Road update

[Jig and drift]

Hello all, we are headed to Lake  Dumoine for our yearly trip driving up from Ohio on July 2. This will be my 21st year heading north. Six of us this year including my wife and both sons for the first time in a while. Always the best week of the summer and look forward to it for 51 weeks a year. We have been driving into Dumoine for about 8 or more years now, we use to do the fly in version. The highway north is a dream since the two lane days but my real question is the bush road conditions. The Manawaki has been really pretty good the last few years. Last year may have been the best the Red Pine Chute road has been. Probably due to lots being cleared for sale. Puckster I know this is your neck of the woods. Is Red Pine in good shape this year? Has anybody been on it lately? Then comes the Bearn Road. Never real bad at first but the deeper you go the rougher it gets. Anyone been that way? All the way to Dumoine? Watson lake people head that way but I believe Ogascanan folk head left on Bearn then north. Anyways any info would be great. Love reading everyone's info on this board. It keeps the northern experience alive. 

[puckster_guy]

Hi Jig as of 2 weeks ago Maniwaki is in great shape red pine chutes road is it's usual cantankerous self. Not bad not good. It could use a good grading about fifty k is as good as it gets for that road. I turn off after the bridge so the rest I don't know
If I’m at camp stop by for a beer. I’ll post if I'm going. Mostly so.

[Jig and drift]

Thanks so much for the reply and info. Red Pine is what it is. Tight, twisty, and  a little rough but passable. We may try to pit stop if possible. If anyone knows anything about the Bearn I would appreciate the info.

[Fort Wisers]

Bearn is small, there's not much there but they used to have a killer chip stand......best poutine I've ever had.
Mind you, I haven't been up there (or up that forest access road) in at least 15 years so a lot may have changed.

[NortonJoe]

Heading to Watson at the end of July so any updates would be great!

[michelle]

We came out of camp on May 31st. We took the Bearn rd to come out instead of the red pine,maniwaki route....at that time, Maniwaki wasn't very nice. Maybe they have graded since then?

[puckster_guy]

 They seem to have graded it since the last time I was up, Michele. I was able to do pretty good speed.(80-90K) which is good for Maniwaki. One washout around 18k mark. I've never been on Bearn rd so I can't compare it.

[Ozzy30]

We just came back from Bryson Lake on the Jim's lake rd.  I won't be taking my boat back up there anytime if anyone is heading that way.  20-30 km/h.  Took 3 hours of beating my boat to get there, or I can drive paved roads from my house to Kipawa in same time.  Not a hard decision.

[Northbound]

Quick update regarding road status.

1. Bearn Raod is in great shape and now recently graded
2. Maniwaki Road - confirmed, recently graded
3. RedPine Chute - yes, recently graded

Tembec is not hauling logs at the moment, but not sure what the long term forecast is yet.

Happy Trails all.

[Jig and drift]

Thanks for the road update. We are leaving in about an hour and will be on the back roads tomorrow morning. Will update on our return.

[Jig and drift]

Just a follow up on roads. We went in and out to Lake Dumoine last week and the roads were really pretty good. The Maniwaki was good. Red Pine was really pretty good. It is twisty and slow no matter what but not as rough as the past. The Bearn heading east was actually pretty good. Did not look like it had been graded in a while but still good. They cut all the brush on both sides of the road which made it dry out and seem much easier to drive. It gets down to one lane width. Of the 72 miles the last 25 or so is still pretty rough. There are few big hills that are washboarded but over all we felt the roads were as good as they have ever been. So anybody heading way east the drive is good. We saw three bears and a moose on the drive which adds to the fun. Will post a trip report as well.

[Fort Wisers]

Just a follow up on roads. We went in and out to Lake Dumoine last week and the roads were really pretty good. The Maniwaki was good. Red Pine was really pretty good. It is twisty and slow no matter what but not as rough as the past. The Bearn heading east was actually pretty good. Did not look like it had been graded in a while but still good. They cut all the brush on both sides of the road which made it dry out and seem much easier to drive. It gets down to one lane width. Of the 72 miles the last 25 or so is still pretty rough. There are few big hills that are washboarded but over all we felt the roads were as good as they have ever been. So anybody heading way east the drive is good. We saw three bears and a moose on the drive which adds to the fun. Will post a trip report as well.

Thanks for the report, this is great info......

[FSZ]

How was the fishing on Dumoine?  I'm heading up to a nearby Zec Lake on the 24th.


Thx