We headed out after a yummy breakfast of eggs to order at the hotel. We were soon greeted by this sign. Once again with the moose... Now we have to also be concerned about road construction and logging trucks. Since we traveled on Sunday we did not meet any logging trucks.
There are several dams along this route. Let's not forget that those of us from and in Maine often hear about the power we sometimes get get from the Hydro Quebec power grid. This is Hydro Quebec in action. Manic 2 just outside of Baie-Cameau. This is a hollow gravity dam linked to a generation station.
We stopped at a gas station/restaurant for a quick break. When we were ready to leave there was a fox in the parking lot. He was almost friendly but we weren't. I was a bit surprised by the coloring which had a yellow tint.
I've made a pact with the Moose. Yes, we don't mind seeing them but they are not to be in or near the roadway. We are willing to look for them in the countryside.
So far this is working. We finally did see a moose. There were numerous small "pocket" ponds along this route and in one of them we saw a moose. Folks in both vehicles saw him but no photo proof.
This sign and these high power lines really sums up the days' travel. The road was curvy and hilly. The steepest grade was 13%.
There were several spots where there was construction. This sign means that up ahead there is just one lane traffic. Usually we would come upon a traffic light at these locations. There wasn't much construction actually going on. We think that was also due to it being Sunday.
Here we are lined up waiting for the one way light to turn green. Gotta love optical illusions. The truck looks bigger than the van but I don't think that is the case.
This is the dam at Manic 5. This is the world's highest multiple-arch buttress dam. It has 14 buttresses and 13 arches. This is apparently a very unique design. The dam is 214 meters or 700.2 feet high. The damming of the Manicouagan River created the 5th largest reservoir on the planet filling up the Manicouagan Crater which just happens to be the 5th largest impact crater on planet earth! The crater is ring shaped and the easiest for astronauts to spot from space. It is thought to have been created 210 million years ago.
Along the way at various locations we came across these S.O.S. phone signs.
Then at the designated location there would be a payphone and booth. Someone might find these very handy. I am pleased to share that we had no need to use them even though we have had no cell coverage since leaving Houlton.
Just past Manic 5 the road turned to gravel. We rode on this for many miles, more than 100. Much of it was smooth but not all. Some of it was straight but much of it was curvy and we traveled about 40 mph.
The vistas were beautiful and it was a bright sunny day in the 70's.
The forest initially was of mixed vegetation. Mostly there seemed to be spruce, tamarack, white birch, and alders.
We made it back onto some tar and at this point there was this road flooding. We think that a beaver might have had something to do with it.
There were several locations where it looked like there had been huge forest fires in the past.
We passed markers for the 50th and 51 parallel. I missed getting pictures of both. However, I was driving and I stopped for Allan to get a picture of the 52nd. I would never have imagined that I would ever be this far up the globe!
Before getting to Labrador we arrived at the central Labrador Plateau. This area is boreal forest also know as snow forest or taiga. In this region the forest is dominated by black spruce with an occasional tamarack.
I am remiss in not sharing that there was a huge Alcoa aluminum factory in Baie-Cameau. Here while still in Quebec we came across a huge iron strip mine. We could see it for miles and miles. There was a railroad that served the area and we criss-crossed the tracks multiple times. The road turned back to dirt and it was slow going again.
We have been making and packing our lunches each day and stopping along the way to eat. Today we met up with a tremendous amount of black flies at our lunch break. We had been forewarned but they bit us just the same. We did bring bug spray and will need to begin to use it.
This sign and these flags were our welcome to Labrador. Labrador City is just over the border. We had fine accommodations at the Two Seasons Motel. I asked the clerk which were the two seasons. Her response was winter and last winter. We won't dally in Labrador City.
In addition to the moose and fox we also saw a partridge, chipmunk, and a hawk. We drove 364 miles today.
There was a bar in the hotel. The Mildhogs were joined there by three older fishermen from Nebraska. They were far from "dry" by the time we joined them and they were happy to buy a few rounds. They had flown two hours north of Labrador City and been fly fishing last week. They had lots of stories to tell few of which involved fish. One of them had some bug dope that he swore by but wouldn't share the name or bottle with Lynn.
June 25 - on to Happy Valley - Goose Bay, Labrador
The skinny black spruce here don't grow real close together and often on the forest floor you can see moss and lichen. But where are the caribou who might find these plants tasty?
I was really surprised at how high this grows. I sunk into it 4 -5 inches.
Again today more evidence of a previous forest fire.
On today's ride there were many more large lakes and more rivers. Not far outside of Happy Valley-Goose Bay we descended from the plateau and the trees once again were mixed coniferous and deciduous.
There were no roads in Labrador at the time and few people. The coming of this base had a huge impact on the initial development of Labrador.
We drove past a huge hydro project at Churchill Fall that seems to be expanding. There is some worker housing there. Here in Happy Valley at the hotels and restaurants we saw many company trucks and a couple buses of workers. We guess that there is a work force here that may not include their families.
Currently, all of Labrador has about 25,000 residents. But it seems to be growing. I can attest to the fact that although it is a beautiful area I won't be moving here to this remote outpost anytime soon. There have been plenty of times when I have referred to Down East Maine as being nearly at the end of the earth. Little did I know...
We traveled 331 miles today. The entire road was paved. Yes, the black flies were fierce again today at lunch.
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