James Bay Road 6/23/07 - 6/28/07

[Northern Explorer]

Originally this trip was going to involve a drive down the Trans Taiga road as well. To do it right I would prepare a little different and allow more time to fully enjoy the trip.

Here are some pictures taken on the way to the James Bay road.

Packed and ready to go

Three hours into the trip. Picture taken from International Bridge crossing into Canada showing the Soo Locks on the U.S. side.

The International Bridge

Trans-Canada Highway plaque. Nice rest stop with waterfalls.

Waterfall at the rest stop

Bad picture of moose. One of five that we saw along highway 101 in Ontario.

Our first nights accommodations (Hotel Plaza) After a 12 hour drive it looked like the Hilton. Eight unit motel on the right...bar on the left. Check in for the Motel was at the bar.

Rest stop south of Matagami. Nice view with some old mining equipment on display.

Sign at the rest stop writen in French and Cree. Just on the other side of the highway we saw our first Cree village.

 

[Nullifier]

looks good so far! :lurk:

 

[hattrik21]

Definetly looking forward to more on this trip.

 

[Northern Explorer]

6/24/07 James Bay Road

I filled up my tank on my truck (19.6 gallon capacity) plus my three 5 gallon gas cans at the Matagami Shell station. Price = $1.10/ liter Translation $4.16/ gallon in Canadian currency. The exchange rate going into Canada was $1.04 Canadian for every $1.00 U.S.

Back of truck

We were now set for the James Bay Road.

Beginning of James bay road

Km 6 We stopped at the checkpoint to register and to pick up some maps. The person working there was very helpful and suggested several places along the road that we should stop to check out.

Km 38 Time for lunch. We stopped at the Waswanipi River boat launch to makes sandwiches. The weather was sunny and in the lower 70’s. There were only a few bugs to speak of. A group was there launching their boat and two other vehicles were in the parking area. It looked like a nice river to fish.

The next stop we made was at Km 232. This is the Broadback River. Rustic camping area with toilets (outhouses) and a nice trail leading down to the river.

Broadback River

Showing vegetation in the area

Km 257 The Rupert River. This is one of the places that the person at the check in station suggested that we stop. Reason being…by 2009 the river will be just a trickle, as most of the water will be diverted for another hydroelectric project.

Picture of the bridge from the parking area

Picture of the rapids from a viewing platform. This picture does not give the river justice. These are huge rapids.

Somewhere between km 257 and 381 I stopped to put 5 gallons of gas in my tank. I was not getting the greatest gas mileage but I had yet to figure out exactly what the numbers were. Not a single vehicle passed while I was filling up.

Km 381 The only place along the entire James Bay Road to get gas. I wasn’t paying attention and I drove right by it. The gas pumps are actually off the road a little ways (east side of road). After turning around (about 2 miles down the road) we pulled in and filled the tank on the truck and I had the guy fill the 5-gallon can that I used up. Price = $1.34/liter Translation $5.07/gallon in Canadian currency. If I recall correctly I paid about $92 for about 18 gallons of gas.

Gas dog

Wife cleaning bugs off window

Helicopters at gas station

Km 411 Opinaca River. Outhouses and 3 or 4 rustic camp sights.

 

[kcowyo]

I'm very interested in trips around the Great Lakes area so I appreciate you sharing some photos and info.

Was this the first big trip with the new Neon? How'd it go over with your family?

:beer: :lurk:

 

[Northern Explorer]

Km 464 Old Factory River. This is one of the largest culverts in the world. It measures 16 meters wide (52 ½ feet). According to this web site, the largest culvert ever built was 60 feet wide and it collapsed in 1974.

Km 617 + 5Km Radisson.

Our camp site at the Radisson campground. Recently expanded from 30 campsites to 40 campsites. Fortunately there was not that many people there. There is only one toilet and one shower for each male and female facility. As it started to get dark the insects seemed to multiply in numbers. We set up the camper and cooked our dinner. It was forecasted to get into the mid 30’s Fahrenheit that night so I set up the Mr. Buddy propane heater.(I go into more detail about the heater here http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6407 ) After watching an episode of the Soprano’s on my laptop we turned in for the night. Tomorrow we were going to see James Bay.

The next morning after showering and cooking breakfast we headed out of town (south) on our way to James Bay. Km 600 is where the Chisasibi road intersects with the James Bay road. Fifty-six miles later we reached Chisasibi. We didn’t look at the map or the written directions. I kept driving straight ahead thinking I was heading toward James Bay. Instead we reached the shore of the La Grande River. This was the only 4 wheeling I did. I disconnected the camper and followed a 2-rut road along the rivers edge thinking it would lead me to the mouth of the river. After a few miles the road came to a dead end and we turned back around to find were I left the camper. This time I read the directions and about 15 minutes later we reached James Bay.

It was a little breezy so we decided to save the kayaks for a small inland lake instead.

 

[Northern Explorer]

I'm very interested in trips around the Great Lakes area so I appreciate you sharing some photos and info.

Was this the first big trip with the new Neon? How'd it go over with your family?

:beer: :lurk:

One of the nicest areas on our trip was on Highway 17 between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa Ontario. Lot's of really nice scenery. Go to this web site to see more about Lake Superior Provincial Park. http://www.ontarioparks.com/English/lakes.html

The gps map that I have in the first post does not show the route correctly. We followed the lake shore north to Wawa.

