The route has a lot of beautiful creeks and relatively small lakes that are sheltered from the wind. Most campsites have a great character, located on rocky points of land. Most portages cannot be avoided, and go around roads or chutes, but they are at least short. There are no rapids to navigate.
I suggest doing this circuit over 4 days and three nights, to allow time for driving on the first and last days.
We put-in around 1:00 at the Portage campsite. Weather was ideal, with low wind and waves. (In 2020 we had a hard time paddling in strong wind and waves, and stayed at the island site in Lac du Portage which was an okay but not awesome campsite). Avoid the low-lying site 34-14 on Lac Larouche. We paddled about 3 and a half hours, and stayed at 34-24 on Lac Larouche. Both this site, and the nearby island site 34-23 are great.
After portaging over the road, and getting on Lac Fada and Moran, we had to push over 8 small beaver dams in a very serpentine creek, to avoid the portage to get to Lac Quenelle. Ask if the water is high or low, because low water would mean either getting out to walk the canoe, or portaging, which would probably be much easier. We had lunch at Lac Quenelle at the second campsite which up on the hill a bit with a good view.
We did not see much in the way of beaver dams on Moran Creek when we were there. Wonderful scenery in all of these streams connecting the lakes. Turtle and beaver sightings.
We stayed at 34-43 in Lac Duman on the second night. Nice rocky point but not much Feng Shui for seating around the fire, with bushes blocking the view. Small snake hung out at the fire pit. Avoid 34-47.
There are two awesome campsites on Lac Nizard, at the southernmost part of the route; 33-14 (where we had lunch) and 33-16.
The 100 m portage exiting Lac Nizard, on the right side, is over an irregular jumble of sizable rocks, so you need grippy footwear. The beaver dam was easily passable when we went. The campsite just afterwards, 33-10 on a small rocky point, looked small but interesting, with a nice view of a small lake.
The next 100 m portage is on the left, and a bit easier to navigate.
We stayed at 30-08 on Grad Lac on the third night. Fireplace a bit exposed, but we had low wind. Site 30-10 is also a good site.
The portage at the Grand Barrage campground is separate from the boat put-in for the campground, and it has a separate portage sign to the left. You can take either the direct, rough trail, or walk on the road through the campground. Takes about the same amount of time.
At the take-out, to avoid the steep 245 m portage, you can take the canoe out of the water at the Overnight Camping location. There is a sign for it in the corner of the bay, to the left of the portage sign in the middle of the bay. You can then walk over to bring your vehicle to the canoe. The Overnight Camping location is large, barren, and has an outhouse. At the time we went, the short access road to this area was very uneven, with big rocks and holes, and we were worried about getting stuck. You will likely need at least a small SUV to access the area.