Portaging the Kekekabic Ponds

The Kekekabic Ponds themselves really weren't the story here. They weren't very deep or very big, but the portages were the interesting aspect of this section of our trip. We met a small group going the other way after we crossed into the first pond. This first portage wasn't very long, and didn't have too much elevation change. The group we met told us that there were some challenging ones coming up. Sounded interesting... The first pond was one of the bigger ones, and it almost connected with the second one. There was water connecting the two, but it was too shallow to navigate a canoe through. So, we just lifted the canoe with most of the stuff in it around the side of the stream.

The second pond was a short, shallow one. The next portage had a slight rise in elevation, but still wasn't too bad. It was about as long as the first one to get to the first pond. The third pond was the largest, and the portage at its western end was definitely a challenge. It was a challenge to get out of the canoe!

The portage rose so steeply out of the pond that you couldn't just beach the canoe and get out. You couldn't get any of the canoe on shore at all! Thankfully there was a fallen tree next to where we were. I got out and balanced up to shore, where I threw some of the gear up to the main trail. Shawn got out of the front of the canoe, and got some more gear. It was extremely difficult for Tracy to get out of the middle without tipping the canoe over, but he managed. So, we pulled the canoe up the steep embankment. The back end almost went underwater, which really wouldn't have been good, since there was a bunch of gear still in there. Somehow, we managed to get it up to a level area. Then, the portage was pretty steep up to the fourth pond.

Setting the canoe in the fourth pond was not as big a problem as getting out of the third. The fourth pond wasn't very big either, and the portage heading into Kekekabic Lake was steep, but not a problem to get into or out of. We had survived the Kekekabic Ponds! Unfortunately, during the course of these portages, my sunglasses fell off the backpack where they were tied. Oh well...

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