Is This The End? // EFRT S8 EP 23

This evening finds us about 450 kilometers into the Trans-Tiaga road in northern Quebec. Last night's camp was the last of the official maintained camping spots on the route. So we set up camp on a small side trail off the main road that leads to a nearby river. We had eaten a big lunch a couple of hours ago at the Mirage Outfitters, so we decided to skip dinner and just relax and enjoy the solitude and beauty of the wilderness around us. As night fell I became hungry and decided to make a late night snack. So far on this trip we have seen at least a half a dozen black bears, a Canadian lynx and a gray wolf. So I make sure to clean up carefully and keep the scent of food to a minimum. So yesterday we passed the 350 mark I guess kilometers of Mirage Outfitters and we noticed a distinct difference as soon as we got past there. The road narrowed and there was no traffic whatsoever and it is really, we're now really getting into the wildest part of this road. We found a beautiful, it's not a campsite, it's just beside the the main Trans-Tiaga is just over that little hill. This is a little side road that goes down to the river but it made for a wonderful camp spot for last night. Very, very quiet and I think because we're so far north the sun barely sets. It comes up at like it's bright daylight by 4 30 in the morning and the birds are singing tremendously. So yeah we really enjoyed our time here. The other thing is we saw our first mosquito today so I think we're just beginning mosquito season. So we'll let you know how that all goes. Alright so we got a bit of rainfall, just a light drizzle so far but it's actually a welcome gift because these roads are really dusty normally and it's still pretty dusty right now but with the rain we're kind of hoping that it'll pack down some of the dust so that we can maybe you know speed up a little bit and make some more ground today but we'll just see what the weather does. It's a beautiful drive though this whole area is just amazing. At this point we haven't seen any traffic since early yesterday and with clear views of the road ahead we decide to slow down and let Lando out to stretch his legs. He lets us know when he is beginning to tire. He will usually look back a couple of times and slow his pace. At that point we let him jump back into the jeep so we can resume our pace. We finally reached Brisset at the 582 kilometer mark where the road splits to the right and left. To the left we see a sign that says Quebec hydro station closed to the public so we turn right. From our research we understand that it's only 84 more kilometers to the official end of the Trans-Tiaga and that this last stretch is a lot more narrow and rougher than we've traveled up till now. Well right now we're just looking for a camping spot along the road here because we're not too too far from uh the end of the road the end of Trans-Tiaga but um we're probably gonna find a camp like I said and then uh head out to the end tomorrow so that we can really enjoy because I think we're all pretty tired and it's getting later so yeah we'll see what we can find. The whole area is beautiful we've been passing lakes and rivers so wherever we end up camping it'll probably be really nice. All right so we ended up finding just a little pull off on the side of the road still in a really beautiful area we're surrounded by lakes but um mom and dad went a bit further ahead and there wasn't anything better than this spot so we'll camp here for tonight and then head on to the end of the road tomorrow. It's always nice to have a lot of freeze-dried meals just because they're so quick and easy and they're not really that bad you have to live on them for a long period of time I can see how they become tiring but as the odd meal here and there on a trip it's actually pretty good. What are you having tonight? I think it's some kind of lasagna. I believe it's the same thing I made last night I don't know if it is I couldn't even see in the dark when I was making it. So it's different to be so far away from any town or people we haven't seen any vehicle oh we saw one this morning and then that was it and now the road is getting a lot more bumpy a lot more kind of not so maintained but yeah it's amazing how vast this wilderness is it just blows your mind out just keeps on going and going and so it's really neat to be out here and it's the nights are super quiet so it's nice we heard some wolves the other evening that's kind of a special thing to be able to hear when you're getting ready for bed the farther we got out here the more ice was on the different lakes and that was super pretty the heater's kicking in so the temperature must be getting colder. It's a chilly wetland today. Very cold and windy. We got some coffee going. You can see why the lakes are a lot of the lakes are still frozen up here and you see patches of snow everywhere because it's uh it's chilly. We had a guest this early early this morning around what four four thirty? Earlier than that it was before the light it was around three. I went outside to use the facilities and right behind me probably 10 paces was a big wolf. I slowly pulled out my phone to see if I could capture it and I got a blurry video but he was just looking at me and then he turned around and trotted down the