Trans-Labrador highway

[gbaglo]

Anybody considering a trip across Newfoundland and Labrador should read Great Heart to significantly increase their enjoyment of the trip and to understand the history of the land they are crossing.
Terrific adventure.
Don't eat your companions.


https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.ph...ew/10127/10410

[NCBill]

+10 would love a report on the mud flaps. Also, I assume those are attached to the front storage box? Seems like a great idea, we leave for AK next week.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Anybody considering a trip across Newfoundland and Labrador should read Great Heart to significantly increase their enjoyment of the trip and to understand the history of the land they are crossing.
Terrific adventure.
Don't eat your companions.


https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.ph...ew/10127/10410

Just based on the synopsis in the link you posted Glenn, looks like a fascinating read. So Hubbard starved to death on his expedition, then his widow, blaming his death more on his traveling companion, performed the same expedition to prove he wasn't incompetent or negligent. That's one loyal wife.

[gbaglo]

Well, reading the book will give you something to do while waiting for a tow truck.

[cpaharley2008]

You can also read or watch the movie version of "Into the Wild" which takes place in modern day and in Alaska.....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_%28film%29

[Jim Bennett]

This sounds like a very cool route to drive and camp. Thanks for sharing it, I have put it in the Maritimes trip folder for consideration.

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Who’s drive 70 mph on the gravel when you were young and dumb? Raise your texting thumb.
Iowa Dave

Slowed down to 70 only when I had too. Man, I learned to drive on gravel roads. When I turned 16 most of our town was still gravel. I used to love doing drifters (drift turns) around the tighter curves.

[cpaharley2008]

and then when they paved those roads and you tried to drift, you ended up lifting the wheels off the ground when going around, at least that is what happened to me in my 56 Ford,,,,eekkk!

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

You can also read or watch the movie version of "Into the Wild" which takes place in modern day and in Alaska.....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_%28film%29

I saw it Jim. Just a personal opinion, but while I admire the guy's adventurous spirit, he was woefully unprepared, and his overly idealistic viewpoint cost him his life. Living off the land in Alaska is not for novices.

[cpaharley2008]

Isn't that the way it normally happens, being unprepared. Yet, in reality he was really close to civilization but did not know it.
Someone told me being unprepared happens a lot to us city folks moving out west to places like Montana and Wyoming and then we starve to death when the snow gets up to the second floor and we run out of food. there is a reason why some homes have a door on the second floor and the street signs have 2 sets, one for summer and another 8' higher up for winter.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Someone told me being unprepared happens a lot to us city folks moving out west to places like Montana and Wyoming and then we starve to death when the snow gets up to the second floor and we run out of food.

Similarly, I read that a disproportionate number of people who get lost and die out West are foreigners. Japanese tourists have problems grasping the scale of the landscape, e.g. the hills that look five miles away are actually a mountain range fifty miles away. Germans tend to get lost a lot too, both because of the scale of the landscape and the assumption that someone will rescue them if they don't return in time, a mistake Americans are less likely to make.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Similarly, I read that a disproportionate number of people who get lost and die out West are foreigners. Japanese tourists have problems grasping the scale of the landscape, e.g. the hills that look five miles away are actually a mountain range fifty miles away.

Where I live, a few hundred feet to one of several access points to trails that lead into the local mountains it's a continuous story of life and death and yes, a lot are tourists.

I'm so conditioned to it when I awake at first light on a grey, cold and miserable morning and hear an approaching Talon helicopter I automatically think, "someone's spent a cold and nasty night lost on one of the mountains."

It never ends, sometimes North Shore Rescue are called out 3 times in just one weekend. I've said many times that they should charge folks for the rescue costs but they don't because they don't want them to delay calling for help because they don't want to pay for a rescue.

Honesty the stupidity is mind numbing. Setting off at 4 in the afternoon, wearing flip-flops and shorts, heading off on a hike that takes 8 hours to complete and has sections of ice and rock.

Ron

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Honestly the stupidity is mind numbing. Setting off at 4 in the afternoon, wearing flip-flops and shorts, heading off on a hike that takes 8 hours to complete and has sections of ice and rock.

Yes but they saw a show on TV and it looked so easy!

Another funny example is any episode of the show "Homestead Rescue". Basically week after week of folks who sold everything they owned and moved into the wilderness to live off the land, and are in big trouble with no steady food supply, inadeqate shelter, no water supply and no knowledge on how to get it.

