Virginia / James Bay / North Road / Quebec / Mt. Washington

[zaner32]

This is awesome....

I hope they wait until after my visit to divert the Rupert!

Any payphones around on the North Road? I was starting to think, maybe it would be good to buy a Spot. I was just waiting for a good excuse to buy one anyway.

Love the pictures of the Northern lights.

[RockyNH]

Originally Posted by zaner32

This is awesome....

I hope they wait until after my visit to divert the Rupert!

Any payphones around on the North Road? I was starting to think, maybe it would be good to buy a Spot. I was just waiting for a good excuse to buy one anyway.

Love the pictures of the Northern lights.

Zaner, I love having the SPOT... both from Security and also so family and friends can follow along and see where I am.. They are supposed to come out with an "improved model" in the fall...

I highly recomend it.. but thats my opinion....

[donnymoto]

Spot would have been convenient to checkin with the boss... I mean wife , but I have to say that there was traffic on the North. I started out thinking I would count cars like I used to do on Nevada Hwy 50 where I only saw 8 cars over 290 miles once, but lost count in the first 15 minutes on the North. When I stopped to take photos a couple times people would stop and asked if I needed help. Not to say it doens't have it's slow times, but that road is used quite a lot.

BTW, all the towns there had good cell coverage and several places along the North do as well. James Bay Road, I didn't notice any coverage between Matagami and Radisson, but they've got the SOS phones.

[donnymoto]

The ride from Lac St Jean south was nice although I have to admit after riding the North Road and James Bay, I was a little spoiled. I was told Tadoussac would be a nice place to go so I headed towards Saguenay and rode the "Fjord Road". I'll breeze through these photos to the campsite outside Tadoussac.

I stopped here for info, still can't pronounce the name.



Leaving Saguenay, the only cop I saw in Canada, the entire 1.5 weeks.



Fjord Road, big sleep, I mean sweepers.





Side trip down to a small town, Saint-Basile-de-Tableau.





Tadoussac, too many tourists for my taste but nice coastal town.



Ferry to continue the road south.





Settled down at a very tidy campground. No dogs, no lines hanging clothing, no tarps, nothing attached to trees or fences. I told the guy I wanted to hang my dog wearing dirty clothes on a line stretched between the office and my tent, and, put another line over it with a huge tarp. He didn't get it or maybe it wasn't that funny.



Best bath facilities of any campground I've been to. I kept the tarp snug on my bike, don't want to get kicked out. Rained that night, thunder woke me a few times.



The coast road here reminds me of northern California a little. Fog rolled in with cool temps, warmer inland. Much warmer. Morning on the St. Lawrence.



Rolled around Quebec City, didn't stop there. That will be another trip with Mrs Donnymoto.



The border guard asked me about my tires, how they did on the highway. Asked about the trip and riding. Then let me in. I thought about asking for a photo, but have been in the "penalty box" getting into countries before and don't particularly like it so I don't push my luck.

[Deadly99]

[donnymoto]

So I'm in Vermont and stopped for a Reb Bull. Was hot. Strong headwind. Now feel ready for another 100. Entering the interstate a car was coming up but I saw his speed and knew I could accelerate to merge in front, no problem. Was a very short merge lane. That is, if he hadn't sped up and got right next to me then braked so I had to do some fancy manuvering to get on the clean part of the pavement. This was deliberate. Fuckin asshole pardon my French but have been in Quebec for 10 days ya know.

He speeds up again and I quickly forget about it. 20 minutes later, I see some guy pulled off the side of the road. Tire is blown. He's enraged, kicking weeds, swinging his arms, making quite the gymnastics display. Guess who. I yelled whooohooo as I rode by. He saw me.

He got his Karma. But, would I get bad Karma for yelling at him? I'm now concerned. Should I get bad Karma for enjoying his bad luck?

[RumRunner]

Another James Bay RR , thanks for sharing DonnyM.

For those of you on the fence, make this ride one of your "must do's".

