Why Labrador?

In less than three weeks I leave for a 2 week solo motorcycle trip to ride the Trans-Labrador Highway.  I'll also be visiting Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Why Labrador?

Four years ago a buddy of mine and I rode our Honda VFRs from New York to San Francisco in an attempt to do it in 50 hours or less.  We didn't make the time but we spend two amazing weeks on the road exploring the west and iconic places like the Pacific Coast Highway, redwood forests, Crater Lake, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.  Living on a bike for two weeks was life changing and I was eager to do something like that again.

When I bought my KLR in 2008 my ultimate goal was to do a similar trip to Alaska and ride the Dalton Highway.  Life and a young son have intervened and the kind of time and money I would need to do such a trip is out of reach right now.  

Almost two years ago I started reading ride reports from other motorcyclists about the Trans-Labrador Highway.  One in particular caught my eye with its description of the Trans-Labrador:

This trip felt to me like it had two distinct parts: the Trans-Lab, and everything else. The Trans-Lab is so epic that everything else sort of pales in comparison. As such, while riding in Newfoundland and especially Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, I couldn't help but compare the experience to the Trans-Lab, and of course it came up a bit short.

...the Trans-Lab portion of the trip was just so astonishingly magnificent that it really would have been hard for the rest of the trip to compete.

Labrador has a draw. There's something about that place that captures the imagination. All I want to do is go back.

It would be Labrador then.  Real planning started in September 2010 after a discussion with a friend who also wanted to go.

Over the last 9 months I've read everything I could find on Labrador and Newfoundland, including books and ride reports on ADV Rider.  I pieced the route together into a 3,200 mile clock-wise rotation:

 
The immediate draw is the ride through Labrador, which is almost 600 miles, a majority of it on gravel roads and nearly all of it in pristine and remote wilderness.  There's one section that is 260 miles of gravel with nothing in between: no towns, gas, restaurants, houses, nothing.  Being born and raised on the east coast that blows my mind.  That's like going from NYC to Washington, DC!

The topography and geography is interesting too.  According to one book I have, the glaciers only receded from Labrador 10,000 years ago.  The land is essentially untouched since with the exception of several outpost towns.  Where else but Alaska could I see that?

But there's much more:  the Manac 5 Dam in Quebec, one of the largest in the world:

The Manicouagan crater, the fifth largest crater in the world: 

Newfoundland has L'Anse aux Meadows, a Viking settlement from 1000 AD.:

Grose Morne Provincial Park:

 
and the Western Brook Pond:

and then the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia:

I leave on August 19.

Next:  Bike Prep