road. All right so this morning is really really windy so we're doing some shakes or a peanut butter and honey sandwich. So Lando's barking away because we had a wolf come into camp early this morning and so I think he smelled it around here somewhere but yeah so we're gonna get packed up and continue down the road. We're about two and a half hours from the very end so that's exciting and it looks like the sun is gonna start peeking out which will be great. This is just beautiful moss and lichen. The colors are insane and it's just so soft. All right so we just sat down camp and it's a windy one this morning but the sun keeps on peeking out so that's really good and like we said earlier this morning we're about two hours away from the end of the road. Sorry my nose is running. But yeah there's a nice quiet night and a bit windy but it kind of puts us to sleep the wind. So let's head on out. This is where we were camped. Nothing too special tonight but we did have a neat front view. You can see that just across the road there, beautiful. There are so many different lakes just everywhere, every corner and turn is another lake. All right we're back on the road heading to the end of the Transdaega but we had a pretty rough night last night and it was really rainy and windy but some of the rain got in through my half open window so my mattress and stuff is soaked but we're all good now in the warm jeep and we're about to complete the task that we set out to do which is reach the end of Transdaega but that being said the journey is far from over we still have to make it all the way back on the same road safely so it's nice to know that we're almost to the end and but we still got a long way to go. Have you seen God in his splendors? Heard the texts that nature renders? You'll never hear it in the family pew. The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things. Then listen to the wild. It's calling you. They have cradled you in custom. They have primed you with their preaching. They have soaked you in convention through and through. They've put you in a showcase. You're a credit to their teaching. But can't you hear the wild? It's calling you. Let us probe the silent places. Let us seek what luck betide us. Let us journey to a lonely land I know. There's a whispering on the night wind. There's a star, a gleam to guide us. And the wild is calling. Calling. Let us go. We've done 582 to the end right and then another 84 brings you to the end of the Transdaega. But and we've gone 84. The last sign was 86. And then but this trail goes on forever. Should we just go like this a little bit you guys can wait here we'll go up and see if we can see something over the next hill and if not we've done the full Transdaega. I don't know about the other uh you guys can finish it in the place. All right we are at kilometer 90 since the end of the official Transdaega when then the road cuts off and it starts a new countdown of kilometers and they said another 84 kilometers to the very end which we've gone. We're actually now at the 90th kilometer. I don't know um we either we have something wrong or we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. I don't know but we're all getting starting to think about fuel and fuel rationing and making sure we have enough to get all the way back to the the next fuel station which is way back at Mirage Outfitters. We don't have as much fuel as we thought and so we've got to pretty much turn around at this point. We're going to see as far as we can get. We might end up towing them the last 100 kilometers or so. But one thing we know is we're as far as you can get from civilization by road and that's uh it's a neat feeling but it's also very daunting if you break something you know that you can't repair you're in big trouble out here. So we're going to take our time. We're going to go carefully and we're going to start heading out. So we went to the 90 kilometer mark and uh turned around. It seems to go on forever and we don't know if maybe we took a wrong turn at the end of the actual Trans-Saiga and they should have gone the other way. But in any case we've gone farther than the actual you know road and the 745 kilometers away from town. We might just be on a hunting trail so I don't feel bad uh you know about turning around at all and we've got to we need to use our fuel properly. When you run when you're low on fuel you got to make decisions right? Especially out here. Especially out here yeah. We are so far we haven't seen a human being in two days and we've been driving so it's just crazy. So let's uh make some lunch right here and uh get some batteries and figure things out. Looks pretty good. Oh that's hot. What are you eating there Pete? This time it's pork jambalaya. Pretty good. How about you dude? Shepherd's pie? How is that? Good. That's a Quebec company eh? Happy Yak. Yeah it's good. I think it's uh maybe a bit too much water. Become a soup. Shepherd's soup. Yeah. All right so while they're grabbing a bite to eat back there I set up the Starlink to try to get on maps and see get a better view of what's going on here where we are and according to the map the end of the road was back there about 10 kilometers at the 84 kilometer mark and um I've watched some videos of guys who have come up here and they got to that point there was a