Official Opening of the Sentier Dumoine
2023 August 26
Saturday August 26, 2023 marked the official opening of the Dumoine Tote Road Trail, Sentier Dumoine. The trail was established by the opening up of the old tote road that parallels the Dumoine River from its mouth on the Ottawa River up to Grande Chute. The opening up of the road is the culmination of a tremendous amount of work by a group of dedicated volunteers led by Wally Schaber with the support of the Friends of Dumoine River/Ami(e)s de la Rivière du Moine and the CPAWS Ottawa Valley; with the cooperation of ZEC Dumoine and ZEC Rapides des Joachims; and most importantly, in consultation and cooperation with the Wolf Lake First Nation.
The occasion was marked at the trailhead at Grande Chute by an introduction by Wally, remarks and greetings from Chief Lisa Robinson of the Wolf Lake First Nation, and remarks by representatives from MRC de Pontiac, ZEC Dumoine, and CPAWS, and with musical -- and appropriately on topic -- entertainment by Marc Audet. Following the remarks, a light lunch was served.
On display as part of the opening ceremonies, but not as a permanent display, were some remarkable miniature models of historic logging operations crafted by Dan Charbonneau.
After lunch there were guided hikes of the first few km of the trial, south from the trailhead.
Diana and I did not partake of the guided hikes as we had explored that area the previous week. Instead we visited the old river-drivers camp just north of the trailhead (guided by Marc) and then the campsite and the lookout on the east side of the river.
Here is an album of snapshots and photos from the opening ceremonies. I am embarrassed that I didn't do better in getting photographs of Dan's amazing models; I hope that I get another opportunity in the future. Also there are no photos from the river-drivers camp; basically, there is not much to see at the current levels of summer vegetation. But included are photos of the river from the east side of the river.
Dumoine River Grande Chute (Dumoine River)
linear version: Official Opening of the Sentier Dumoine