July 2000 trip

km305:

Somewhat typical scenery for this area.

Up here the SILENCE pounds at you relentlessly.  It assaults you.  It beats you into submission.  It quells your inner chatter.

Stop the car, get out, close the door.  All you will hear is the odd bird sound and the sound of the breeze, along with a thundering in your head until you shed the noise of driving, along with your own internal noise.

If a vehicle is coming you will sometimes hear it a couple of minutes before it actually reaches you.

km381:

"Relais Routier" is here: Gas, food and lodging are available at astronomical prices.  But it's the only gas on the whole length of the road, so it's a good idea to fill up anyways.

If you're heading north, there's no gas for about 220 km.

If you're heading south, this is the last gas you'll see for 381 km.

And there's nothing else but forest, bogs, rocks, sky, and trees in between, either direction.

km395:

Eastmain River.

You can see from the size of the original channel that this was once a huge river.  Most of its flow has been diverted north to feed the James Bay Hydro project.

km475:

View of a lake in the distance near km475.

There's not very many lakes on this road.

km538:

Sometimes you get a really far view from the top of a hill.

As I mentioned earlier, and as you can see here, this is not spectacularly scenic country in the manner of the Rockies.