How far north by gravel road?

T

timtune

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Picking up on the Pickle Lake theme I'm wondering how far north we can ride in Ontario (including gravel). Anyone know how to find out?
 
I believe the gravel continues north of Pickle lake and ends at Windago lake. From what I understand, that's where the ice road begins.
This is based on Google research not actually being up there

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Apparently forty more KM past Pickle Lake are now paved - I was blown away by that Broken Tooth video
 
I believe Weagamow lake, accessible through Pickle Lake is the true "end of the road" and the absolute furthest north you can drive in Ontario from the south - a new bridge was opened in 2017 that extended things up there year round - no more ice road access necessary. It's designated as the "Northern Ontario Resource Road"

If you're headed up there read up on the old residential school up there somewhere on that stretch. Apparently it was abandoned for many years but was in an incredible state of preservation due to the extremely remote location....however reportedly someone is living in the area again however gives "tours" on request. There's some great pictures from adventure riders who have made it up there over the years on the Urban Explorer websites.

I read up on all the above when I was planning the ride to Pickle Lake originally. Needless to say even going to Windigo wasn't in the cards (500km on dirt on a 1000# cruiser wouldn't be ideal no matter how much I don't really mind riding on gravel) so Pickle Lake was the end of the road for us.

It's a long, long stretch up there with no gas. Carrying enough fuel could be a problem - Pickle Lake is the last gas and it's 250KM to Windigo Lake, and I think it's another 125km beyond that to Weagamow. No fuel anywhere along, so you need to budget for 650km worth of fuel on the trip before you get back to pickle lake and gas pumps. You MIGHT find someone willing to sell you gas in Weagamow but I'd expect it to be insanely expensive...and I wouldn't count on it either as people hold onto their gas very tightly up there when it's being trucked in 700'ishKM from the south.
 
MacDoc said:
Maybe


in winter

advrider.com

RIDE all the way to Moosonee, Ontario Canada on James Bay

I see you can ride north and catch a train to Moosonee. Not interested. But I'd like to try to get to James Bay on a road that you can't take a Gold...
advrider.com advrider.com
Click to expand...

Someone should show that video to the guy who got into a huge debate with me here a few years ago that it's harmful to use a motorcycle in the winter because it'll damage the engine.

Edit: Found the thread. Got interesting when "Yodude" (since banned) joined the conversation.
 
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PrivatePilot said:
I believe Weagamow lake, accessible through Pickle Lake is the true "end of the road" and the absolute furthest north you can drive in Ontario from the south - a new bridge was opened in 2017 that extended things up there year round - no more ice road access necessary. It's designated as the "Northern Ontario Resource Road"

If you're headed up there read up on the old residential school up there somewhere on that stretch. Apparently it was abandoned for many years but was in an incredible state of preservation due to the extremely remote location....however reportedly someone is living in the area again however gives "tours" on request. There's some great pictures from adventure riders who have made it up there over the years on the Urban Explorer websites.

I read up on all the above when I was planning the ride to Pickle Lake originally. Needless to say even going to Windigo wasn't in the cards (500km on dirt on a 1000# cruiser wouldn't be ideal no matter how much I don't really mind riding on gravel) so Pickle Lake was the end of the road for us.

It's a long, long stretch up there with no gas. Carrying enough fuel could be a problem - Pickle Lake is the last gas and it's 250KM to Windigo Lake, and I think it's another 125km beyond that to Weagamow. No fuel anywhere along, so you need to budget for 650km worth of fuel on the trip before you get back to pickle lake and gas pumps. You MIGHT find someone willing to sell you gas in Weagamow but I'd expect it to be insanely expensive...and I wouldn't count on it either as people hold onto their gas very tightly up there when it's being trucked in 700'ishKM from the south.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the head's up on gas. A few years back we rode to the bitter end of the Trans Taiga (not the power plant but the fly in outfitters 80 odd kms farther down the road) for the priveledge of buying gas at 10$/gallon. Good thing the KLRs just sip it.
 
danp said:
What was that like? The trans taiga is on my bucket list :D
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Trans Taiga is in Quebec ;) -> The road's northeastern terminus is almost at the 55th parallel north, making it the northernmost continuous road in Eastern North America.
 
