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Km 0 |
Beginning of the North Road, starting about 15 km north
of Chicoutimi, off Hwy 167. |
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Km 11 |
Backroad to Chibougamau, logging road mainly, but not used
by logging trucks every
day. |
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Km 12 |
Waconichi Lake. There is a "Northern Arboretum" there,
quite interesting to walk in the forest.
SEPAQ have some very nice camps there. (SEPAQ is the "Société des
éstablissements de plein air du Québec") |
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Km 20 |
The small Barlow River. CAUTION: The bridge here is very
narrow and when there are logging trucks on the road, you might have to
stop very quickly just before the bridge for them - this is dangerous
if there are some more behind you! |
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Km 26 |
Backroad to Oujé-Bougoumou and Chapais -- some 46 Kms for
Oujé, and 11 more for
Chapais. |
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Km 32 |
Access road to Baie Penicouane, the southern
part of Mistassini Lake. SEPAQ campground there, boat ramp, picnic
tables. |
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Km 63
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Brock River
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Km 65 |
There is a spring on the left side
(northbound) of the road here. |
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Km 66
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Samuel Bedard Lake
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Km 77 |
Beaver Camp (road maintenance camp). Also
access to the Lake & River Des Maures.
Canoeing: From here you can reach the Rupert River & Mistassini Lake by
canoe, and then paddle down the Great Rupert! Or stay on the "South
branch", the Natastan River until Lac de La Passe, portage your way
through the Marteen River waters and paddle back to the road at Km 177.
Or keep going over the Natastan River until the end, paddle all Lac
Mesgouez and come out at Km 221. |
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Km 81
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Domergue Lake
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Km 98
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Regneault Lake
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Km 100
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Frotet Lake. This is the headwaters of the
Broadback River.
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Km 106 |
Cellular phones do work here for a short ways. |
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Km 108 |
Junction of access road for the Troilus Mine, 44 Kms away.
At about km 27 of this access road, there is a gravel pit, just over the
hill after crossing the Broadback River. This is the access for "Square
Tail Lodge" outfitting camps, a world class fishing spot, mainly for
speckled trout.
The road
turns west just after Km 108; there is a nice valley on the north side
of the road. Lake Lezai is visible down there, quite pretty scenery with
all the small islands in the lake. |
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Km 118
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Tortigny River.
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Km 118 |
Here the road turns back north. Just at the curve, there is
a side road on the left side to Cachisca & Opataca Lake. This road used
to be another way to come up here, via Chapais & Oujé-Bougoumou,
following the power lines for most of the way. In 1999 this side road
road was completely washed out after the tremendous winter of 1999 (over
9 feet of snow!). When the Mistassini Lake ice melted in the spring (headwaters
of the Rupert River), the Rupert River water level went up 5 feet and
stayed like that until the summer of 2000! The water level was even
higher in 2004, due to Mistassini Lake ice again. The ice went out only
on June 20th of 2004. The water level was already quite high but it went
up another 3 feet! |
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Km 131
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Broadback River
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Km 132
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Cheniapiscau rest area. Picnic tables,
toilets, scenic viewpoint, camping.
Camping & fishing note: This campsite and any other campsite before Km 164 are
inside the SEPAQ territory.
You need to register and pay for camping or any other activities
inside the Reserve.
No registration paper might mean a fine from the Quebec Game
Wardens. They are all over the place in the summer.
Same thing for fishing.
First "free" fishing spot is the Marteen River at Km 178.
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Km 154 |
Limit of the logging operations! Breathe a big sigh
of relief (if you're traveling north)!
Here there is a road on the left side. Just past this (northbound),
there is a steep hill. Stop here! Get out of the car, climb up the rocks
on the left side (northbound) and have a look at the scenery! When the
air is very clear, you can see all the way back to Km 108. And if you are
familiar with the area, you can clearly see the Troilus Lake mountain,
this is more than 60 Kms away! |
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Km 162
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Entering the areas of Assinica,
Albanel-Mistassini and Waconichi Games Preserves. 1-800-665-6527
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Km 177
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Marteen River. By paddling downstream from
here, you can reach the Rupert River after a week or so of paddling.
