In reply to pasbury:
The mile long portage around thunderhouse falls on the Missinaibi River in Northern Ontario. The view is thick bush/forest and a steep muddy slope.
With an 80lb canoe + your kit on your back in the warm damp rain, sweating and muddy over some wet, muddy, steep climbs/drops, coupled with being eaten by mosquitos, blackflies and no-see-ums, it feels like 20 miles.
Oh, and boy that view when you could see the river again was just.......Wow!!!!!!!!