On our recent trip I had some trouble with map errors- missing portages or incorrectly placed portages. Thought it might be interesting and informative to start a thread where folks could detail errors they've found. The first one we encountered sucked the energy out of my group. We entered via EP50 through Ham Lake. The portage on my Voyageur map showed the portage in the far southeast corner of the lake right along the inlet stream. My GPS download showed the portage in the exact same spot.

But when we arrived there I knew something was wrong- there was a trail there but it just didn't have enough wear to handle the traffic that should be going through such a busy area. I paddled 150 feet or so down the shore looking for something else without success. Got out and bushwhacked the shoreline a ways without success.

We followed the trail and it did have a put-in farther up the stream. We started hauling a Grumman in there as well as all the packs. By this time I was starting to get a feeling of deja vu. I told the group I'd read a trip report by Sparton2 that reminded me of what we were experiencing.

I got in the Grumman and paddled around the corner and sure enough we'd have to line canoes from here and even that looked difficult. My son and I took one of the other canoes down the shoreline and found the portage some 500 feet from where it is placed on the map and in the GPS file. As we were regrouping another party paddled up to start the false portage. We informed them this wasn't the portage and they argued that their map said it was. We told them ours did too, but that they wanted nothing to do with dragging gear down this trail. Sparton2 thought perhaps this trail was used by kayaks running the little rapids but I'm pretty sure this trail is created by everyone trying to follow the false map and GPS information.

My party was over half newbies and dragging all the gear down this false portage sucked the energy out of them. We took a break and refueled before beginning again. I had two sources of information on the portage and both were wrong. I was very surprised as this is an entry portage on a popular entry point.

So, have you found any map errors that could be helpful to point out to others?

There is NO portage from the far East end of Fall Lake directly into Mud Lake. (NOT the 4-mile portage, but South of that on some maps) Maybe 100 years ago it was there, but it only exists on maps today...why I don't know?!?

I have found a few errors on maps over the years. Mostly I have found that low or high water tends to change things.

We always bring a Fisher, and a Voyaguer map. Over the years both have had errors but I've found the Fisher to be slightly more accurate. Is the portage marked correctly on the maps here on the website? I try to make a habit of double checking portage comments here to my map to look for any differences.

quote rupprider: "We always bring a Fisher, and a Voyaguer map. Over the years both have had errors but I've found the Fisher to be slightly more accurate. Is the portage marked correctly on the maps here on the website? I try to make a habit of double checking portage comments here to my map to look for any differences."

It's wrong on the site map too- but I think the site maps are based off the same GPS download that I used. And this one is not a low or high water deal, when we found the portage down the shoreline I told my son to run to the other end to be sure we were in the right place before moving the whole group over- he came back a few seconds later and said,
"Dad, there's a permanent sign at the top of the hill that says 'Welcome to the BWCA'".

quote onepaddleshort: "On our recent trip I had some trouble with map errors- missing portages or incorrectly placed portages. Thought it might be interesting and informative to start a thread where folks could detail errors they've found. The first one we encountered sucked the energy out of my group. We entered via EP50 through Ham Lake. The portage on my Voyageur map showed the portage in the far southeast corner of the lake right along the inlet stream. My GPS download showed the portage in the exact same spot.
But when we arrived there I knew something was wrong "

We had some trouble there a few years ago too. The map is wrong, but we found it pretty quick since I'd been there before. On our way out, we noticed some ladies headed away from us when we carried our first load. They saw us, turned around, and pulled into the portage. They said they had given up after having spent a lot of time on the "False" portage. They were going to end their trip before they started it. They said they figured if they couldn't find the first portage, maybe the trip was a bad idea? They happily thanked us for "Saving" their trip.

Thanks for pointing this out. That's pretty far off!

I've been in situations where I've just not seen the portage for a couple (sometimes few) minutes. You doubt yourself and sometimes see what you saw, a somewhat-worn trail. It's always so obvious once you actually find it because it's so very worn. It's hard to remember that a well-traveled portage is always so worn it should be a no-doubter. I try to keep this in mind as I get more experience.

You cant just portage up the stream bed? The aerial makes both look viable.

This was a while ago and I don't remember if it was McKenzie or Fisher Maps that showed the Louisa Falls portage on the wrong side. It was before the days of researching every single campsite, portage, and river online using forums, maps, and blogs. We only planned on taking a quick 30 minute site seeing stop at Louisa Falls on Agnes before continuing on our way. So I didn't do any research. It began to rain after we pulled off on what turned out to be the wrong portage trail. There was a trail there but it was steep and obviously not what we were looking for. The rain made us unwilling to go on a wild goose chase trying to find the correct portage to view the Falls. I've always regretted not being able to see that waterfall when I was that close. But that map error, in addition to the rainstorm, made us miss that once in a lifetime opportunity. This was 10 years ago or more and so maybe they've updated the map since then.

quote DuluthPak: "This was a while ago and I don't remember if it was McKenzie or Fisher Maps that showed the Louisa Falls portage on the wrong side. It was before the days of researching every single campsite, portage, and river online using forums, maps, and blogs. We only planned on taking a quick 30 minute site seeing stop at Louisa Falls on Agnes before continuing on our way. So I didn't do any research. It began to rain after we pulled off on what turned out to be the wrong portage trail. There was a trail there but it was steep and obviously not what we were looking for. The rain made us unwilling to go on a wild goose chase trying to find the correct portage to view the Falls. I've always regretted not being able to see that waterfall when I was that close. But that map error, in addition to the rainstorm, made us miss that once in a lifetime opportunity. This was 10 years ago or more and so maybe they've updated the map since then.



"

That portage trail is STEEP, even when its dry its not pretty. I've gone up both sides btw, and when you're looking at the the falls from Agnes, the portage is to the right.

quote Goby: "

quote DuluthPak: "This was a while ago and I don't remember if it was McKenzie or Fisher Maps that showed the Louisa Falls portage on the wrong side. It was before the days of researching every single campsite, portage, and river online using forums, maps, and blogs. We only planned on taking a quick 30 minute site seeing stop at Louisa Falls on Agnes before continuing on our way. So I didn't do any research. It began to rain after we pulled off on what turned out to be the wrong portage trail. There was a trail there but it was steep and obviously not what we were looking for. The rain made us unwilling to go on a wild goose chase trying to find the correct portage to view the Falls. I've always regretted not being able to see that waterfall when I was that close. But that map error, in addition to the rainstorm, made us miss that once in a lifetime opportunity. This was 10 years ago or more and so maybe they've updated the map since then.




"

That portage trail is STEEP, even when its dry its not pretty. I've gone up both sides btw, and when you're looking at the the falls from Agnes, the portage is to the right. "

Yes.....we went on the left side, which if I'm remembering correctly, that is where the map showed the portage at that time. If the right side is anything like that left side, then that would certainly be one epic portage. Especially when raining.

quote billconner: "You cant just portage up the stream bed? The aerial makes both look viable.


"

Depends on the time of year. I tried to paddle up in the Spring. The water was too swift to paddle against and it being somewhat shallow in areas only lead to banging a paddle every once in a while on rocks.

quote billconner: "You cant just portage up the stream bed? The aerial makes both look viable.


"

Only in the PMA line your canoe up the rapids sort of way. I'm not even sure you could have lined the whole thing, I think you would have had to lift several areas. And for a group of new folks who've only done two portages and actually haven't yet set foot in the actual BWCA it would be silly to attempt that when there is a beat-down portage with a welcome sign 500 feet away. Someone just needs to fix the GPS data and I'm sure the map folks will catch on. Who do I contact?