Most Remote Road in Canada (1 Of 5) Camped in a Quebec Ghost Town // EFRT S8 Ep20

So I've still got the sharpie from when Carol and I went up to Tuktoyaktuk and we marked our path as we went and a lot of you commented that you liked that, it kind of helped you follow along so I'll do the same thing. We'll keep that tradition going. So on this trip so far we started down here and we worked our way up through Ontario into the north, crossed into Quebec here and then drove another 7 hours I guess up here to Metagami There she goes off with her big backpack and turns and smiles and yeah. We're pushing into the unknown, we're pushing into the wilderness, it is known as the most remote road in North America. Welcome to another episode of The Epic Family Road Trip. Alright so we just pulled into Herbert's and we're going to get some of their famous fish and chips. It's a beautiful day for it. So we're here in Killarney which is a great place to start our trip all the way up to the end of the Trans-Taiga. In the background you see a couple of fishing boats here getting ready to go out. They fish every day for whitefish and perch and all kinds of different species and bring fresh fish to the restaurant here. So it's kind of neat to see the whole operation from the lake to the table. Killarney is another end of the road town, a little village and it's a protected inlet here on the water and on that side is an island which protects it from the big lake which is actually Georgian Bay. It's a huge bay off of Lake Huron so really huge waterways here and this place is famous for motor yachting and sailing and some of the best kayaking up the shore of Georgian Bay. So we're just going to grab fish and chips and then we're going to hit the road. After a delicious meal we took a hike along the shoreline and out to the lighthouse to try out some of the new camera gear we had recently purchased. So pretty out. Pretty cold. We had really warm weather. I think we got spoiled because it just feels really cold I guess I should say. But man, there's no key fob. All the tanks fueled up before we hit the highway. Farther north you go, more expensive gaskets. What do you think, ready to go, find some trails, we're zooming fast. This spot is marked but I saw one back there that was marked as well right on the lake so it didn't. It's two minutes back. We'll just go back. We're going to camp one. Alright, when we're traveling like this, long distances, we use the iOverlander app. I'm sure you've heard of it. And that points out little camp spots that other travelers have found and they leave comments saying if it's a wide open area or a tight area or if they had a good experience there. So this was listed on the iOverlander app and here we are. We're right up the Trans-Canada and probably five minutes off the main road and we're backed up to a beautiful lake. Looks like an amazing quiet spot so we're pretty excited about this. We're going to get a camp set up and make some food and let Lando run. That's the main thing because he was getting a little pent up there at the end. It looks like there's a log cabin up there. I saw that, yeah. The remnants of an old log cabin so it must have been somebody's homestead at one point. Wow, this is really cool. Looks like one of those low cabins without the roof. The lean stuff, yeah. Basically where in the winter you just crawled in there and made a fire. I'm not sure what it was for but it's kind of cool to see. It's still in pretty good shape except inside some of the roof beams have caved in a little bit. I'm going to start kind of taking everything out of the jeeps and repacking it because we kind of don't have the right things in the right jeep right now. And this is kind of unique for us because we're not traveling with a fridge. We didn't have a fridge either when we went to Tatiatak last fall but we'll see how it goes. You can kind of see everything is just kind of laid out there but I will soon make it homey. This is the kitchen and then I have another one that's full of all of our dry goods. I just love them because they end up to be tables, chairs or steps going in and out of the jeep. And this is something new. We just purchased this mattress so we'll see if it will work. Peter and I used to sleep upstairs but this time we're going to put all the gear upstairs when we set up at camp and we're going to be sleeping downstairs. It just makes it easier getting in and out I think. We'll find out. I'll let you guys know how I like it. We have tons of these. I think I went overboard on the mosquito thing. I even have the hat, the sprays and then the organic sprays because I don't like getting my pants melting to me especially when you wear yoga pants. This stuff will totally melt your pants. We'll get dad to play ball with you. Where's your ball? Come on let's go find it. I need everything but your ball right now. Maybe it's on your side. What is that? Ready? I hope he finds it. Yeah. Dan you want to get your camera bag? Is that inflatable? Yeah I guess. I didn't read the directions. That's deflate. Inflate looks like that. Alright so we're just kind of packing and repacking, organizing everything before we actually get on the road. Just one of the things you do always first night of camp is you realize that some things aren't in the right place or where they should be. So while mom's doing that I'm going to be working out some other logistical things and looking up a bit more on this road we're taking. Because it kind of dawned on me when we were driving down the road how remote we're going. And I mentioned in one of the other videos that if you get into trouble at the end of this road you might as well call the International Space Station because you're actually closer to them up than you are to any civilization on the road. So it's a pretty daunting thing to think about so we have to make sure that we have everything we need before heading out there. This is Daniel's birthday present. We've been hiding it from him. It's his golden birthday tomorrow so it's pretty exciting. He's going to be 19 so on May 19th. We figured out how to inflate this