Québec - Labrador - New Founland and Atlantic provinces - The Big Loop - August 2018

[David*BJ70]

Yeah, you read the title «2018» and think I procrastinated! ? Well, you are right !

Here is a jorney that I wrote for the TLCA magazine which appeared in the Toyota Trail magazine of March-April 2019.

Hope you enjoy to read it !

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Two weeks. That's all we had for our summer vacation. Still, that was enough for my wife and I to drive what we call, the Newfoundland loop. That overland trip had well matured in my mind for several years already and it was finally time to achieve this goal and put a check mark beside this long cherished project on our wish-list.

Our boys are old enough now to stay at home with confidence so we took the RTT from our expedition trailer and mounted it on our 60 series Landcruiser. This was the best decision for us since this allowed us to be nimbler to achieve what was going to be a journey of 7100km (4411 miles) on one of the most isolated roads in eastern Canada.

Our adventure started early in the morning while I lead the Landcruiser along the north side of the majestic St-Lawrence River. The first few hundred kilometers were very familiar to me since I used to drive them often for work, but it is quite different once we passed the city of Quebec. There, we left was it known to be the St-Lawrence valley to enter the Canadian Shield. The road starts to climb to a much more mountainous landscape allowing us to admire the river by overlooking it. It is very pleasant to appreciate this huge waterway which is an important passage for convoy merchandise on the way to the center of America, up through the Great Lakes, which widens more and more to the ocean hundreds of kilometers downstream.



After a ferry crossing on the vast Saguenay River Fjord and a few more hours, we stopped in the city of Baie-Comeau to fill up our diesel tank for the first time since we left of a fuel that will eventually be much more expensive due to the remoteness of the next gas station. First tank with our fully loaded rig (2950kg / 6500lbs): 785km / 488 miles. I love to drive a diesel powered Landcruiser!




We then headed north on the infamous route 389 which is widely known for those hundreds of curves where many people experience road sickness. First built to the edification of the Manic-5 dam (AKA Daniel-Johnson-Dam) (Google this!) 215km / 133 miles from Baie-Comeau, this road eventually stretches to access the province of Newfoundland from the north via a ferry, 1705km / 1060 miles further, and, somewhere in between, takes the name of Trans-Labrador Hwy.

 

[David*BJ70]

Well before going there we needed to set the camp for the first night by the Manicouagan River, just after the Manic-5 dam. This dam is the largest multi-vaulted dam in the world. The route 389 passes next to the dam and the stately stature of it is striking. Behind this dam’s height of 542’, there is the Manicouagan Reservoir around one of the largest meteoric craters on earth, also called the eye of Quebec which is perfectly visible from space.



This first night was a real clash from our «ordinary» daily work occupation. This night without a moon, submerged us in a deep dark sky filled with stars where Mars presented itself to us in all its brilliance. From that point, Mars became an element of reference making it possible for us to locate ourselves each night, in space, throughout our journey.



We had our breakfast watching the early pinkish sky reflecting in the river which was quickly covered with mist as soon as the sun rose above the mountain. There was something magical to see this haze settle right on the river.



Having done a trip to the James Bay last summer, this similar boreal forest landscape encounter the next day, was a «déjà vu» for us. Still, it is always pleasant to drive on a remote road through the boreal forest while crossing the 51st, 52nd and the 53rd parallel. The more we drove the more relief we felt.



On the road from Manic-5 to our expected destination of the day, Churchill Falls, we took a detour to run through a former mining deposit site which was easily accessible from the road. The dark gray color of the rocky debris filled with glittering crystals in the sun gave us the impression of traveling on a mirror ball.

Aside from construction of the dam in 1960, route 389 has lately been used to link the iron fields of northern Quebec and Labrador. This is where, far off on the horizon line, among the mountains, we saw a landscape which turned out to be iron mining debris. At first, it was intriguing because it seemed to be mountains of another color, but as we approached, we were shocked to realize that the landscape had been literally sacked by human activity. The mining debris was, literally, the height of the surrounding mountains.



