YCCC...............Ottawa's Canoe Camping Club

The Coulonge River has a relaxing, two day section from Lac Jim down to Fort Coulonge that is worth adding to the roster of local river trips. The river generally contains class I/II rapids, with one mandatory portage around the last ledge at Chute a l'Ours, and a section of Rapides Guenette that needs scouting. Other than that, all rapids can be scouted from the water.

The access is straightforward on a well graded gravel road with one caveat - there are some sand and scree sections of the Lac Jim road that have low traction even in good weather. In particular,
the hill coming down to the Auberge Lac Jim on the return trip, should be taken a bit slower than normal.

To get to the take-out, take Highway 148 to Fort Coulonge, either direct from Gatineau or by cutting across at the dam over the Ottawa at Shawville, from Highway 17. In Fort Coulonge, drive west for about 3.5 km, turn right onto Bois Franc Road. Drive about 4.3 km, past the Lac Jim turnoff on the left, till you come to
Terry Fox road on the left. Drive along this for about 2 km till you come to the bridge over the Coulonge. You can leave a vehicle here, or alternately leave a vehicle back at the golf course house for $5/night. The golf course club house is back about 0.8 km from the bridge, so you'll pass it en route to the bridge.

To get to the put-in, drive back to Lac Jim road, follow this road for about 32 km. The road is in good shape, if a bit washboardy. See note of caution on some sand sections, particularly coming over the crests of hills and on the outside of
curves.

Past the turn-off to the Auberge Lac Jim, signed by a blue-ish sign, go past the km 36 marker, and look for the next reasonable road turn-off on the right. There is a small, unobstrisive brown and yellow sign for Lac Galarneau.

Drive about 1.2 km to the bridge between Lac Galarneau and Lac Jim. You can put in here
and paddle across Lac Jim and down the stillwater to the dam just before the Coulonge.

There are portage trails on the left and right hand side. There is a large campsite on the left, and a smaller one on the right. The trail on the right is in better shape.

Alternately, you can drive to the dam directly. To do this, drive about 0.8 km on past the bridge, turn right onto a gravel road that curves gradually to the left. You'll pass a large open area on the left that could serve as an emergency
campsite, and a large gravel pit on the right. Follow the road as it straightens out for about 2.3 km. There are a few rocky spots, but nothing too bad. The road narrows a bit in places.
You'll arrive on the left side of the dam, at the
large campsite. There is another large campsite across the river.

The river is generally shallow and moving about 1 or 2 km/hr. Past a swift about 2 km from
the dam, there is a campsite on river right, which we merely noted from the water, at about km 49 on the map (Quebec Federation of canoe camping). Shortly downstream from a bony class II rapid is
Chute a l'Ours. This should be portaged, particularly the ledge at the bottom. You can eddy hop on river right down to this ledge, with some scouting of the last section done before attempting this.

There is a really nice campsite above Chute a l'Ours, and a smaller size one, with less of a view, at the bottom.

Shortly past this rapid, Guinette Rapids starts. The upper section of this is fairly straightforward, and bony, on river right. There is a section across the river towards the bottom that needs scouting. Hap Wilson's map has this
marked as Do Not Run, but there were gaps over the ledge and between the rocks that worked for us.
The campsite on river right shortly after Guinette is prime - there is a beach to lie out on, a campsite in the pines, and a view of the rapids. Lots of space here. If this site is taken, a short distance downstream is a huge sand beach that would work as another campsite in dry weather.

The rest of the run down to the bridge is straightforward swifts and class I's.
There is a campsite on river left at about km 31, about a km past the end of the long set of swifts.
There is a nicely brushed-out large campsite at km 27 on river left, which misses a four star rating only because it doesn't have a beach.

Wildlife on this river seems to consist of blue herons, and one ununually tame bass at a lunch spot just above the golf course. There were numerous animal tracks on the beach below Guinette, including raccoon and something that looked like a sasquatch.