Here is an excellent planning guide for you ...


http://www.jamesbayroad.com/

DW

[donnymoto]

Originally Posted by iDave

The long answer is "Ruh Roh." This could get interesting

I live on the edge...

[donnymoto]

Right on, that's where 90% of my trip planning was done, what an excellent site.

Originally Posted by RumRunner

Another James Bay RR , thanks for sharing DonnyM.

For those of you on the fence, make this ride one of your "must do's".

Here is an excellent planning guide for you ...


http://www.jamesbayroad.com/

DW

[donnymoto]

This is a ride I've wanted to do for a while, was within reach and probably added a half day but I hit it right with good weather. Though record high temps were here in New Hampshire, 65 cool degrees with clear skies met me atop Mt. Washington. Of course "careful" riders and drivers were out in force but I was able to "enjoy" little stretches of road.













Prime parking.



Weather central.





More cairns,





Nice time, Had a snack at... the snack shop then rode down. 2 cruisers were having a race to see who could get down in the most time without putting their feet on the ground. I passed them.

Lodging for the night. Ate mussels across the street that night with a couple of local brews.



Actually it was peaceful and relaxing.



A couple from Quebec stayed there as well. They like to ride a lot. Have KLXs at home. We talked a bit about various things, riding mostly.





The sun sets on a great trip as I return to the Commonwealth. Was buzzing many days after the trip, it's one of those rides I'll never forget. Thanks for the words of encouragement and the inmates who helped me get info and along the way.

[donnymoto]

Campgrounds I stayed at or saw with showers and laundry. I thought all these camps were great:

• Lac Matagami (w beach) KM 37 on the JBR. Fresh, clean water at tent sites. Best I've ever tasted.
• Raddison, excellent place; + kitchen, firewood, power and water.
• Chibougamau looked very nice, south side of town. Not sure of details but suspect it's nice.
• Lac Saint-Jean at Mashteuiatsh (w beach). Plage Camping Robertson. Full facilities plus a food bar with hot food. Excellent swimming.
• Campground off Route 167 on a lake, 70 miles NW of St-Félicien. N49 08.284 W73 35.594. Nice looking sites surrounded by a lake.
• Des Érables La Malbaie Water at tent sites. Most overlook the St. Lawrence. Ultra clean and landscaped.

JBR Campgrounds: listed on JBR website are accurately described except the 'nothing more than a parking lot" description wasn't quite accurate, there were fire rings, picnic tables and pit toilets. My favorite site of the whole trip was described as this, the Rupert River. I heard good things about the Duncan Lake campground.

North Road camping is also listed on the JBR website. I didn't see any of these sites. but assume they're similar to the JBR sites.

SEPAQ. If you see camping that has a SEPAQ sign means you need to call and make a reservation if it's not possible to pay on the spot. I talked with them on the phone and some SEPAQ campgrounds have a host there so you can just show up. I had the number with me so I could just call as reserve as I was setting up my tent, or make note of a few sites I liked and ride out to nearest cell access and call/reserve from there.

I didn't see many opportunities to "stealth camp" since road's ditches are graded pretty aggressively to just pull off into the bush. However arriving late at a picnic area is fair game in my book. (tellem I said it was OK to camp there)

NOTE: There are so many campgrounds in this part of Quebec. I would just ride until I got tired and found a camp area would soon present itself.

[Degerk]

I am enjoying your report but the most exciting things is that according to Google Satellite maps I have been to Nunavut as well. I was in Chisasibi and on the old Fort George Island (via cargo canoe) a few years ago after which I went down to the very end of the Chisasibi road to the extreme point of the land adjacent to James Bay,which according to Goggle is actually part of Nunavut. HOORAY!!

I had always wondered how I would ever get to Nunavut without doing the winter ice road.

[RockyNH]

Don, superb report! You had some great Mt Washington shots. Thanks for sharing the report and photo's with us. Gives me something to look forward to for next season..

[AlanCT]

Outstanding trip and report! This looks quite doable with a road bike too (Concours) - except maybe the North Road portion.

One and a half weeks from start to finish, you say?

[achesley]

Great report and looked like much fun. Thanks for sharing.