 

[Christian P.]

thanks for this report! I am from Quebec but I never drove all the way to Bay James...I flew instead...

I'll add it to my list of places to visit whenever I go back.

 

[mike h]

Nice! Glad the trip went well for you. It's great to see it without snow.

m.

 

[Northern Explorer]

On the way back

This picture was taken on the Chisasibi Road a few miles east of Chisasibi.

Km579 (back on the James Bay Road) Radisson garbage dump. Just wanted to stop to see if there were any bear. We drove in and parked in a truck turnaround/parking area. From this vantage point we couldn’t see the dump itself because it was on the other side of a small embankment. I got out of the truck and ran up the hill to see the other side (wife stayed in truck). A guy driving a garbage truck said something in French and I replied that I was looking for bear and showed him my camera. He pointed down into the dump area and within 10 seconds a bear stuck its head up over a sand mound and casually walked down to scavenge for food. I ran back up to the truck and drove down to take a few pictures and video. Obviously a picture of a bear dining on berries in a pristine forest setting would have been better but you take what you get.

Video of Dump Bear

Km395 Eastmain River This was one of my better photographs. This bridge won a prize for architecture and engineering. There is a small rustic camping area here along with a boat launch to the river.

looking north

looking east

one of several rocks thrown from bridge onto viewing platform.

Km381 Back at the gas station (Relais Routier)
This time a helicopter was taking off

Km232 One of two vehicles we saw crashed along the road. The other one was a car that had rolled along the Chisasibi road.

This video of a fox that we saw on a highway south of the James Bay road. If you look close it has some kind of road kill in its mouth. In total we saw five moose, five bear, one fox and one owl that almost flew into my windshield.

Video of Fox

 

[computeruser]

Nice write-up! Looks like some good scenery and a sort of environment that is substantially different from what we've got around here in southern MI.

Definitely going to give this trip a shot next year in the Spring or early Summer if I possibly can. Possible group trip? Maybe w/ Trans Taiga Rd., too? Gotta get workin' on a larger fuel tank for my TJ...

Out of curiosity, what would you do differently if you did it again, and what would you do differently if you added in the Trans Taiga Rd?

 

[upcruiser]

Great photos and writeup! I've wanted to do this trip for awhile.

BTW, I've got those shots from last weekend's outing, Dana needs to fix the color on them a bit and I'll send them to you. Thanks for sending me your shots, they turned out alot better.

 

[Northern Explorer]

Out of curiosity, what would you do differently if you did it again, and what would you do differently if you added in the Trans Taiga Rd?

I would take more time off to fully enjoy both the James Bay road and the Trans Taiga road.

I wouldn't bring the Kayaks. They're small Kayaks (10' 6") that are fairly easy to lug around but the last thing I wanted to do after driving 8 to 12 hours was to sit in an even more confined space. We only used them a couple of time and I'm sure they really affected gas mileage. About 12 mpg was the worst that I calculated. This was with the Kayaks on top, camper in tow, loaded with all gear plus the three full 5 gallon gas cans in back, speeding at about 70 mph. The longest distance without gas would have been (on Trans Taiga road) from km 358 Mirage Outfitters to the end of the road at Caniapiscau and then back to km 358. This distance is 383 miles. At 15mpg this would require 25.5 gallons of gas. I had a total of 35 gallons so I probably would have been fine.

I would make sure to book ahead of time an English speaking tour of the dam and hydro facilities. I think they have French speaking tours just about every day but the English speaking tour wasn't going to be on a convenient day for us.

If I was going to do the Trans Taiga road I either wouldn't bring the Neon camper or I would throroughly test it with larger tires and shocks. On the short gravel road that we did drive down it bounced around over the washboards like a rubber ball behind my truck. I ended up driving about 10 mph in some spots just so it wouldn't bounce so violently. In addition when I set it up at the Matagami Campground I noticed a thick layer of road dust all over everything on the inside. I plan on caulking some if the electrical wiring holes to try to fix this problem. Ideally I would do this trip again with either a 4x4 Sportsmobile(in my dreams) or a good truck camper (four wheel camper). It could always be done with just a tent but the best thing about having the Neon was the ability to escape the insects. We did all of our cooking inside and it was a nice place to relax after a long day of driving. The morning we left the Matagami campground they (the insects) just about flew away with me. I had already taken a shower so I didn't want to smell like Deep-Woods-Off for the rest of the day and I was too lazy to dig for my head net. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of insects they were. They weren't mosquitoes but they did suck blood. I think I donated a pint that morning.

I would like to go back some day but not for a few years. I would like to go to some of the places out west first.


ok...last two pictures

Flowers in bloom along edge of highway(way south of James Bay road)

Agawa Pictographs along the shore of lake superior. Go to this website to learn more. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009893

My next write up won't take a month and a half

 

[Frankspinz]

Very cool trip ! I've dreamed of doing this myself for too long ! Nice truck & setup. Ho did you like the Bf Goodrich tires on those roads ?

 

[Northern Explorer]

Very cool trip ! I've dreamed of doing this myself for too long ! Nice truck & setup. Ho did you like the Bf Goodrich tires on those roads ?

Well maintained gravel roads were the roughest stuff that we saw on that trip. Overall I have been very pleased with these tires.