gate across and they could see a trail going on and there was no gate this time or maybe it was up and we didn't notice it but uh we we're on that trail so it it looks to us based on what we saw that we're quite a ways past the end of the Trans Taiga and we're still going on so I think we made the right move in turning around. Now if we had tons of spare fuel tanks on top of the Jeep it'd be fun to keep going because it goes on and on in the wilderness here so maybe next time. The boys are already planning to come with their bikes and bring lots of extra fuel. Once we got back to the junction at Brisset we realized that we should have turned left in order to end up at the official end of the Trans Taiga. At this point we had been noticing an issue with Vandy. The engine would sputter occasionally almost as if it were low on fuel but the gauge still indicated half a tank. We began to speculate that maybe the gauge was wrong or there was some kind of air lock in the system. Maybe the fuel pump was beginning to fail? In any case we filled up our tank using the 10 gallons available in our fuel caddy. So we're pumping the auxiliary and we're at a quarter tank so I think we're gonna do we're gonna have just enough to make it to the gas station now which is good. We began to head back towards the fuel station at Mirage Outfitters. Even though we didn't stand on the dam overlooking the reservoir at the end of the road we did travel six kilometers further than we set out to. We felt a great sense of accomplishment. We think perhaps in the fall when the larch trees are in full color a trip back down this road on our adventure bikes would be the perfect opportunity to turn left at Brisset and take the so-called official route to the end of Trans-Taiga. But for now our goal is to try and get back to where we can fill up our tanks with fuel. Uh we're at 66 probably 364. We're going in on fumes but uh and we're so close now the last 10 kilometers I could I could tow them in there. We have tow straps but we made the right decision to turn around when we did. Otherwise we'd be way out in the middle with no fuel and that's not good. There's the Mirage resort where there's fuel and there we are coming in. All right we made it and it's sure nice to be putting the fuel back in the machines for our next leg of the journey. Well uh I think we're all kind of heaving a sigh of relief now that we're filled with gas. We also picked up some food so we're all feeling good and happy and heading down the road. Um it's kind of nice now that we had that rain like I mentioned earlier there's a lot less dust so then we can kind of pick up the speed and make some more ground today. But the sunset right now is beautiful and since there's so many lakes in the area every hill you come over it just kind of reflects off and it's very um very beautiful scenery. But we're heading to one of our earlier camps uh where we one of the earlier camps by the waterfall which was a really nice spot so I think we're all kind of looking forward to getting in there and just having a cozy night. But uh that was just a pretty intense situation with gas we had no idea how it was gonna work out but now that that's all over we're all just happy and relaxed. All right so we made it back to the same camp by the river which is nice it's about uh 10 p.m now so it's a pretty long day of driving but we made it and uh yeah looking forward to a good night's sleep. So we've done it uh we are back to where we aired down the tires and uh that is a long drive um I had no idea I mean you know it's going to be roughly 750 kilometers but um it's so varied and it's all dirt and you go from a kind of a wide road and then when you get to 350 clicks it narrows down it gets more wild and you don't see anybody and then it gets even down to just two track uh trail almost near the end and at that point you haven't seen anyone for days so. Join us next episode as we work to overcome more fuel issues with Vandy on our 1,200 kilometer 745 mile journey back to the cabin. Well then today like we just got on the highway here our we've been going for like an hour or so and then it died we had to pull over it's just weird it's not uh I don't think it's reading accurately either the actual stock tank or something to do with uh that air lock might be causing this it's just not uh not the best thing It's like civilization now huh? What's that behind you Dan? Lando, did you have a fun trip? So we were here about a week ago or so and um I found an antler down around this pond. Oh boy a moose antler, massive one. And then I saw this odd shape I didn't know what it was so I asked you know the boys and Pete what if it's something like sacred you know or something like that we just couldn't figure it out what it would be there for I'll I'll just leave it here because it looks like a ceremonial uh display so but it's pretty neat always gets your heart pounding. Later as we kept driving and I left the antler there not knowing um we kept on seeing them everywhere around all the ponds and come to find out um it is for like hunting ducks or geese and things like that so I'm came back here and I'm gonna go and see if it's still sitting here if not well at least it was a cool find but if it is here it'll be really cool so it's an old one but it was beautiful so let's go see.