Spent a whole weekend trying to find a decent route around the Ottawa Valley construction that wasn't just a detour to another detour.

I thought I could just wing it with my phone's map, but after getting stuck in three different dead-end zones near Arnprior and wasting about 8 hours total, I had to dig up an old paper map my dad gave me to finally piece together a clear path. What's your best trick for navigating around major roadwork up here?

3 comments

3 Comments

mitchell.daniel1mo ago

Paper maps are still the best for that area.

anthony4261mo ago

The BLM office in Moab hands out free paper maps that show all the unmarked dirt roads. My phone lost signal last year and that map got me back to the highway. You really can't beat a physical backup out there.

the_morgan20d ago

3 tries in the same afternoon near Arnprior sounds brutal, I've been caught in that maze myself once. My go to trick is just driving the old county roads no matter what my gps says, even if it adds 20 minutes its way less stress. Funny enough @anthony426 mentioning those Moab maps reminds me of a time I found an ancient gas station map behind a fridge at my uncle's cottage and used it to skip the whole highway 17 mess near Pembroke. Sometimes the beat up paper stuff is actually the best thing you got.