Gravel Travel, Baby 2026

[Trail Talk]

Nothing compelled us North this year so there won't be an Ice, Ice, Baby expedition for 2026. But...we are well into the planning for a cross-country jaunt from Alberta to the East Coast in late summer to early fall. We want to take in the Billy-Diamond Highway to James Bay and the Trans-Labrador Highway to the coast, then a ferry to Newfoundland for a visit to L'Anse Aux Meadows. As of now, we won't be travelling the Trans-Taiga.

Anyone covered this ground? Appreciate all tips from those that have been!

 

[NOPEC]

Nothing compelled us North this year so there won't be an Ice, Ice, Baby expedition for 2026. But...we are well into the planning for a cross-country jaunt from Alberta to the East Coast in late summer to early fall. We want to take in the Billy-Diamond Highway to James Bay and the Trans-Labrador Highway to the coast, then a ferry to Newfoundland for a visit to L'Anse Aux Meadows. As of now, we won't be travelling the Trans-Taiga.

Anyone covered this ground? Appreciate all tips from those that have been!

View attachment 906977

Nothing compelled us North this year so there won't be an Ice, Ice, Baby expedition for 2026. But...we are well into the planning for a cross-country jaunt from Alberta to the East Coast in late summer to early fall. We want to take in the Billy-Diamond Highway to James Bay and the Trans-Labrador Highway to the coast, then a ferry to Newfoundland for a visit to L'Anse Aux Meadows. As of now, we won't be travelling the Trans-Taiga.

Anyone covered this ground? Appreciate all tips from those that have been!

View attachment 906977

Hey you guys
I think you already know this but we are going to do much of the same route as you are this summer also including all of the other east coast maritime areas as well. FYI, we just received our "package" from the Newfoundland and Labrador tourist folks which includes really detailed roadmaps of both areas. Very impressive and we definitely would recommend contacting them, if you haven't done so already.

 

[Trail Talk]

Hey you guys
I think you already know this but we are going to do much of the same route as you are this summer also including all of the other east coast maritime areas as well. FYI, we just received our "package" from the Newfoundland and Labrador tourist folks which includes really detailed roadmaps of both areas. Very impressive and we definitely would recommend contacting them, if you haven't done so already.

I don’t recall the conversation but that’s too funny! Labrador is our prime objective, we’re going to save the full east coast tour for another time. How long do you plan to be on the road?

 

[NOPEC]

I don’t recall the conversation but that’s too funny! Labrador is our prime objective, we’re going to save the full east coast tour for another time. How long do you plan to be on the road?

Ha, I probably dreamed it! We are planning to spend all summer travelling and hopefully we can do justice to most of the east coast.

Our developing plan is to skirt all of the most northerly roads between here and there, hit the Trans-Labrador road and then stop at Happy Valley-Goose Bay. We really want to fly into Torngat Mountains NP as we have schemed for a quite some time about getting into this area but it requires a lot of faffing around to make it happen with scheduling, permits, guides, plunking down a ton of cash, etc., all things we generally avoid, especially having to be somewhere at a given time....so we will see. We have heard that the costal boat ride to Nain is also fabulous, but again, quite a commitment. We would then head south and take the ferry to the Newfoundland island and then spend a huge block of time there.

As far as the rest of the Maritimes, we are basically going to let winter chase us home so hopefully with a good block of time, we can put a good dent in some of the areas anyway. Maybe we will catch you for a beer along the way.

Here is a pic from Torngat, borrowed from their website...