This article originally appeared in Canoeroots and Family Camping magazine.
Papineau-Labelle is known to some as Quebec’s Adirondacks. Though it’s not as mountainous as the ‘Dacks, the area boasts turquoise-colored lakes surrounded by prime hilltop hiking terrain. Better still, the park is less then a few hours’ drive from Montreal or Ottawa. Created in 1971 as a wildlife reserve, it protects a total of 770 lakes just begging to be looped together.
Papineau-Labelle has more than a dozen entry points. Access point Pie IX is where you get your permit and access to Lac des Sept Fréres, the main starting point for loops of two to four days with portages from 300 to 1,000 metres. Try plying Lacs Montjoie, Marceau, Primeau, Clement, Ogilvy, Mercier, Lartigue and Diamond back to Lac des Sept Fréres.
Bring your fly rod. All the park’s lakes are stocked with lake and speckled trout, and the Rivère de Sourd (one of the best spring weekend river trips in Quebec) is an angler’s paradise for spring brookies.
Need-to-know info:
Canoe Rental
Tuckamor Outfitters, www.tuckamor.ca
Topographic Maps
31 J/03 Duhamel, 31 J/04 Bouchette, 31 G/13 Low
Papineau-Labelle Information
1-800-665-6527
This article appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Early Summer 2009. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
