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The
Trans-Labrador Highway (along with Quebec Hwy 389) travels through one of the most remote areas of Eastern
Canada. What affected me the most on the journey was the staggering emptiness
of the land. Empty of human influences, that is. Very full of
Nature. The silence
hit me whenever I stopped and turned off the car's engine. Mile after mile
of spruce forest and bogs, creeks and rivers and lakes. A big empty sky.
A lonely road. Driving this road feels like an adventure.
The road to Labrador starts at Baie Comeau, which is located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, 440
km east of Quebec City (1216 km east of Toronto). The scenery east of Quebec City is spectacular up
to when you cross the Saguenay River at Tadoussac, on a free ferry. From
that point east to Baie Comeau, it is much flatter.
The road from Baie Comeau to
Labrador consists
of two parts, politically speaking: Hwy 389 through Quebec to the Labrador
border (570 km), and the Trans-Labrador Highway (Hwy 500), which runs from the
border to Goose Bay, Labrador (560 km), for a total of 1130 km.
From a practical point of view,
the highway consists of two parts as well: paved and gravel. And after
traveling the entire route from Baie Comeau to Goose Bay and back on about
1600km of gravel road, you will
never again take paved roads for granted!!
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