The Vera/Knife portage is VERY difficult. Straight up and down, overgrown and if it is

by (Login canoebear)

wet it is like a small creek running down the hill over your feet. Muddy and slippery. Vera/Knife is on the top 10 awful portages. Vera/Ensign is slightly better, but that won't help the route you want. It certainly is doable as Howie says, but with teens/newbies, how much can you push before they poop out or get discouraged?

An option is to take a tow out of Moose to Indianhead portage on Sucker Lake, just below Prairie Portage. Go in through Birch,Carp, Melon,Seed into Knife River and into Knife Lake. That is about 5-6 hours. (The small lakes are anoying, in and out of the canoe and you get a variety of movement rather than hours of sitting paddling. In this way, you get the full effect of entry into Knife. It is a beautiful lake to paddle. Coming up Boot,Ensign, Trident into Birch would rule out the tow, but make a long day.
When you get to Knife, be sure to go to Isle of Pines, Dorthy Moulter's island. (maybe go to her museum in Ely, pre trip Read the Rootbeer Lady.) On the north west side of the island, see the Ribbon Rock as she called it. It was a gift from her father and brohter-in-law who brought it up by snow machine in the winter. No body seems to know where they got it from. (Bob Cary was working on the info for me when he died.) Farther up on the north side of South Arm, Thunder Mt. is the highest elevation around. Nice to climb and look around. Continue up north, along the Canada boundary, there is the quarry where the Native Americans got their rock for tips. Knife Lake Pete, an elderly man from Ely, use to make his summer camp there. He stayed all summer. He quit going up a few years ago. He was somewhere around 90. Lynn would know the particulars. If you decide to go, email me your snail and I'll send a copy of my marked map. That is one of my favorite areas. There is more to see farther up the South Arm.

Good Luck and Good trip! Kaitlyn

Posted on Jan 27, 2012, 3:31 PM

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Updated January 21, 2012

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