Canadians, help Trans-Labrador Highway

[Venchka]

I have recently learned that there is a paved/unpaved highway connecting Baie-Comeau, Quebec and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. The highway is numbered 389 in Quebec and 500 in Labrador.

Can anyone shed any light on this road? It's condition? Best season to travel? Things to do along the way? I suppose fishing would be one attraction.

[ 05-24-2004, 12:15 AM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[Paul Pless]

Go here:

web page (http://www.roads.gov.nl.ca/roadreport-information.stm)

Found these tidbits: Normally studded tires should be removed by May 1st, however this year they should remain in use until May 31st. You should also have emergency survival gear in your car.

I lost it, but there is also a good website showing quite a few marinas on Goose Bay. With things like supplies and showers. Looked like there were lots of pontoon boat houseboats up there too.

[mmd]

Not a drive to be trifled with. Rough gravel road, mostly truck traffic, serious wilderness for hundreds of miles, minimal services, etc, etc. This is not a vacation drive, it is an expedition. It can and has been done in a sedan, but most reccommend a 4WD. Carefull planning of trip legs is needed, self-sufficiency in case of a breakdown is required. For further reading, check out:

www.amxfiles.com/stoneji/97trip/tlh_notes.htm (http://www.amxfiles.com/stoneji/97trip/tlh_notes.htm)

www.artistic.ca/dteed/labrador.htm (http://www.artistic.ca/dteed/labrador.htm)

http://www.artistic.ca/dteed/photos/highway.jpg

[Bruce Hooke]

This web page (http://wmuma.com/labrador/travelinfocentral.html) has one guy's take on that road.

I've eyed that road a few times as an access route to some truly remote areas...

[Bruce Hooke]

There are lots of web pages about this highway...people seem to like writing about driving it...

[Venchka]

Hmmmmmm...

Kinda like the way things used to be on the other end of Canada? Before they paved the Alcan and Cassiar. A perfect road for the Trooper or the XC-70. :D

:confused: I guess pulling the boat over that road would be sinful.

What a fabulous summer that would be. Take the ferry from Newfoundland to Goose Bay. Drive to Baie-Comeau.

I would have to endure weeks with Canadians who have no sense of humor. EH? I wonder if it rains all the time? :D

[ 05-21-2004, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[Paul Pless]

I guess pulling the boat over that road would be sinful.
Pulling your boat over that road would be.

I like a dirt road as much as the next guy. There's a route I take to get to some land that I hunt in West Alabama that is about 40 miles down a dirt road, but that Canadian road puts it to shame. :D

[paladin]

...Spent some time there....wuz in St. Johns for a few months...went to St. Anthony....then up to the Goose......lost rotor blades on chopper near Happy Valley in 1960...altitude 500 feet...luckily found 30 foot snowdrift....friend married gal from Happy Valley...I wuz happy to leave Happy Valley....and Okanagan Airways crappy helicopters....

[JimD]

I would have to endure weeks with Canadians who have no sense of humor.Wayne. That remark bordered on funny.

[Venchka]

Grinning.

Y'all do have a sense of humor? :D

[mmd]

Yes. That's why we sent Celine Dion to you.

[Alan D. Hyde]

:D :D

Alan

[Venchka]

Originally posted by mmd:
Yes. That's why we sent Celine Dion to you.TANKS! Open another Keets, eh?

[Venchka]

Originally posted by Venchka:


...What a fabulous summer that would be. Take the ferry from Newfoundland to Goose Bay. Drive to Baie-Comeau.

:D Damn. The ferry no longer runs from Newfoundland to Goose Bay? Shucks. I have to rethink the whole trip. Shrink wrap Elisabeth Grace in bubble wrap? Build a Bolger/Payson stick and goo box boat and sell it before I start home? My brother has a Grumman flatboat and trailer I can have for free. I wonder if one of those could be made to sail? I joking! I think.
:confused: Get a bigger boat and sail from Newfoundland to Goose Bay? Why didn't I quit working sooner? :D

[J. Wellington Wimpy]

Live hywy cam for Goosebay http://www.roads.gov.nl.ca/cameras/sites/goosebay/current.jpg

[ 05-22-2004, 07:22 PM: Message edited by: J. Wellington Wimpy ]

[J. Wellington Wimpy]

the unpaved section is extremely dusty in the summer months, very hazardous to travel behind a large truck, in a trail of dust, practically impossible to pass safely.

and the black flies, hoo boy, the black flies.

[Venchka]

Originally posted by Venchka:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Venchka:


...What a fabulous summer that would be. Take the ferry from Newfoundland to Goose Bay. Drive to Baie-Comeau.

:D Damn. The ferry no longer runs from Newfoundland to Goose Bay?

:D </font>[/QUOTE]This might be bogus. The Government Transportation site lists a 2004 schedule for auto/passenger travel between Lewisporte, NL and Goose Bay, LB.

[Paul Pless]

After reading that, I gotta ask, why are there no gret long distance races in Canada comparable to the Paris-Dakar or the Baja 1000. Sounds like the perfect place for one.

[Venchka]

The pros feel that it is too difficult? :D

Thanks, J.W.W.

[Wiley Baggins]

Thanks for a great story J. Wellington (please excuse me, but I can't include the "Wimpy" after that tale ;) ).

[Bruce Hooke]

Thanks J.W.W. -- that story REALLY paints a picture of what that road is like!

[Venchka]

Surely sailing an open boat to Happy Valley-Goosebay would be easier and possibly safer. I do recall reading about a guy on a large motorcycle with a sidecar who rode the Stewart-Cassiar Highway in B.C.-Yukon before it was paved. Naturally, being on the Wet Coast, it rained ALL the time! Brave soul indeed! :D

Should I ever have the good fortune to visit Happy Valley-Goosebay I will be travelling by ferry.

[Bruce Hooke]

Originally posted by Venchka:
Surely sailing an open boat to Happy Valley-Goosebay would be easier and possibly safer. Hmmmm....the waters you be sailing in would be pretty wild and remote for an open boat. Of course the first European settlers in the area arrived in open boats -- Viking longboats!

[Venchka]

Bruce,

Not seriously contemplating either form of travel. Just thinking out loud after reading the account of the motorcycle trip.

Wayne

[J. Wellington Wimpy]

well .. This is the Targa rally ..



http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/03images/targa8.jpg canadian driver (http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/030918-3.htm)

targa newfoundland 2004 (http://www.targanewfoundland.com/)

[ 05-24-2004, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: J. Wellington Wimpy ]

[B_B]

Originally posted by Venchka:
Grinning.

Y'all do have a sense of humor? :D Nah, up here we got a sense of humour... ;)

Editted to add:
from that picture the road looked fantastic - what 50% of this planet (space wise not population wise) would consider a very well developed road...Iffen you likes long lonely dirt roads, go up the Dempster to Inuvik and catch the barge to Tuktoyuktuk, drop by and I'll buy you a beer :D

[ 05-29-2004, 08:18 PM: Message edited by: Braam Berrub ]