We left Mary’s Harbour this morning before the gas station in town opened, so we stopped briefly in Lodge Bay to fuel up before continuing down the Labrador coast to Red Bay.  Red Bay was recently discovered to have been an important Basque whaling port in the 16th century.  An underwater excavation uncovered the wreck of the San Juan and subsequent excavations on a small island in the harbor uncovered more Basque artifacts as well.  The small village sported two museums dedicated to the discoveries which included some artifacts uncovered in the wreckage, though only a few pieces of the actual ship.  The ship was returned to the bottom of the harbor after all the pieces were removed, examined, and cataloged because that was the only way they could preserve it.  Evidently the waters up here are so cold that wood doesn’t deteriorate underwater like it would in warmer locales.  From Red Bay we bid adieu to the gravel roads that have composed the last 1000 miles or so of our journey, and made our way to L’anse Amour where we checked out the lighthouse at Point Amour, the largest and one of the oldest in Labrador & Newfoundland.  Nearby was an ancient Indian burial mound which is believed to be the oldest in the Americas, dating back as much as 7500 years.  After a quick lunch in L’Anse Amour we made the short drive back into Quebec to Blanc Sablon where we caught a ferry over to St. Barbe, Newfoundland.  From there we drove down to Hawke’s Bay where we are staying for the night.  Tomorrow we will spend the day in Gros Morne National Park, where we will take a boat ride on Western Brook Pond and take a drive through the Tablelands.  Even though it feels like we’re finally back in “civilization” tonight, the internet access is painfully slow, so no new pictures until tomorrow.

Today we took a ferry out to Battle Harbour where we spent the day learning about the restored fishing village located there,

as well as walking around Battle Island, the small island upon which the village is situated.  In addition to the village, the island is also home to an old Marconi tower,

a plane wreck,

and two cemeteries.  There is also a beautifully restored church

and eye-popping scenery all around.  We enjoyed a hearty lunch on the island and a walking tour of the village led by a local whose family lived in Battle Harbour for generations.  We pretty much had the run of the place — besides ourselves there was only one other couple visiting the island.  On the ferry ride over to the island, we saw some whales blowing water out their blowholes in the distance.  On the ride back, we got a closer look at them.

Battle Harbour, at 52.273462,-55.583954 marks the farthest east we’ll go on this trip.  Just south of Battle Harbour is Cape Charles, reachable only by foot or boat, which is the easternmost point of mainland North America.  Tomorrow we start our journey southwest towards home, visiting Red Bay and Point Amour before taking a ferry down to Newfoundland.

We left Labrador City this morning and headed east on the Trans-Labrador Highway.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover that they are in the process of paving the road on the way out of the city so we got about 80km or so of paved road before we caught up with the paving crew.  From there it was all gravel, all the time.  We paused briefly at the Smallwood Reservoir to snap a few pictures,

then continued east until we arrived at Hamilton Falls, where we took a short hike around to a better viewing point of the falls.  The waterfall is barely a trickle now because the flow was diverted to power the generating station in nearby Churchill Falls, but you could easily tell what an impressive sight it must have once been.

After refueling in Churchill Falls we made our way yet further east until we reached the trailhead leading to Muskrat Falls, just a little west of Happy Valley/Goose Bay.  This river, not having been dammed (yet), made for an impressive set of rapids.  The trail led right up to the edge of the rapids and you could feel the force of the water in your feet.

From there we ran into Happy Valley to refuel, then headed down the brand new section of the Trans-Labrador Highway that runs between Happy Valley/Goose Bay to a spot on the Labrador Coastal Highway about halfway between Cartwright and Port Hope Simpson.  Darkness was just starting to fall as we hit the Labrador Coastal Highway, so the last 150km or so into Mary’s Harbour was on gravel, in the dark.  A little stressful trying to wend our way down the road when the headlights only illuminated 50 yards or so, but ultimately we made it.  Tomorrow we’ll take the ferry out to Battle Harbour where we’ll spend the day before returning to Mary’s Harbour again for the night.

After all the rain yesterday, it was a relief that today was a gorgeous sunny day.  Just outside Chicoutimi we paused at the Caribou River to enjoy the view before pushing onward.

From there we made our way into Saguenay National Park.  The drive through that park is among the most spectacular we’ve seen anywhere.  The road winds it’s way through the mountains, alongside picturesque rivers and lakes.  We stopped for a few photos at Lac Resimond

and a covered bridge spanning the Salmon River.

Shortly after exiting the park, we found ourselves following along the St. Lawrence Seaway coastline as we made our way between many small coastal towns.  Longue-Rive had a particularly nice view

along with Rageuneau, which also sported an obelisk and some dinosaurs.

