat, and no one knows what waters we will travel. Storms will come and go, and we will float both rough and still waters. I hope that I can take life's portages in stride, that what I carry in my pack is worth the trouble and I can't wait to see the beauty on the lake to come.
Be sure to check out BWCA Vol. I & BWCA Vol. III
If you enjoy Modern Wild Man, be sure and share the link, and tell your friends.
 |
| Modern Wild Man portaging across the Canadian border. |
No comments:
Post a Comment