5 Wheel Drive: Land Rover & KTM tackle the Gaspé Peninsula

[Cody1771]

wow topo maps is way cooler for IPAD than it is on my iphone! how do you find the KTM 690 for long distance riding?

 

[Cody1771]

damn! you guys rode through the night?

 

[ini88]

Left NJ at 10:30pm. We just got to the hotel now and going to crash a bit before getting wasted at the local bar and fighting some townies

One piece of advice: Do not blow through the Canadian boarder and then ask yourself "who tripped those alarms." Always go through the long line with the little green light or else you will have a problem on your hand.

 

[Jarek M]

Boarder was fun!:elkgrin:

 

[roverthen]

Be safe and have plenty of fun.

 

[deadly99]

I was in the Gaspe on my bike last week, bridges out and gates prevented us from doing our intended route. Hope you lads had better luck than we did.

 

[ini88]

Well we made it back to the hotel in Cambletown and are absolutely beat. Thank god we were prepared for the worse. Sand ladders, chainsaw, 3 Jerry cans and one make-shift bridge later and we got back to civilization.

We didn't know what we would get into there as we could only really route our track via google earth images. Some of the "roads" look wide and passable. Other "trails" looks tight and overgrown. We made it about a third of the way. I ran out of gas and took half a Jerry can to fill up again. Jarek was on a quarter tank with no gas station remotely close. He took the last two Jerry cans and we had to head back out of deep woods to one of the major roads on the very south or very north. South won the coin flip.

The one thing we didn't except was some serious bush-wacking. Riding up river beds, climbing over barriers and coming across a washed out bridge about 30 miles in with absolutely no way around and no way of turning around! All 3 of us were uncertain of how to pass. The bridge that was there was half gone and the remaining half was so water logged it sunk when you stood on it. We walked the KTM over and up the embankment. Now for the mighty Land Rover... well, we needed to think this one out and after seeing the old 1950s Ford laying upside down just 50 feet from us didn't give us too much confidence. With chainsaw smoke filling the air around us, Jarek got his lumberjack on and Ryan and I put our Jenga knowledge to work. These trees needed to be long and strong as they needed to support the 8000+lbs Discovery.

I need to leave you all hanging on this one. Bedtime for now. Early morning departure to head home! Full report coming soon this week.

 

[deadly99]

:lurk:

 

[ini88]

I was in the Gaspe on my bike last week, bridges out and gates prevented us from doing our intended route. Hope you lads had better luck than we did.

Hey Ted! Yeah seemed like the place was a real mess up there. There was no real direct route through the middle. Seemed like all the roads came form the south and north to meet. How is your ride going?

 

[ini88]

We just got home and everyone is beat. 14+ hour drive takes the life out of you. Here are some shots. More to come this week after a write up.

 

[Rocket Ship]

Can't wait to see more details. I love stories like this. This is why it's so difficult to "overland" up here. The Hole in the Rock trail has been in existence for over 130 years. You attempted to follow a route on a map that is probably only 5-10 years old, and it's impassible.

 

[ini88]

Can't wait to see more details. I love stories like this. This is why it's so difficult to "overland" up here. The Hole in the Rock trail has been in existence for over 130 years. You attempted to follow a route on a map that is probably only 5-10 years old, and it's impassible.

You are so right Rocket Ship. The forest up there reminds me of the Brazilian rain forest. Large logging roads but once you take a side trail off anything major you get into some real hard core off roading. You have to hack through bushes and trees to carry on. I could barely fit my bike through some areas. Jarek's Discovery is a well worn in truck so he doesn't mine the scratches in the paint as he basically had to push through it all. Without Jarek and Ryan there, there was no way I could have pushed my light 300lb bike up any of the ravines and embankments. It made it that much harder. This trip was a real eye opener to how difficult it is to cross the middle of Gaspe through the trail system.

I would love a second chance at it and give it a good 7 days with loads of spare fuel and provisions.

 

[deadly99]

We made it back after a fun week...we've made it across the middle a few years back but on this one the major trucnk road we used tyhat feeds into the trails had the bridge out. We ran into the same issue crossing the middle of New Brunswick on our way to the Gaspe, tons of bridges out. A local informed us that in December they recieved 2 feet of rain in 24 hours which is unheard of for that area. The streams and rivers swelled so large that many bridges were destroyed, we saw no less than a dozen where a new bridge was built and the old ones could be seen about 50 feet downstream suspended way up in the tree's.

Let me know when you want to go back for another attempt as I am always up for a Gaspe week :ylsmoke:

Now lets here about your adventures :lurk:

 

[Rocket Ship]

I would love a second chance at it and give it a good 7 days with loads of spare fuel and provisions.

Would be cool to put together a real "expedition". And it really would be an expedition. I'd be up for it. I wanted to join you guys, but just didn't have enough time on such short notice.

The TCAT got really lucky when they found the "Route du Mauricie" through that region, or else it would have been the exact same thing probably.

This situation doesn't just exist in the Gaspe. It's like that all over the Canadian shield. The population density is so low in Canada, soon as you get away from population centers, there is ZERO traffic, no tourists. The one and only reason to build a remote road is resource extraction. And as soon as the mining and logging companies finish, nature reclaims the road within a decade.

 

[rijosho]

Thank god we were prepared for the worse. Sand ladders, chainsaw, 3 Jerry cans and one make-shift bridge later and we got back to civilization.

I ran out of gas and took half a Jerry can to fill up again. Jarek was on a quarter tank with no gas station remotely close. He took the last two Jerry cans and we had to head back out of deep woods to one of the major roads on the very south or very north. South won the coin flip.

And you didn't want my extra Jerry Cans.