The last ten miles before entering Labrador were extremely sinuous and unpleasant to drive. Nothing is more frustrating than turning constantly while, just beside the road, we were following a perfectly straight and parallel railroad and electrical line.

 

[David*BJ70]

We found a paved road that we had left since the dam 365km / 225 miles earlier to enter Labrador. As the tradition requires, we stopped by the huge blue «Newfoundland Labrador – Welcome to the Big Land» sign to immortalize this moment on photo.



At this place the road took the number 500 and became officially, The Trans Labrador Hwy (TLH). This road finds a privileged place among a short list of remote roads of the world that every overlander or expedition lover should drive once in their life. Built in the early 90’s and previously unpaved and hazardous, the first stretch of the TLH to Churchill Falls, 160 miles, was a real charm to drive.

This road that traverses the vastness of the boreal forest among the peat bogs and the spruce trees is literally a pile of gravel covered with asphalt that stretches endlessly to the east. The sun at its zenith was with us, as well as the trees, flowers, lakes and rivers, all the richness of color of this place being infused in our minds where we try to capture all this scenery in our memory forever. At every moment, we felt privileged. Despite being on a road, we were in a no man’s land.



At the end of the afternoon, we stopped to make a trek to admire what «was» once one of the greatest water falls on the eastern continent : Churchill Fall. We knew that this previously majestic powerful roaring fall was now just a faint trickle of water. Downstream, the imposing Churchill River was dammed to feed the world's second largest underground hydroelectric power plant. (Google this!) This allowed us to appreciate all the work the water has done on the bedrock that was released from the glaciers thousands of years ago. However, the most striking part of this river diversion happened when we crossed the bridge over the drained river bed. This immense waterway now dried up makes us realize how human construction can have unimaginable consequences on nature.



Seeking a campsite for the night brought us to park our Landcruiser directly on a dike near the water intake of the hydroelectric power plant. It was amazing to have the opportunity to be on the top of this dike seeing, in front of us, billions of cubic feet of water held by the dike and just 350 feet below us, the forest stretching as far as the eye can see.

 

[David*BJ70]

The next 2 days, we covered the last 910km / 565 miles to access the ferry to Newfoundland. After Happy-Valley-Goose-Bay, where route 500 changes to 510, you will find the actual longest stretch without service in North America, 410km / 255 miles without human facilities. Along this stretch there is 300km / 187 miles of exhausting unpaved washboard.

My most relevant recommendation I can give you: AIR - DOWN to 20 - 25psi. I didn't and bitterly regret.




We reached the east coast of Labrador. While the northern part was covered by the Boreal forest, this last section had no sight of any trees. All the time whipped by the frigorific north Atlantic winds, the land was covered with bogs and lichen of all the existing green colors. We were crossing a naked territory with exceptional vegetation that we had never seen before.



We ate lunch on a high promontory overlooking the village of Red Bay. From 1530 to early 17th century, it was a major Basque whaling area. There, several whaling shipwrecks led to its designation as a UNESCO World heritage site . (Google this!) Then, by the end of the afternoon, we took place on the ferry that brought us from the continent to the «The Rock», the gigantic island that makes the province of Newfoundland.

 

[David*BJ70]

We accosted while the rain introduced itself for the first time. We took the road to reach the northernmost tip of the island. We used a provincial campground and took a restful hot shower.



We went on to visit a significant place in history. The first known evidence of European presence in America: L’Anse aux Meadows. A fascinating archaeological remains of a Viking encampment, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Google this!). This place is known to be the place representing the first time human migration out of Africa completed the circumnavigation of the globe when Vikings met the Natives.




