Tour de Petite Nation: 2025

This route was planned by Doug van den Ham, I rode it in 2025. Below are Doug's notes, with some of my modifications.

So, if I was going to do a long weekend from Ottawa (3 nights), I'd do something like this. I’ve kept most of the routes on the shorter side of things. My take is that you get to camp a bit quick and if you feel like a bit more ride, you can always drop the gear and do a bit of local exploring.

Day 1: Ottawa to Montagne Noire

• Route option 1 (mixed surface): Ride with GPS
• Camp: Park Montagne Noire
  • Note: The staff will send an email with self-check-in instructions if you arrive after 5pm.
  • The ride / climb up to the either of the lookouts on the mountain is worth it. If it’s a clear day, you can see Mont Tremblant and Mont St Marie from the tower. Plus the sunset from the tower is amazing and it’s pretty easy to get back down the service road to camp even in fading light. Montagne Noire also has small cabins for rent.
  • From Montagne Noire, the closest grocer is Marche Faubert in Montepellier (7km) or Intermarche in Ripon (6km).  

Day 2: Montagne Noire to Lac Simon

• Route option 1 (paved): Ride with GPS
  • All paved roads (some better than others) really good café at Café des Orties, just south of the route on Rue Principle in Ripon. And an excellent bakery / cafe (open Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings) at km 14.
  • There's a little restuarant at the south end of Lac Simon.
  • The route up the west side of Lac Simon has some stunning views - and wickedly steep climbs.
  • The camp ground at the north end of Lac Simon is very nice and has a great beach.
• Route option 2 (adventure): Ride with GPS
  • I would not recommend taking the ‘adventure’ option solo. It follows some fairly remote trail sections with limited cell coverage. However, from Lac Mulet, you can ‘bail-out’ and take the gravel road back towards Lac Barriere and rejoin the Route Option 1 at 21km in.
• Camp: Lac Simon
  • Lac Simon is a beautiful camping area. There’s a good range of options for accommodation ranging from basic spaces to ready-to-camp units. The beach is excellent.
  • There’s three Depanneurs in Duhamel, just a few kms north of the campground.  

Day 3: Lac Simon to Plaisance

• Route Option 1 (mixed surface): Ride with GPS
  • This mixed surface route jumps back and forth between the lakes and forests and the farm lands that make up the north-south valleys of the region.
  • St. Andre-d'Avellin is has a few opportunities to resupply and there is water available at the start of the Joseph Louis Papineau Trail as you leave town.
  • The waterfall at km 78 is quite spectacular if you venture a few hundred meters south from the bridge.
  • Route ends at the Parc National Plaisance info centre, but figure on a few more kms to get to the camping areas.
  • I really liked "Crèmerie Café Notre-Dame" by Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix, amazing gelato
• Route Option 2 (paved): Ride with GPS
  • There's lots of options for stopping for food / drink in both Cheneville and St-Andre-Avellin.
• Camp: Plaisance National Park
  • read my review in ottawa by bike
  • Note that Plaissance is part of Velo Quebec’s Bienvenue Cyclists Program
  • You’re also a relatively short ride from Montebello and the whole highway 148 corridor has quite cycling friendly with lots of options for food.  

Day 4: Plaisance to Ottawa

• Route Option 1 (Quebec side, paved): Ride with GPS
• Route Option 2 (Ontario side, mixed surface): Ride with GPS
  • On the way back I liked stopping at "Sunrise Bites" in Navan, their "hand taco" is the best!
• Route Option 3 (Ontario Side, paved): eljojo.bike