I've done the North Road, which is a good starter to give you a feel for it. The gravel is often coarser and looser than gravel roads to the south

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PrivatePilot said:
I believe Weagamow lake, accessible through Pickle Lake is the true "end of the road" and the absolute furthest north you can drive in Ontario from the south - a new bridge was opened in 2017 that extended things up there year round - no more ice road access necessary. It's designated as the "Northern Ontario Resource Road"

If you're headed up there read up on the old residential school up there somewhere on that stretch. Apparently it was abandoned for many years but was in an incredible state of preservation due to the extremely remote location....however reportedly someone is living in the area again however gives "tours" on request. There's some great pictures from adventure riders who have made it up there over the years on the Urban Explorer websites.

I read up on all the above when I was planning the ride to Pickle Lake originally. Needless to say even going to Windigo wasn't in the cards (500km on dirt on a 1000# cruiser wouldn't be ideal no matter how much I don't really mind riding on gravel) so Pickle Lake was the end of the road for us.

It's a long, long stretch up there with no gas. Carrying enough fuel could be a problem - Pickle Lake is the last gas and it's 250KM to Windigo Lake, and I think it's another 125km beyond that to Weagamow. No fuel anywhere along, so you need to budget for 650km worth of fuel on the trip before you get back to pickle lake and gas pumps. You MIGHT find someone willing to sell you gas in Weagamow but I'd expect it to be insanely expensive...and I wouldn't count on it either as people hold onto their gas very tightly up there when it's being trucked in 700'ishKM from the south.
Click to expand...
I hate to be that guy, but from your post it looks like you need 750 km worth of fuel for Pickle Lake to Weagamow and back

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jeff96 said:
I hate to be that guy, but from your post it looks like you need 750 km worth of fuel for Pickle Lake to Weagamow and back

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Click to expand...

No worries, glad someone worked out an accurate number. Google Maps wouldn't plot the distance between Weagamow and Windigo as apparently it doesn't recognize the road, so I was dead reckoning it after the Pickle Lake to Windigo portion that it does recognize.
 
danp said:
What was that like? The trans taiga is on my bucket list :D
Click to expand...
The taiga was good. When you reach the end you are as far as you can get from a city by road in north america (about 700km back to Radisson)
The taiga is so far north that there are no trees to log. So there are no roads that lead off of it. Which means spots to rough camp are quite limited .We ended up camping at a First nations winter hunt camp that was empty at the time. There were a few outfitters along the way so gas was not a problem.
At times the gravel could be a handful. All four of us (all on KLKRs) had a number of "close calls" but none of us went down. About 600km in you come to hydro dam. The outfitter with gas was about 80km farther down some less maintained gravel.
For whatever reason in the summer that area averages rain about every other day. Be prepared.
 
I was just happy to find fuel at the card lock ...don't think I even looked north. :rolleyes:
Trouble enough navigating the gravel in the cardlock on the CBF and was hungry as no food available in town.:coffee:
 
If you are looking for a nice drive far north that you can do in 3 days, look at Abitibi Canyon, New Post Falls and the Little Long Hydroelectric dam. We drove through there last week. Unfortunately we stretched out time to tight and didn't get to see the falls...now I have to go back...
This route is not paved though.
 
I believe there was a story in Cycle Canada Magazine 35 years ago about a guy who rode an Ariel up the railway tracks to James Bay or something in the 1940s or 50s. Quite a feat I would say.

-- If I were doing the Broken Tooth run I would have new tires/tubes delivered beforehand to all the stopping points up there. Also would have a chain, shock seals, studs and brakes delivered to at least two stops. Seems kind of strange that in this day and age there isn't even a decent dirt road running up there, along Hudson's bay to Churchill or something. Tourist value would probably pay for it.
 
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