A La Mer du Nord 2025

(I will post updates as the story develops for those who don’t have a Facebook account)

In the summer of 2025, a brigade of adventurers will embark on a crazy adventure: trekking aboard cedar canoes the 1200 km of the ancestral Route des Furrures, from Tadoussac to James Bay. To learn everything about the expedition, from the construction of the boats to the recruitment of participants to the historical investigation to find a forgotten path, follow us on this page!
The first three canoes of the à la Mer du Nord expedition come to life in the workshop of Rodrigue Pelchat, bearer of a know-how rooted in the history of Saint-Félicien.


We introduce you to Rodrigue Pelchat, builder of the boats of the expedition To the North Sea. His know-how has long roots in the history of Lake Saint-Jean: he learned the trade very young from foreman Roger Jacques (who you will meet soon! ), who learned it himself from Lionel Tremblay, the father of the legendary "Tremblay canoes". Take a look. Listen up. There is history in those gestures.


***Thanks to MRC Domaine-du-Roy and Ville de Saint-Félicien whose financial support allowed the start of the project A la Mer du Nord.[/MEDIA]

What a great story, I'll be looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for posting.

Sounds like an awesome story & thanks for re-posting off of Facebook. I'm looking forward to following along.

I don’t do Facebook so thanks for sharing here.
Jim

I was thinking those canoes looked like Tremblays before I read that part. Should be very interesting!

Like Boatman53, I have no social media accounts … appreciate the ability to follow this story here. Thanks Robin

Bob B. said:

Like Boatman53, I have no social media accounts … appreciate the ability to follow this story here. Thanks Robin

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This is all posted in French but FB can translate it, I have lots of free time to do that …haha.
There is a nice video but I can’t figure out how to attach it here. It’s in French, but us wood canvas guys all speak the same language anyway, it’s pretty interesting.

Robin said:

It’s in French, but us wood canvas guys all speak the same language anyway,

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Thanks for posting this. I got a laugh out of your comment. That and my rudimentary French are enough to enjoy the FB postings.

I'm going to try to post a link to the canoe build video on the Facebook page. Let me know if you can view it, especially those of you who don't have Facebook accounts.

Canoe build video

I'm banned from Facebook but I can view it.

Audio might be messed up though... it sounds like a foreign language film. (I'm kidding, of course)

Can't see the video, Glenn.

I can see it, Thanks for that Glenn.

@MyKneesHurt , when I click on it, a box opens that wants me to log in to Facebook. I click the "X" at the top right of the log in to close it and the video comes up.

As far as I know, you don't have to be a member of Facebook to see "shared with public" posts and videos. The FB post/video in question has a public symbol (a world icon) next to the date. Still, I couldn't embed the video directly here or via the Media icon in the text entry box. I had to use the Insert Link icon and give a name to the URL of the Facebook page.

When I look at my link logged out of Facebook, I see what Gamma reports: a big box asking me to log in or join FB. If I X out that box, I can see the FB post/video I linked. I assume that's because it's public.

Thank you @Glenn MacGrady and @Gamma1214 , I just x'ed out of it when I saw the login, I'll try again.

The canoes are coming along

Wonder what size those are, they look pretty big.

A link to their website:

Robin said:

The canoes are coming along

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Wow, that's a super tight canvas stretching job! And, a huge number of staples at the sheer and stem! I'll be curious to see how they finish the gunwales. I'm guessing they are prospector style canoes; lots of volume for paddlers and gear.

There is some stuff about the trip here:


facebook starts blocking me after more than a couple of clicks, I can only scroll down a few lines before getting blocked. At the link above the content may be partially duplicated, not sure. One thing for sure my browser translator worked perfectly on that page layout.

I've paddled about 20% of their route but always going downhill only.

Their route begins at Tadoussac, at sea level, Lac St Jean is about 312 feet but virtually all of that rise is at two dams just before emerging onto Lac St Jean. That part is a really nice tune up of 100+ miles, very scenic, whales and too many goofy tourists in kayaks!

After crossing Lac St Jean, about 30 miles, the real fun begins.

Lac St Jean 312ft
Lac Mistissini 1214ft
High point between watersheds +/- 1500ft
In this section the high point is very close to Lac Mistissini, 90% of it will be uphill, lots of tracking, wading in store, the rivers are pool and drop but many rapids will be quite long.

The final section from the exit of Lac Mistissini the Riviere Rupert is all downhill to Waskaganish, that section will have well used portages at all of the bigger rapids. The Rupert, like most rivers in Quebec it seems, has been diverted for hydro power. The Rupert diversion project is not very old (completed 2012), I don't know how much effect it will have, they maintain enough flow to make the huge rapids above the James Bay Highway bridge look really nasty.