After visiting this historic location, we headed south to admire the very spectacular Gros Morne Nat. Park. shaped by colliding continents and glaciers, fjords and mountains tower above a diverse panorama of bogs, forests and barren cliffs, Gros Morne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Google this too!).
On our right, the very first part of the park revealed itself as we drove along the Gulf of St-Lawrence while the cliffs and fjords stood to our left. Our first stop was to visit Western Brook Pond, a spectacular glacier-carved land-locked fjord which we could see from the road where we took some pictures. But the weather was not on our side. The clouds were low and by the time we parked the Landcruiser and took the path to reach the observatory, the visibility went from almost passable to zero.




Then, we saw the seaside cliffs of Green Point, a beautiful sequence of layered rocks. Here geologists discovered fossils that defined the boundaries between the Cambrian and Ordovician periods and makes this specific place on earth a world geological benchmark. Been there, done that!

 

[David*BJ70]

Further on, the Tablelands of Gros Morne. This is a very rare place on earth where you can see the Earth's inner soul: the mantle; normally far below the earth's crust. Driving and exploring this unique place was breathtaking. It was fascinating to drive the road at the bottom of this glacier path and to see a green vegetated side and the mantle exposed side, a naked orange inhospitable soil with almost non-existent vegetation - see picture beloiw.



We went on to trek for a few hours, enjoying looking for carnivorous flowers and fill our bottles with crystalline water coming from snow which remained timidly in August, thanks to the shady rocky walls. We had in front of us the most spectacular landscape of our entire existence.



Being in Newfoundland, we had to do another essential activity: reach the eastern most point of North America. We crossed from west to east the whole province to access Cape Spear and, at this specific time, being the only 2 humans the most easterly of North America! Afterwards, I took my notebook and crossed off this requirement on my overlander prerequisites list. We celebrated by drinking a local beer and enjoyed a meal in a St-John pub.




Just leaving St-John by the 1-Trans-Canada-Hwy which crosses the entire country, there is a road sign. It shows the distance from east to west to reach the ferry to exit the island Port-aux-Basques: 884km (550miles) It boggles the imagination. I’ve never seen such a distance on a road sign!

To me, driving Newfoundland entirely from west-east, back and forth, was annoying. The scenery was as great as it should be but, I felt I was just going through the motions before enjoying the next episode!

And it was found in Badger’s along the Trans-Canada-Hwy where our map showed another «passage». I questioned the lady at the gas station about the feasibility of it. «We actually don’t know if this road reaches it ends. From what I know, only snowmobiles used this road after Buchans !» . Well that was a gentle invitation to pimp my day.

Luckily, besides a few small wash-outs, this 124miles backcountry road reached our route. I called the lady at the gas station who asked me to let her know how it ended. I was happy to tell her that the ride was quite smooth for a 4x4 and very scenic.

 

[David*BJ70]

Back west, we met again the glacier’s shape environment. The last 145km / 90miles before Port-Aux-Basques were flabbergasting. Every single fjord sculpted in the earth’s crust was revealed and exposed while we were moving south.



We took the MV Highlanders ferry for an overnight crossing. We could’t get a cabin so we stayed the whole 7 hour trip among other snoring passenger on the «OK-cosy seats» of our deck. The sunrise from the upper deck was awesome. A sky of fire rising on the horizon!



Rested just enough; we addressed the first Nova Scotia province’s activity by visiting the Fortress of Louisburg. An immense and very precise reconstruction of a 1700 French settlement.





We then reached one of the most scenic roads: Cabot Trail, along Cape Breton Island. We enjoyed this renowned route which runs along the escarpment of a huge continental rock. Actually, more than the desire to drive the Cabot Trail, I wanted to access a specific place on the northeastern tip of Cape Breton. Meat Cove. A small lost hamlet where little crowds of hippies and, overlanders love to hang around. Our advantage of owning a capable vehicle gives us the opportunity to get down onto the sea cove pebble beach.



There you can admire a bunch of funky stonestaking. This place was awesome. The Gulf of St-Lawrence in front and surrounded in the back by high walls of thick leaning stratified rock which even make me change spot twice, fearing a chunk of it might fall on us.

