An isthmus is a narrow bit of land connecting two areas of land and dividing a body of water. I know that when a person on land crosses water at a shallow portion, it's called a "ford" (e.g. "Along the Oregon Trail, we forded several rivers."). Is there a word for a person on water crossing a narrow isthmus to get to the water on the other side?
An example of usage this might be the history of Native Americans building lightweight canoes to be able to carry them over small bits of land between rivers. A sentence might say "The Iroquois built their canoes to be lightweight in order to more easily [this word] the land crossing between X and Y rivers."
I've tried searching for synonyms of "ford" but they mainly apply to water crossings, except for compounds like "cut across" or "pass over." I'm looking for a single, concise verb, if there is one.