5 Wheel Drive: Land Rover & KTM tackle the Gaspé Peninsula

Myself and 2 buddies are setting out on a 5 day run up to Québec, Canada to conquer trek through the Gaspé Peninsula.

Why 5 days? Well we could only get that much time off work + we only really started planning this trip about a month ago

I will be on my KTM 690 Enduro R & Jarek will be in his Land Rover Discovery I, with Ryan as co-driver/navigator.

Departure date is set for 5am 9/16 and we will hopefully return by 9/20. That is if I don't wreck hard, Jarek's Discovery doesn't break down, and Ryan doesn't get eaten by a bear!





"Street" map of our planned route:


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Topo map of our planned route:


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Google Map >


Spot GPS track will be uploaded so you can follow along.

I am trying to pack light as I will be carrying all my own luggage. I am using two Giant Loop bags. The Giant Loop Fandango tank bag and their Great Basin bag. I personally think they make some of the best soft luggage in the market along with Wolfman. Soft luggage will be key on this trip as the going may get tough and tight!

I wear a Klim Traverse jacket & pant as well as their Balaclava. Everything is waterproof and tough as nails.

Almost complete list


GoPro camera and Garmin 276c & back brace as I like to slip discs.


Kilm Balaclava


661 Vapor pressure suit so it feels good when I eat Canadian dirt


Giant Loop Fandango & Great Basin bags

I fitted my luggage tonight. The Wolfman fender bag holds a lot! I have a spare tube, patches, all my tools & Motion Pro tire irons in there! I just hope it doesn't snap my plastic fender off!

The Giant Loop bags are nice and snug. Tank bag has my passport, cameras, wallet and odd and ends I will need quickly. Great Basin bag on the back has all my clothes and camping gear. I know it is only a 5 day trek but I really wanted to over pack and load the bike up to see how it handles. I plan to ride to South America in a year or two so I really want to do some easy short test runs for prep.

Left NJ at 10:30pm. We just got to the hotel now and going to crash a bit before getting wasted at the local bar and fighting some townies.

One piece of advice: Do not blow through the Canadian boarder and then ask yourself "who tripped those alarms." Always go through the long line with the little green light or else you will have a problem on your hand.

Well we made it back to the hotel in Cambletown and are absolutely beat. Thank god we were prepared for the worse. Sand ladders, chainsaw, 3 Jerry cans and one make-shift bridge later and we got back to civilization.

We didn't know what we would get into there as we could only really route our track via google earth images. Some of the "roads" look wide and passable. Other "trails" looks tight and overgrown. We made it about a third of the way. I ran out of gas and took half a Jerry can to fill up again. Jarek was on a quarter tank with no gas station remotely close. He took the last two Jerry cans and we had to head back out of deep woods to one of the major roads on the very south or very north. South won the coin flip.

The one thing we didn't except was some serious bush-wacking. Riding up river beds, climbing over barriers and coming across a washed out bridge about 30 miles in with absolutely no way around and no way of turning around! All 3 of us were uncertain of how to pass. The bridge that was there was half gone and the remaining half was so water logged it sunk when you stood on it. We walked the KTM over and up the embankment. Now for the mighty Land Rover... well, we needed to think this one out and after seeing the old 1950s Ford laying upside down just 50 feet from us didn't give us too much confidence. With chainsaw smoke filling the air around us, Jarek got his lumberjack on and Ryan and I put our Jenga knowledge to work. These trees needed to be long and strong as they needed to support the 8000+lbs Discovery.

I need to leave you all hanging on this one. Bedtime for now. Early morning departure to head home! Full report coming soon this week.

We just got home and everyone is beat. 14+ hour drive takes the life out of you. Here are some shots. More to come this week after a write up.

This sounds like fun. Looking forward to pictures.

From the pics so far and the line; "We just got to the hotel now and going to crash a bit before getting wasted at the local bar and fighting some townies." this promises to be impressive.

This definitely looks like it'll be fun!

Nice RR! Good pics, I especially like the rock pic. Looks like it was a fun trip.

Fantastic looking scenery so far. Looking forward to more ride reporting and photos.

Report coming (man i'm really hyping this up right?) teaser shot!

After a night of heavy drinking in the hotel room and watching off-road video we wake up a tad late, but well rested... and with a slight hangover. No big deal though because all we have to do is drive at a snails pace through the woods right?