 

[David*BJ70]

We concluded, counter clockwise, the steep Cabot Trail. I think doing it from the other side may be more impressive...


Next step, Prince Edward Island which I don’t have so much to say. Still, endless red sand beaches, mowed meadows, 20 fresh oysters for 5$ and excellent beer from a local microbrewery. Oh! We harvested a bundle of delicious and fleshy Chanterelle mushroom in the woods near our camping site. While we reached the island by a Ferry, we came out using the 13km / 8 miles Confederation Bridge.



There was not much time left in our journey. And we still had to visit where the tides are the most important on the earth; Bay of Fundy where the difference between tides can be 52’!

But you know what ... there were really really too many people !!

 

[David*BJ70]

There are only a few places along the coast to appreciate the tide, but most are over-filled by tourists. So we ended up at a spot recommended by a friend, 24km / 15miles from the road by a logger’s path. The last mile was rather rugged and, thought we would be alone, we were astounded to see a kind old man already there with his fifth-wheel! Surely, this man has balls! I don’t think I would have pulled such trailer down there.



By the time we set up our camp, prepared dinner, sat and ate, the water of the Bay had withdrawn to expose, which was submerged 1 hour before, a huge bank studded by large and tall dunes. Stunning!



Look at the sun, there is a less than an hour between these 2 pictures. See how the water went down due to the tide



We spent the last day driving from the province of New Brunswick to our home, 1070km / 665miles in a single stroke. We were thoughtful about our journey and so thankful that went without a hitch. The Landcruiser, faithful as always, did not use a single drop of oil. We did not miss our bed at all, only our sons.

Ever since, a week does not pass where we don’t talk about this trip. Sure... surely, we will follow the same path once again.






At the end, we went through 5 provinces, 4 capitals and used 3 ferries.

Our diesel consumption's average was 11L/100km - 21,4 MPG (US) -> Not so bad for a 2950kg / 6500lbs rig

 

[Grassland]

We have found you can avoid crowds by going to the East at the end of April or beginning of May. We saw less than 10 people at the Hopewell Rocks. But the wet breeze was chilly!

Meat Cove is nice, we enjoyed the scenery over some beers, fish and chips at the little restaurant. That's a place you could roll out of bed and right off the cliff depending how you pitch your tent!

This trip looks great. Thank you for your detailed information and sharing this.

 

[pith helmet]

Thanks for sharing. This is a trip I have wanted to do for years and it’s nice to see such a detailed description of it.

 

[Ace Brown]

I have long wanted to explore this part of the world but it is so far from my home in Western Colorado that I never have. But now I don’t need to. Your great and detailed report was a fantastic virtual trip. Thank you for posting.

 

[Ecoboost_Traveller]

Awesome report. Thanks for sharing. I’ve wanted to do this for a couple years. We had hoped to do it this year, but then covid happened. I don’t even know if we’ll get to do it in 2021.
I have a question though. Do you think it’s possible to do this trip with a ground tent? Or would a RTT or trailer be better? I ask because of some of the roadside camp sites.... a lot of them are unofficial sites or they are just gravel lots next to the road. it seems like at some of them, overnight parking would be fine but setting up a tent might be frowned upon. Or there is limited space, etc so a RTT would give you a smaller footprint. Thoughts?

 

[waldrtw]

Thanks for sharing. I have talked about doing this trip for years. Guess I need to get busy doing instead of talking!!

 

[David*BJ70]

@Ecoboost_Traveller

You definitely can use a ground tent. It may be more challenging to find a good place to set your camps.

There is a some place - rest area - place to briefly camp along the TL Hwy... but very few roads you can take to set a camp away from the road.

. Know these site are not very enchanting places. They are ... functional and just aside from the road.

Be aware there is plenty of people riding this road with motorbikes so you will not get rid of the solution.