[cpaharley2008]

what was it called, "Naked and Afraid"................

[pstyer]

The mud flaps did protect the trailer from flying rocks, but they actually rubbed the gel coat off because of the constant contact. There is an area about the size of a silver dollar where the surface of the fiberglass has been roughed up.
I do NOT recommend any else try the mud flaps.
Peter
Frewsbrug, NY

[pstyer]

Originally Posted by NCBill

+10 would love a report on the mud flaps. Also, I assume those are attached to the front storage box? Seems like a great idea, we leave for AK next week.

The mud flaps actually rubbed the gel coat and created a rough spot on both sides. If I had to do it over again, I would wrap the corners of the trailer with packing foam or bubbles and using clear shipping tape to protect the corners.
I do NOT recommend using the mud flaps.
Peter
Frewsburg, NY

[pstyer]

Did you bring extra gas?

Yes, I had eight gallons in two different jerry cans. I used one of them getting between Red Bay and Port Hope Simpson. I probably could have made it, but I was really nervous.

There is also a very long stretch between Labrador City and Manic-5 on route 389 in Quebec. It's 235 miles and we were about to pull out the second jerry can on that stretch but just made it to the one and only gas station. (165.9 / liter)

By the way, Route 389 through Quebec, is in worse shape than the Trans-Labrador highway. There is a 50 mile stretch in the northern section that is a constant washboard. After that, the road contains heaves in the road that resemble wheel barrow's turned upside down. You can straddle the heaves, but they are still very rough.

Peter
Frewsburg, NY

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Honesty the stupidity is mind numbing. Setting off at 4 in the afternoon, wearing flip-flops and shorts, heading off on a hike that takes 8 hours to complete and has sections of ice and rock.

Ron

I too have seen this a fair bit when coming out from an all day hike. We have a lot of that in the mountains around Banff and Jasper, tourists who do not really appreciate how tough Mother Nature in these areas can be. I think of some of the ordeals I have gone through over the years, and this is being well prepared and well versed in backcountry travel.

One of my best memories of this was on a canoe trip on Murtle Lake in Wells Grey PP. We were set up around the fire and under a tarp because it was raining hard. I was preparing fresh risen crust pizza on my stove top oven, when a couple canoes pulled in with a grandfather, husband and wife, and two 10 year old boys. They were soaked to the gills, not wearing protective gear, and even worse wearing jeans and running shoes. We invited them to sit by the fire for a while, then the 3 adults took off to set up the tents as the rain lessened a fair bit. They never really noticed my oven, and when the pizza was done, I offered the two boys who were still there a slice and their eyes popped wide open. One boy says "Is that real pizza" " Why yes son, it is". KInda made their day. All our gear other than what is on our backs is always dry as a bone, but these guys had no dry bags of any kind and used garbage bags instead, and we all know how they hold up. They were ill prepared in so many other ways too, no saw or axe and no camp stove. Fortunately it cleared up the next day and we went on. I think they may have headed back.

[pstyer]

You didn't pass trucks throwing rocks. Different than driving to Alaska. What was the truck traffic like? And did you need spare tires?

Actually the trucks slowed down to avoid throwing rocks. Additionally, the gravel road was plenty wide enough to avoid any rocks.

No I did not need any spare tires, but I did develop a slow leak in my right rear truck tire. It seems we parked in a community college parking lot in Goose Bay. The carpentry students were building utility sheds in the back of the same parking lot. They were not very careful about lost nails. Well, I found one of their nails and carried it to Labrador City with me. The next morning we noticed the tire being quite low and took it to the Firestone dealer in tow. Two hours later and $33 Canadian later we were very happy campers once again.

Peter
Frewsburg, NY

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by pstyer

Did you bring extra gas?

Yes, I had eight gallons in two different jerry cans. I used one of them getting between Red Bay and Port Hope Simpson. I probably could have made it, but I was really nervous.

There is also a very long stretch between Labrador City and Manic-5 on route 389 in Quebec. It's 235 miles and we were about to pull out the second jerry can on that stretch but just made it to the one and only gas station. (165.9 / liter)

This is where it is nice to have a 137 litre fuel tank and a 700 km range.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

This is where it is nice to have a 137 litre fuel tank and a 700 km range.

I thought the exact same thing Jim. But don't you have closer to an 800km range? I know on mine I can go over 500 miles towing on a single tank.