We pack up and hit the gas station right away. I fill the bike and Jarek fills the Disco plus the 3 jerry cans… just incase*. We hit the road and come across heavy traffic right away… They have traffic in Canada? In the middle of nowhere? See two of us are from the most populated state and I am from the most populated city in the US so coming across Traffic in the middle of nowhere was very strange. I cut through traffic on the KTM and saw what was going on. Some huge dual-end truck was trying to get off a bridge on Route 132. People were out taking photos and all that. I guess this really only happens once in-a-while in Gaspe. Jarek decided to pick up some canned calamari (sounds gross but damn good the next day when you are starving) at the near by store and Ryan and I chatted is up with a snowmobiler. He was excited to hear about what we were trying to accomplish on this trip.













About 10 mins later we roll up to the trailhead. The excitement builds… will it be difficult? Will it take us only 2 hours? Will we run out of gas? Will Ryan get eaten by a bear? All of these thoughts ran through our heads as we mentally prepped for what was about to hit us.



I started up the hill first to lead the way, though my Garmin combined with my standing up riding style was killing my navigation! haha. I kept trying to look down at my bars to see when the next turn was but I had to watch out for rocks and waterholes. It started to become a maze for me so I let Jarek and Ryan lead as they cashed the whole area of the Gaspe on GPS Kit in their iPad. I highly recommend that app!

Our first obstacle comes to us about 2 miles in. Looks like a giant wall that was built maybe a month ago. It also has a sign written in French next to it. “Chasseurs a l’affut.” Jarek’s Polish wasn’t helping, Ryan’s instincts felt like it was a similar sign we see in the States, “Don’t trespass or we will blow your head off”, and I was just wondering how in hell I was going to get my bike over! What did the sign mean? We thought long and hard about it for 2 minutes and decided we didn’t drive 14 hours to let some sign we don’t understand stop us! So we threw the bike over and Jarek drove the truck over the 10 foot barrier.









“Chasseurs a l’affut.” Means “Hunters on the lookout” or something like that. We figured it out after we got back.

About 100 yards in front of that someone built up a bunch of trees to stop people like us from going over the first barrier I guess. I took a bypass into the woods and Jarek drove over the weak wooded attempt to crush our dreams. At the end of the trail we could see a large opening to a major logging road. But right before we got to it there is a small washed out pipeline. The pipe couldn’t hold the rushing water and the overspill must of wash out everything around it. Jarek and I walked my bike across the giant holes and slippery metal pipe only because it didn't look to pleasing to fall into. He took the Discovery over it as quick as he could because the pipe started to crush under the 8000+ pound load.









Now this is what I was expecting... Long wide open logging trails! We cruise this open pass for a good bit. We encountered some hikers right away who seemed to be a bit scared of us. I was ripping through the long uphills and winding switchbacks trying to get my speedo to hit 70mph. Jarek tried to keep up in his lumbering Discovery, and I could see it in his eyes that he wanted a rip on the old bike









We then took an offshoot and I followed the boys down a long twisted and tight ravine between two hills. As I noticed my Garmin unit dropping elevation numbers like a fighter plane going into a nose dive. I could see the forest growing thicker and darker. It felt like we were heading into an ewok village. Passing signs that read “Danger” and seeing small waterfalls dumping out near by as we come across a nice river. It’s not too deep and looks like fun! The bridge is out that rises 20 feet above it down the way so this is the only way through. All three of us are used to water as we do a lot of Pine Barrens driving throughout the year. He feels at home and doesn't bat an eye as he drives through the axle high water. I on the other hand want to make sure I get the best angle of approach. The water isn’t too deep for me, its just the 10 foot climb out and off camber right hand turn at the top. I saddle up and crank my Scotts Steering Damper to 11… ok maybe 9, pop the clutch and ride in. Now this is a good but amateur move if I can explain. Cranking the damper stabilized me in the water hitting the rocks but not when you need to throw the bars to the right quickly. As I come up the embankment I forget about the nice sharp right hand turn and quickly have to throw the bike down. It’s fine, my bike likes to sleep after a nice dip. We all have a good laugh and are really getting into the trip now. It’s a good mix of trails!

Seems like a great trip. I want some more info on the Disco. Does it really weigh 8,000 lbs? What MPGs? What mods have been done to it?

That Disco is a mean machine. http://njlr.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24

We figured with all that stuff on it packed up it was close to 7000-8000lbs. maybe more on the 7 side.

I was going to drive my Defender up... but then you guys wouldn't have a ride report :)

More like 8,000 in this one.

I picked my bike up and we headed off into the deep canyon. It started getting darker and wetter. I noticed the trails looked to be saturated a lot more as we carried on. Moss was on everything and the trees started to change.











