I got on the road around 7pm with the hopes of getting close to Matagami, I ended up about 100km south of that at 1:30am and found a dead end on some newer logging roads after a little bit of exploring. There was a bit of snow to be found before I went to bed but not much and not everywhere. By time I woke up at after a short 6hr sleep at 9am there was a fresh 5inches of snow!
There have been many vehicles since the F150 from the last trip report including a Tacoma TRD Off-road, a 4Runner a JK, a JKU and a Gladiator Overland. All had great positives and some negatives. The new truck is a 2020 Colorado ZR2 Diesel. It is stock other than the Falken Wildpeak AT3W 255/80r17's (33x10.5) and the Leer 180 cap. The mellow wheeling I have done with it has been great so far, the front and rear selectable lockers are so nice, the suspension in this truck really is impressive off and on road with the 3.5 inches of extra width over a standard Colorado and the Multimatic DSSV shocks.
As you see in the photos I have three 5gallon gas cans with me, yes.... I put Diesel in them.... I brought what I had, this Diesel thing is new to me! The fuel consumption is really great on this little truck. I could have done the entire trip without extra fuel, even with all the the idling the truck did during the evenings. From Mirage Outfitters to the Caniapiscau reservoir and back it is apparently about 625km. Here you see the range indicate a little more than that, this pic was from after the TT at the fuel stop on the James bay hwy.
With the constant snow and snowy conditions I kept the truck in AWD mode, I really liked this feature for this type of travel over using straight 4wd that my other vehicles had. I sensed the slipping sometimes then it just seamlessly worked and provided great traction. I figure I was in this mode for at least 2500km during this trip. My other vehicles would have used more fuel in 4wd than this truck did in AWD.
The sleeping setup was pretty simple, took the fuel cans out then put down layer one, for me this was a Nike exercise mat and for the dog this was an entrance carpet from home, layer two for me was the same MEC brand winter rated inflatable sleeping pad from the last trip report (this thing has been so awesome) and for the dog was a Thermarest winter rated foam pad. My sleeping bag for this trip was a Chinook synthetic -5C barrel bag with a really old MEC fleece bag liner, the dog used my even older and very loved Chinook +2C down bag to keep warm. The bed in this truck is a little short for this setup at barely 6ft. My sleeping pad is longer than the bed, I am 5 foot 8 inches and felt a bit cramped with a full sized pillow which was the same fancy pillow from the last trip. The new catalytic heater is not as powerful as my old one, it was certainly better than nothing but I miss the old Coleman I had used for over a decade in winter conditions.