Dumoine Tote Road Trail - Part 1

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Maybe packing for a three day hiking trip at the same time you are unpacking from a huge wedding party and camping weekend, stepping out in the middle of it all to go down to city hall and legally get married (followed by a bunch of bubbly wine) is not the best idea. Nevertheless that is exactly what I did. The stressful two weeks leading up to the wedding led to a perfect time to unwind in the woods, and since my new bride wanted me out of her hair for a few days (I do love her so!), she sent me off with my hiking pal Debbie to explore the Dumoine tote road trail. This is a newly developed recreational trail, with a long history of horseback travel to move people and equipment from the farmlands of Ontario to the abundant timberlands north of the Ottawa River.

August 16, 2023 - Stonecliffe to Camp Bois Carre

Deb and I drove up to Stonecliffe and unloaded a beast of a canoe into the Ottawa River. Half an hour of paddling across the calm waters on this sunny morning brought us to the mouth of the Dumoine River, and after a bit of searching we found the landing point for the southern end of the trail. We stashed the canoe in the woods and hitched up our packs to head northbound on an out and back trek along this 26 km long trail of history. It was here that I discovered that my hastily packed mismatched pair of poles had one section that could not be extended. I tried walking with a short pole and a longer one, but that was awkward, so I strapped the seized pole to my pack and continued with a single pole. This might have been a contributing factor to an accident later in the day.

Paddling across the Ottawa River on a gorgeous day


Most of the trail itself is rather uninteresting as it winds gently through forest and bug infested swampy areas, but the parts along the shore of the Dumoine River make up for the lack of interest on the walk. What this trail does have is solitude. Other than a motor boat below the first rapid and a single canoe a little further up river, we did not see a soul along the trail this day. Lots of old artifacts (buckets, telegraph wires, and horse shoes) add additional interest to the journey and make you feel like you are strolling through a museum at times.

Striking out on the tote trail


Backcountry museum


Ryan Falls


At the Fildegrand River, there is an old cabin, originally used as a stopping place for the horse trains that made their way up the tote road ferrying folks to the lumber camps further north. The cabin is currently being refurbished for use by hikers and perhaps would be a great place to stop on a ski trip once the wood stove is hooked up. I suppose in the past, the river was forded by horses, but as travellers today lack these beasts of burden, the trail maintainers have thoughtfully cached a bunch of canoes here. Deb and I picked a choice boat and a couple of very rustic paddling devices, slugged it all down the riverbank and make a quick crossing of this swift river without even getting our feet wet.

Bertrand stopping place


Our ferry for crossing the Fildegrand river


A few kilometers further down the trail we encountered a family of grouse. At first this was interesting as we counted five or six birds flitting around the trail to our left. Then one of them, which we assume was mama grouse, decided that she did not like us hanging around here and charged. Deb and I took off running as mama squaked and gave chase. Another vicious bird started closing in from the right flank and as I pointed this one out I stopped looking where I was putting my feet for a moment. Whaam! My foot slipped off a mossy rock and I suddenly found myself on the ground screaming from the pain eminating from my left ankle. Shit! I think I just broke my freaking foot! I have no idea what happened with the birds at this point, but perhaps a large mammal yelling obscenities scared them off. I lay on the ground for a few minutes and then tenderly probed my foot. Other than pain, it seemed intact. I took off my boot and sock and checked it further. No distortion, and it seemed I had full range of motion. Putting the boot back on I checked that I could bear weight, and was relieved to find I could stand up and walk. I think I just slammed my ankle bone into the rock and really just bruised it from the impact. No strains, sprains, or shattered bones. Just pain that was gradually fading as time passed. Deb fed me some ibuprofen and we decided to continue.

Walking was possible, but decidely uncomfortable, so the plan was changed from, get as far as we can before nightfall, to simply get to the next campsite. After a short walk we arrived at Potvin camp, but this site was not appealing at all. We continued another one and a half kilometers and found a beautiful site on a point so we decided to stay. The remainder of the afternoon was spent swimming and then cooking around the fire. As I pulled out my stove I discovered that in my chaotic packing from the day before, I had forgotten a fairly important component rendering it completely useless. Fortunately Deb has enough fuel in her Jetboil, so I will be bumming hot water off of her, just carying some pointless weight for the next couple of days.

Camp Bois Carre


August 17, 2023 - Camp Mukwa Beweetig

I woke up at 03:00 and stumbled out of my tent into the woods for a nature call. I was limping pretty seriously due to ankle pain, and looked down to find it swolen up to the size of a small baseball. I took a pain killer, wrapped it up with a compression bandage and went back to sleep.

My bum ankle


In the morning I regretfully informed Deb that I was going no further. My goal for the next two days was to simply retrace our steps back to the canoe. Fortunately the swelling had gone down slightly which allowed me to squeeze into my boot, and despite a bit of a limp I was thankfully still mobile. After breakfast we struck out. I found walking the flats to be fine and I could maintain a normal walking pace, but going up and down hills was substantially slower. Given that the trail for the most part is flat, we still made good time.

More of the backcountry museum


The crossing of the Fildegrand went smoothly, with us able to return the same canoe back to where we had taken it from the day before. We had an early lunch in the Bertrand cabin to get out of the bugs, and then continued southbound until we arrived at the base of Ryan Falls where we knew from passing by yesterday, there is a beautiful campsite. The evil grouse family was fortunately not encountered again.

Camp Mukwa Beweetig


We spent a very relaxing afternoon at this pretty spot, reading, swimming, snoozing, and chatting with quite a few folks who came up to see the falls via kayak, canoe, or motor boat. We almost asked some of the fisherfolk if they could spare an extra beer, but restrained ourselves. A long evening was spent sitting around the fire before turning in for the night as a light rain began to fall.

Cooling off in the Dumoine


August 18, 2023 - Return to Stonecliffe

Got up at first light and re-bandaged my ankle. Today it seemed to be in much better shape, but still somewhat swollen. Breakfast was spent under a tarp to escape the now steady rainfall. We packed up the sopping tents and hit the trail.

A rainy return journey


Half way back to the trailhead, the rain mercifully stopped. I was also pleased to note that I could walk fairly normally today, so we made very good time. In about an hour and a half, we traversed the remaining five kilometers of trail back to the Ottawa River, and were pleased to find that our canoe was exactly where we had left it. The paddle back across was a little more exciting in a bit of choppy waters, but we managed to arrive safely back at the Stonecliffe boat launch after about forty-five minutes of hard paddling into the wind.

Right where we left it


Packed up and ready to make the return crossing of the Ottawa


Over coffee and a second breakfast at the Pembroke truck stop we discussed the unfinished business we have with this trail. Hopefully we can return and hike the remaining eleven or twelve kilometers this fall. Perhaps starting at the northern terminus, it would make for a nice out and back camping trip over a couple of days.
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