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The trail split up ahead. Motorcycles and ATVs on the left and it looked Trucks had to dip into the river and drive upstream. Jarek told me to go ahead and we would meet where the trails connected. I head up to the left to find out this was not even meant for motorcycles let alone people with two legs! I was pushing and rocking my bike back and forth to get through the mud and trenches. Sadly no photos of this as I couldn&#8217;t even get off the bike to get a photo. I could hear Jarek&#8217;s truck down to the right gurgling through the water. I didn&#8217;t want him to think I was stuck and I also didn&#8217;t want him to need help and I wouldn&#8217;t be there so I think we both pushed through as quick as we could to meet back up.

We came together about 100 yards down the trail. What a relief! It was a nice area that reminded me of something out of FernGully and Avatar. Moss everywhere. Trees holding onto that last big of soil as the waters tried to wash them away.





I had to stop and take a cool Instagram moss photo!












This trail lead us to a bridge that was out. This bridge looked to be out for some time and there seemed to be a water cross to the right. It was a steep right hand turn down a hill into a shallow creek bed with a large uphill out. I learned my lesson from the last time and cranked the steering damper back as this looked like an easy crossing.














Jarek drove through it not problem. I could sense he was really digging this trip right about now and was looking for a good challenge&#8230;


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&#8230;Well he got just that! After a light water crossing and broken bridge we happen to come across another similar situation but this made the previous obstacles look like a walk in the park. Trust me, photos & videos do not do it justice at all. There was a &#8220;rickety homemade, drunken Canadian, half put together something-you-call-it to get over a creek/waterfall bridge&#8221; that was washed out in front of us.





I looked at Ryan, Ryan looked at Jarek and Jarek looked at me with a very perplexed look in his eyes. You see, many of you know Jarek, many of you don&#8217;t. But in all my years out in the bush with him I have yet to see him nervous about an obstacle that is in his way of going further down the trail. He honestly looked very nervous which in turn made me nervous which sent Ryan running into the woods to relieve himself. There was really no way to turn around. The trail was so tight and there was a 50 foot drop on the right with an old car from the 1950s rolled onto its roof. Was this the last person to see this trail? Was this the person that made the &#8220;rickety homemade, drunken Canadian, half put together something-you-call-it to get over a creek/waterfall bridge?&#8221;















I think this was the first time Ryan said to me &#8220;I think we need to turn back&#8221; and I said &#8220;You should have brought walking shoes because its about 30 miles out.&#8221;

The 3 of us pushed the bike over the logs and up the embankment. We looked at the bridge for about 30 minutes before Jarek disappeared behind his truck. Is he walking back? Is he hiding and crying..?

All the sudden 2-stroke smoke filled the air and the smell brought smiles to our faces. Looks like my KTM wasn&#8217;t the only 1 cylinder we brought along! Jarek got his lumberjack on and wasn&#8217;t about to drive 14 hours from NJ to Gaspé to lay up and go home. He started chain sawing down old trees and Ryan and I started collecting all the wood we could get to make this bridge that would have to support 8000lbs. We even got out the sand ladders!















The first attempt wasn&#8217;t good. Ryan was pointing him to the left but Jarek was looking to get his driver&#8217;s side tire on the sand ladder. This was setting him crooked and he had to back up and reposition the passenger side sand ladder for the second attempt. He slowly crawled the front of the Discovery over and we knew once the front was up we were good, because if the rear slipped in then we could at least winch the truck up and out. As the front came up Jarek punched it up the hill and all our worries disappeared. It felt good. Felt like we were making some serious progress now. Nothing was holding us back.... Nothing yet.

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We continued on and we noticed we started to climb up a lot of muddy hills. It was narrow and we followed a trail that hugged the cliff on the right. Climbing out of the ravine mile by mile, the trees started to thin out and we could see the sun break through the pines. We started to see other hills spike up from below. At last we came out. We were on another logging trail and it was mid-day. We were all well beaten and lunch was past due.














We pulled over to scarf down some lunch. Jarek bought some canned calamari earlier in the day and while we stared at it in wonder & hunger we thought it best to try it once we got out to a nearby town. None of us needed to come down with instant food poising for the rest of the night.








After lunch we mostly drove through an enormous network of logging roads and secondary trails. We would cruise some at 70+ mph, while others would lead to dead ends and we would have to head back the way we just came down for miles. It was becoming a little bit discouraging. We felt like we are making good progress towards the halfway point but time after time we were being denied by trails fading into the woods to never be seen again. The GPS devices we were using would sometimes show a path and other times would show nothing.




















The sun lingered over the hills and we could see our shadows growing longer and longer as we tried to cover more ground. Fuel was getting low and we knew we had to break camp soon before the bears and moose ate us! Plus we had 2 bottles of French Canadian wine that was begging to be had.

Got to love the combination of 2 wheels and 4 wheels. Awesome job on the Discovery. Keep it up. Don't know how big of a following this RR has but I'll be passing a link along to some friends.