Once we hit Baie Comieau we turned north on Highway 389 which would take us up to Labrador.  A short drive up 389 brought us to the Manic-2 Dam

About 150km later, we came upon the truly massive, awe-inspiring Manic-5 Dam.

From there, the road turned gravel for most of the next 400km.  We stopped to admire the beautiful Manicougan Reservoir which, when viewed from high, high above (or on a map) resembles a giant eyeball.  The reservoir was created by the Manic-5 dam and sits in the crater of a massive meteorite strike.

A few hundred kilometers further along, the road mysteriously turned to blacktop and even briefly became a divided highway.  It turns out we were passing through Gagnon, a mining town that was dismantled in 1985 when the mine closed.  That did give us about 90km of pavement, which turned out to be nice…the last 70km was steep, windy, gravel road.   Just beyond Gagnon we checked out the Fire Lake Mine, which is supposed to be closed, but there nevertheless appeared to be some activity there.

About that time we got stuck behind a semi, a minivan, and two pickups just as dusk was falling.  The result was that there was so much dust being kicked up in the air that I could barely see the road in front of me for about 50km.  I kept my eyes glued on the faint flow of taillights ahead of me through the dust and hoped they knew where they were going.  After about an hour of white-knuckling it down the road, we arrived at the Mt. Wright mine — a mountain-topping operation of truly massive scale.  It was too dark to try to take pictures, but it is impossible to describe the size of the mine other than to say that it is bigger than you can imagine.  Just past the mine we hit paved roads again which allowed us quickly enter Labrador

and make our way to Labrador City for the night.   Tomorrow we start our trek on the Trans-Labrador Highway.

Today it was time to leave the James Bay area and get in position to head up into Labrador tomorrow.  With today mostly being a travel day, I suppose it was a good time for it to rain buckets all day long.  On the other hand, about 350 miles today was on gravel roads which get soupy and rough in the rain.  We left Radisson and head south down the James Bay Road until we hit the North Road.  We stopped about 80 miles out on the North Road in Nemaska to top off the fuel tank before heading down the rest of the road.  We stopped not far past Nemaska to look at the Lescar Hills, but that stop wound up lasting only as long as it took me to jump out of the car, snap a few pictures, and jump back in.  The driving rain precluded any further exploration.

A bit later on the rain let up a bit and we were able to take a little more time in enjoying a set of rapids on the Rupert River — this time about 100 miles upstream from the rapids we saw on that river on day 3.

The rain was as heavy as ever by the time we reached Frotet Lake, the headwaters of the Broadback River.  It was nice seeing the headwaters of a river we crossed earlier in the trip, but again the pouring rain allowed only a quick snapshot before diving back in the car.

From there we finally made it to Chibougamau, the southern terminus of the North Road.  There we filled up on gas, got some groceries, and continued south to Saguenay where we’re currently ensconced in our hotel, preparing for the first leg of our drive up into Labrador.

Today started with a hearty breakfast at the Mirage, after which we headed northeast on the Trans-Taiga.  Our first stop was at the La Forge-2 Dam which, quite by accident, turned out to the most northerly point we’ll reach on this entire trip, at 54.58996,-71.27909.  By appearance, this dam seemed to be most similar to the LG-1 dam we saw a couple days ago.  There were a number of interpretive signs, but they were all in French so I just looked at the pictures.

From there, we drove over a couple of picturesque unnamed rivers before arriving at Brisay, the last settlement on the Trans-Taiga.  We stopped to admire the dam located there

and, after calculating fuel mileage decided it best to not make the final 50 mile drive to Caniapiscau and instead returned to the Mirage for refueling.  We rolled into the Mirage with just under a quarter tank of gas — not enough to have made an additional 100 miles so it seems we made the right decision.  After a quick refuel we were back on the road with just a quick stop at the Castor River before arriving back in Radisson for the night.  Tomorrow we have a long day, heading south back down the James Bay Road, all the way down the North Road, ultimately winding up near Saguenay for the night, setting us up for our run up the Trans-Labrador Highway.

We left Radisson, Quebec this morning and headed north up the James Bay Road with the intent to reach the end of the road at the massive LG-2 hydroelectric dam.  Unfortunately, our plans were scuttled just a few kilometers up the road where we were informed at a checkpoint that the road was no longer open to the public.  Begrudgingly we turned around and headed back south, turning east down the Trans-Taiga Road.  The Trans-Taiga heads north and east 666km into the wilderness of far northern Quebec.  Our first stop was at Sakami Lake,

followed by a view of the LG-3 dam in the distance.  Shortly after passing the dam, we stopped at the Robert Bourassa Reservoir where we had a picnic lunch while enjoying the view.

Next we stopped at the Pontois River, which apparently is French for “Corvette River” which makes me wonder if they sell Chevrolet Pontois’ in France…

A while further down the road we drove up to the top of a ridge where we were afforded a panoramic view of the astounding LG-4 dam.