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Km 221 |
Small side road on the right hand side (north bound):
access for Mesgouez Lake & the Rupert River. There is an extensive set
of Cree camps here (spring fishing camps). Boat ramp, camping, fishing. |
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Km 232 or so |
Southern limit of the WEE-SEES-INDOHOUN Game Management
Territory. New in 2003. You will need a pass (free) to fish or camp
anywhere inside this special zone. Pass can be obtained at the SEPAQ
office at Mont Chalco, just about 5 Kms North of Chibougamau or
at the Nemiscau Quebec Hydro camp (Km 290). |
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Km 238
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Rupert
River Gorge.
STOP HERE AND TAKE A LOOK.
Picnic tables (3 or 4), pit toilets (2), shelters (3), fishing. The rest
stop is small and overused, and rather dirty.
Spectacular
rapids!! The Rupert River isn't anywhere near as big here as it is downstream where
it crosses the James Bay Road. But
these rapids are a seething mass of wild roaring water nonetheless.
The
Rupert River will
be diverted,
upstream from here, in late 2009. Get up here and see this
magnificent wild river while it is still unaltered!
It is possible to camp here, but NOT at the rest area. Just before the
bridge (Northbound), on the right side, there is a small road. This is
the portage trail. There is room down there for 1-2 cars & tent.
The "cut-off" point for the Rupert River
Diversion project is only about 4-5 kilometers upstream. At low water,
it is possible to walk on the North shore of the River and reach this
point, about a one day walk.
To have another view of the Rupert River,
one can walk North on the road for +/- 300m -- there is a trail there.
This is the portage trail, ends in a nice "pool", where there's a nice
view of the second set of rapids (Class V).
There is also another trail. Just in front
of the entrance for the small road (the portage trail mentioned above),
at the south side of the bridge. This trail leads right on top of the
chute, one can take breathtaking pictures from there. But take great
care, it is almost scary!
And just past the east end of the bridge, on the north side, you can
walk down to the river above the rapids.
Same note here about fishing: you are in
the WEES-SEES-INDOHOUN zone, so you need a pass.
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Km 241 |
Bras de Rupert - an arm of the Rupert River that is a lake. |
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Km 245 |
Lermare River |
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Km 255
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Hutte Lake
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Km 279 |
Nemiscau River. |
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Km 258
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Main Junction, Poste Albanel transformer station.
Going north:
-Left turn for the North Road.
-Right turn for the Hydro Quebec Poste Albanel transformer station.
-Straight ahead is the road to "Camp Rupert".
Going south:
-Right turn for the North Road
-Straight ahead for the Hydro Quebec Poste Albanel transformer station.
-Left turn is the road to "Camp Rupert".
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Km 286
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Lescar Hills rest stop. Picnic tables,
toilets, scenic viewpoint (nice view to the north).
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Km 288
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Hydro Quebec Nemiscau transformer station.
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Km 289 |
Hydro Quebec Heliport |
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Km 290.5
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Camp Nemiscau, 0.5 km north of North Road. |
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Km 290.6 |
Relais Routier: fuel, meals, garage, information office. Gas bar
open Monday-Saturday 6am-12noon, 1pm-7pm; Sunday 7am-12noon, 1-5pm. In
May 2008 gas was $1.77/liter, diesel was $1.91/liter. |
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Km 290.8 |
Road to Camp Eastmain-1, Poste Nemiscau, Project Eastmain-1. |
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Km 298 |
Nemiscau airport (Hydro Quebec) |
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Km 299
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Access road to the village of
Nemaska (Nemiscau),
10 km to the north.
Gasoline, diesel, restaurant, store, lodging (819) 673-2512.
North of this point you will there is a lot less traffic, but the road
is in poorer condition, with numerous soft patches. Also the speed limit
drops to 70 km/h.
Going south, be prepared for a lot more traffic, but the road is in much
better condition.
The power line to Wasjaganish meets the road here, and criss-crosses it
quite a bit for a ways
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Km 354 |
Turnoff for Lake Nemiscau & Old Nemaska. The Cree village
was located there until 1970 when the HBC closed the post and the people
were "evacuated" by Hydro Quebec. "New Nemaska" is at Lake Champion (km
299). |
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Km 381
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Boisrobert Lake campsite and rest area. Picnic tables, toilets,
boat launching ramp, camping.
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Km 383 |
Extensive forest fire in 2007. |
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Km 385 |
Boisrobert Lake - sign is hidden in the bushes. |
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Km 406
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End of the North Road: junction with the James
Bay Road at km 275. Pavement!
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