STEPHEN RICCIO
RAPIDES DES JOACHIMS Aug. 5, 2020
For over a century, a collection of rangers, lumberjacks, anglers and hunters often trekked a tote road that ran alongside the Dumoine River, beginning at the Ottawa River and extending north to Lac Dumoine.
The Dumoine River begins 12 km west of the Ottawa River from Rapides des Joachims and effectively serves as . . .
a boundary between MRC Pontiac and MRC Témiscamingue as it winds its way 70 km northward.
The tote road, called the West Dumoine Wagon Road, operated from the 1840s-1960s before its usage drastically dropped once float planes and logging trucks made fire towers and river log runs less effective.
By the fall of 2021, the non-profit group Friends of Riviere du Moine hope to have realized their goal of restoring 30 km of this historic river trail for public use.
The esoteric group is an assortment of volunteers who came together in 2016 and have dedicated their time to cleaning up campsites and establishing thunderboxes on them along the river.
Wally Schaber, a retired outdoor store owner and avid outdoorsman, is the head of these volunteers, and he explained that there are a variety of ways people contribute.
“Some of them have canoed the river so they like the idea. Some are from Deep River because it’s a very active ski club and canoe club there so they’re interesting in seeing this. [Other] people that donate in different ways, they’ll give us material or a boat ride or something like that from [Rapides des Joachims].”
There are around 100 people on the complete volunteer list, and Schaber said that when they plan for a major work weekend, he sends out a call that usually has around 12 volunteers respond.
“Essentially everybody shows up with their own tools, like clippers or handsaws or chainsaws, and we just go at it for a couple of kilometres and come back another day and keep going,” Schaber said.
The 30 km stretch is marked by a waterfall called Grande Chute to the north, and the mouth of the Dumoine to the south.
“So we’re six km going south from [Grande Chute] and we have six km cleared from the mouth of the Ottawa [River] going north so that’s 12 km and the whole trail is about 30 so we’re just trying to connect the two ends by the fall of 2021,” Schaber said.
With nearly 60 years of nature to catch up to, restoring the road takes a significant amount of work. In addition to clearing the path, the volunteers will be marking it to reflect its heritage.
“We’re using old horseshoes to mark the trail because most of the supplies were taken in by horse and sleigh, so we thought it was appropriate to hang a horseshoe to mark the trail,” Schaber said.
The tote road was never trafficked by motorized vehicles, and the Friends of Riviere du Moine view the continuation of this tradition as essential.
The river has long been a sought-out destination for white water paddlers, but once this trail is actualized, Schaber imagines that it can allow for even more opportunities for people to enjoy the beautiful landscape.
Motorized boaters and paddlers can take advantage of the lower 4 km of the trail beginning at the mouth and extending to a waterfall called Ryan’s Chute. Vehicle campers can set up camp at a group campsite called Robinson and can explore various sources of beauty along the trail. Committed hikers who are looking for slightly longer trips as they explore the Dumoine can use it in its entirety.
On top of that, the restoration process opens the trail’s all-season utility, allowing for mountain bikers, skiers and snowshoes.
Camping along the river is not operated through a reservation system, so anyone who might be hoping to drive into existing sites must go through the ZEC territory zones to buy a road pass for access. ZEC Dumoine is directly to the west of the river, while ZEC Rapides des Joachims is to the east.
Schaber said the group plans on creating eight more hiker campsites along the trail to avoid the potential competition between paddlers and hikers.
During the June MRC Pontiac council meeting, Warden Jane Toller announced that the non-profit group would receive $500 through the sponsorship and donations fund.
Toller explained to THE EQUITY that at first the MRC was unsure whether the river’s restoration was relevant to the Pontiac, but upon realizing it was they made sure to give the maximum donation possible.
Schaber said the volunteers are all incredibly grateful for the financial help, adding with a laugh that they’d request more money if they could.
“We really appreciate the donation from MRC, we’ve already used it to buy materials to build footbridges across a couple of creeks and we called a professional logger to cut through a windfall from a tornado that went through a couple years ago,” he said. “So it’s already gone but we’ll keep asking every year.”