Finally, we stopped at the Mirage Lodge alongside the Polaris River for the evening.

After a short hike along the river we had a tasty dinner from the lodge cafeteria before retiring.  Tomorrow we’ll drive as far towards the end of the Trans-Taiga as we can, gas permitting.  The end of the road is the furthest north you can drive in eastern North America, and the farthest you can drive from the nearest town anywhere in North America.  Based on the gas mileage we’ve been getting I believe we’ll have to turn back at Brisay about 100km shy of the end, but it should be exciting nevertheless.  On a separate note, how amazing is it that we have internet access here, 350km from the middle of nowhere??

Got an early start this morning, hitting the road at 7:30.  We tried to stop at the filling station in Nemaska, but it wasn’t open yet.  The next gas station was about 140 miles away, but we had just under half a tank left and figured we’d make it.  130 miles later, we discovered that we were about 1/2 gallon short.  A quick call ahead to the service station and about 20 minutes later a fiftyish gentleman rolled up in a pickup truck blaring Cyndi Lauper and bearing 5 gallons of gas.  After refueling we again headed north up the James Bay Road, first stopping at the Eastmain River where we took a short hike under the bridge to admire its award-winning architecture.

Next we took in the majestic waterfall on the Opinaca River where we had a tasty lunch of PB&J.

With our bellies refeuled we stopped to check out the culvert directing the Old Factory River under the James Bay Road.  The culvert is reputed to be the largest in the world.

Next we made quick stops at the quiet Miron Lake

and the large and beautiful Yasinski Lake.

Nearly at the terminus of the James Bay Road (But not quite!  We get there tomorrow morning…) we headed east on a spur out to Chisasibi where we stopped to admire the impressive LG-1 Hydroelectric Dam on the La Grande River before driving across it.

Once across the dam we made our way out to Longue Point on James Bay.  A little geography lesson:  James Bay is part of Hudson Bay, which is part of the Arctic Ocean.

After spending some time admiring the bay, we headed back to the James Bay Road and went north to Radisson where we are for the night after a TASTY dinner.  Check out the pictures from today to discover what a “Michigan Hot Hamburger” is.

We started the day with a quick trip to the grocery store for picnic lunch supplies and a fill-up at the gas station.  (The next place gas would be available wouldn’t be for 375km!)  From there we checked in at the beginning of the James Bay Road and began making our way north.  We stopped just a few kilometers north of Matagami to hike up to the top of Mt. Laurier where we enjoyed panaromic views of the Matagami area.

From there we made our way up to Matagami Lake where we spent a few minutes enjoying the scenery

before heading a little further along the road and checking out Oescapis Lake.

Next we hiked a short trail to the top of a ridge along the road to soak in the view,

before driving up to the Broadback River where we took a few short hikes along the banks of the river.

Just north of the Broadback River we stopped to take in the impressive rapids on the Rupert River.

A few kilometers further up the James Bay Road we headed east on the Route du Nord which turned out to be a pretty well groomed gravel road.  Several miles down the Route du Nord we stopped at the magnificent Boisrobert lake before pushing on to our destination for the night.

We wound up here in Nemaska around dinner time so we quickly checked into our hotel and grabbed dinner at the small restaurant contained therein.  Nemaska is a small Cree village on the picturesque banks of Lac Champion, so after dinner we took a brief stroll by the lake before retiring for the evening.

Tomorrow we head back to the James Bay Road which will take us all the way north to Chisasibi, a small Cree village on James Bay (Hudson Bay) before we reach Radisson (the town, not the hotel) for the evening.

Spent a few minutes in the morning checking at the North Bay shoreline of Lake Nipissing, then it was further north and further north.  Stopped for lunch in Rouyn-Noranda in Quebec where we had a delicious brunch at Bienvenue Chez-Ouefs before pushing off further north.  Had a little run-in with Dudley Do Right near Cadillac, Quebec where I was informed that 120kph is too fast, but nevertheless made it up to Lac Paradis which is colored an unnatural emerald green by minerals present in the water.   We had just arrived and were admiring the lake and taking pictures when a drunken native showed up to run off whoever just landed on “his” lake in a seaplane — after repeatedly reassuring him it was not our plane, we decided it was best to move on.  A short drive from Lac Paradis we arrived in Matagami, our pit stop for the evening.  We quickly checked into our dilapidated motel (still better than this place!) and took a hike in a nearby city park which included an observation tower atop a hill which afforded a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside and some picturesque rapids on the Bell River.  Recharged with some pizza from the restaurant in town.  I’m sure it has a name, but…it’s the only restaurant in town.  Tomorrow, we finally begin to make our way up the James Bay Road, eventually reaching Hudson Bay.