mattress and you can buy an electric inflator which we might get at some point but it's quite easy. You actually use the bag so on the bottom of the bag there's a little section here that you clip in. You just hear that clip and then you fill the bag. Just open it up when you get some air in it. Start twisting it up. You'll see it puffs up with air. That's a lot more than you'd be like probably 25 breaths. And then you just squeeze it in. And it's almost full now so I'm not going to squeeze too much in there. But you just do that 5 or 6 times and it's full. Maybe a few more than that. Maybe more like 10 or 20 times. I pre-made some tuna salad. And I think tonight instead of a proper dinner we're going to do more of a lunch style dinner. Just because we're not starving starving. So tomorrow is Dan's golden birthday. May 19th and he's going to be 19. And we snuck in some presents so he doesn't know about that. And I think we're going to find a breakfast place tomorrow morning. Because he is one big fan of breakfast. Ever since he was tiny. He's a connoisseur of breakfast joints all around North America and the world. The other thing is normally we're at Overland Expo on his birthday almost every year for the last 4 years or so. But this year we couldn't make it down. But to everyone who's over there I hope you guys have a blast. It's always such a great time meeting. We get to meet a lot of the people that watch our show and so we're really bummed about missing that this year. But we'll definitely try to catch some other expos. But I think it's going to be a real special birthday for Dan. And we're pushing north tomorrow into Quebec. And to probably get to the base of the James Bay Road. So a lot of exciting stuff coming up. That's going to be quite the birthday. I almost can't sleep because I'm super excited about tomorrow. Good morning guys. We had an amazing sleep here. Super quiet. Beautiful place. It's Dan's birthday today so we're all packed up and we're going to head north. There's a small town about 50 minutes drive from here. And I think we're going to stop and grab breakfast for his birthday and then carry on. We found this really cool breakfast place. And we hope Dan likes it. It's a bit of a surprise. But yeah, I think it's right up his alley. So it's about 45 minutes away. But yeah, it'll be fun. Isn't that cool? That looks yummy. Got some Gillies truck stuff. Happy birthday Dan. No way. This is really cool. That's Steve McQueen. We have of course a lot of tools in Montana. It's in our trailer which we typically travel with. But a torque wrench is what we needed. Some stuff to go with that like an impact socket set. And then a breaker bar. Just in case we have to change a tire. Just because like Dan said, you're about 780 clicks away from the nearest mechanic shop. Once you're way out there past James Bay. So you do not want to have something go wrong. Especially something as simple as a tire repair and not be able to take the tire off. So we just got all the tools for that again. But now we're ready to go. Alright, we're making our turn as soon as the light turns green into Quebec. It's been a while since we've been there. It's a beautiful province and I look forward to exploring a little bit more of it. Alright guys, we're in Quebec. Pretty cool. It's good to be back. I'm glad we're also going to be exploring the far north of it. Yeah, this is all new territory. A little gravel pull off here where we'll make some quick lunch. And then keep heading down the road. Well, it's kind of woodsy. Dad's getting a saw, so that'll probably be more. How many more trees up there? Depends on how far in this is going. It looks like a road up there. Yeah, just walk it. So I don't know if this little trail we took is the actual turn off. It might have been just up there to this dirt road. But we're almost through. Just got to cut one or two more trees and we'll be on this road. Hopefully it leads back to the highway. Otherwise we'll just have to turn around and go back out of here. For lunch, we found this nice spot. So we'll just break out lunch and get back on the road. I'm just looking on Gaia here. Looks like there's a logging road. But if we can't carry on down this road here, it seems to catch that. Which I assume will come back out on the highway. Let's give that a try after lunch. And I pre-made some egg salad for some wraps again. Keeping it fairly simple, but it is delicious. It beats fast food on the road. It's starting to rain. So we just had a delicious lunch. And it also gave us a chance to let Lando stretch his legs. And I think the road ahead leads us back to the highway. Everything here is in French. But ordinaire sounds like ordinary or regular. Sans plomb. I know sans means no or none. So no lead, I guess. Unleaded. We're pretty far north now in Quebec. So in Montreal and more populated places, they speak English fluently. But up here, I think it's straight up French. So we'll see. So they only speak French, but she could get by with, you know, thank you and goodbye. And then I answered in French. Merci. Au revoir. Looks like we just made a transition to dirt. I'm not sure if this is the actual transition on the James Bay Highway. But definitely getting closer to our camp, which I look forward to. Before we started planning this trip, I didn't even know you could actually drive up to James Bay. That whole area was kind of just stuff you learn about in history. Hudson's Bay and James Bay. All the trapping in the early days of Canada. Especially when, I guess, Quebec was first place founded. Way back in the day, it was the Courrier du Bois. The runners of the woods. Taking canoes up all these completely wild rivers. Establishing trading posts and trapping for beaver. And other things which kind of, you know, started a trade in Canada. And made it known as a valuable place. In the beginning, just for the fur trade. And then a place that settlers eventually came. So yeah, it's just a lot of neat history kind of wrapped up in that area. And it's going to be a privilege to be able to drive all the way up there and camp on the shores of James Bay. That's neat. He's probably really happy to run. So sometimes you see a beautiful spot on the app and it hasn't been updated. That must be fairly recent but it says no camping in this spot here, unfortunately. So we'll have to just go up into the old ghost town area up there and find a spot to camp. But it would have been nice to camp right here by the river. This is called the Hurricane River. Beautiful. So we're just driving around up here in the old abandoned subdivision. And it's slowly but surely being reclaimed by the wilderness. But someone did a good job of clearing out all the buildings. It's weird to see sidewalks where people and, you know, kids would have walked going to school. And families would have lived up here. And now everything is gone. So the cake made it to camp in one piece. Super happy about it. So we're going to go and surprise Daniel with it. Today, as you know, is Daniel's 19th birthday. And we're going to be celebrating now that we're at this camp in this ghost town. It's kind of creepy but it's exciting. Daniel was obviously our third child. And after we had Peter, the doctor said we were not able to have any more children. Then Daniel came along. And about three weeks early, he is basically our miracle child. And we're super thankful to have him. And I won't cry. But yes, we love you very much, Daniel. And I hope you're having a wonderful birthday. And you are loved. Let's go give him the cake. Daniel! Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. I'm going to torture you with more. So uncomfortable going under. Danke. Looks good. How do you say thank you in French? Merci, s'il vous plait. I'm staring for that now. Oh no. There you go. Is it yummy? Daniel's birthday cake? Or is it Hamilton's? So we drove up to St. Lawrence. Something we just noticed as we were going out for a walk. We were kind of exploring a bit of the area. Because it's just neat to walk on what looks like a post-apocalyptic road. There's perfect sidewalks that you'd see in any town. Obviously you can see very definite plots of land where people's houses used to be and stores, etc. In this gold... This was a gold town. We yesterday thought either logging or gold. It was actually for gold. And around 1998 all the houses were removed. And whatever citizenry was left at that point moved out. Because I guess the gold deposit had kind of petered out. So it was no longer a viable source of gold in the area. So there's no longer reason to live here. So walking around is actually pretty nuts. Because you can see what 25 years of no humans living in a place... What that kind of looks like. Some of you have been asking what is it like with your first trip without Caroline. Honestly it's only been the first three days. But the first three days have felt like... You know when you take them to school for the first time. And you see them walk away with a backpack. And off they go. It's been neat. Like getting texts from her while we're off doing this. And you know she's full of smiles. And we're showing her what we're doing. But there is kind of that absence. She always made it so nice when we came into camp. Or like say Dan's birthday. She probably would have done something over the top amazing. And that's just who she is. She's very very thoughtful and helpful. So it's been interesting. Because now the boys will go off to bed or editing. And I can hear them talking. But normally we would be hearing Caroline probably talking to dad or the boys. Going over shots. Or you would hear her just scream out from the front seat as she's editing. Because she liked a certain thing that she got during the day. Or she found a place of interest. So that's just you know getting used to new roles I guess. A new chapter of our lives. And the feeling I have is that first week of school where everything is brand new. And there she goes off with her big backpack. And turns and smiles. Yeah. But I am learning a new skill. Or actually I haven't learned it yet. But Pete kind of senior pointed it out to me. Like she used to do a lot of navigating. And you know talking about places that we should go and stop and visit. And so I think I'm going to take that up. And learn that role. And I think it will be exciting. Because I have not mastered that yet. So that will be cool. And yeah. So it is really nice to be back on the road again. Going long distances. Camping. Seeing new places. But man I'm exhausted. We're two, three days into it. And I am so tired. I was saying to Carol. Man when we started this journey. You know seven years ago or whatever it was. I could drive all day every day. We drove you know it wasn't a big deal to go. From Anchorage Alaska to. You know Lance O Meadows Newfoundland. As far east as you can go on the continent. But after spending the whole winter at the lake. And even though we work hard up there. It is quite luxurious and relaxing. So anyway I'm just tired. But I'll get back in the groove. One thing that does invigorate though. Is seeing new places. And I was thinking about overlanding trips in general. You know there's some you go on for the scenery. Like anything out west. In the mountains in BC or southern Utah. And you're just seeing epic scenery. Or New Zealand. Epic scenery around every corner. Some overland trips are for the cultural. Or culinary experiences. Some trips are maybe you know. For the remoteness of the place. And that's kind of the trip we're on now. It's not there's no big mountains. It's just endless forest. But what makes it so special. It's kind of one of those items you know. You want to check off. I've made it to as far as you can drive. In a certain part of the world. It's just an adventure. And a challenge. A lot of unknowns. There's a certain element of danger involved. So there's roads like that all over the world. Which draw us overlanders to them. This one we're on is a. We're pushing into the unknown. We're pushing into the wilderness. It is known as the most remote road in North America. And we're excited to get out there and back safely. And we're excited to take you with us. And in the meantime. We'll see you down the road. Hi Caroline.