Before our wedding in August 2013 I did a 3 day tour with my groomsman on the KLR’s. Was an awesome trip.
Ready to go. The weather wasn’t the best on Tuesday, but we weren’t going very far. About 140kms to the cabin, about 40 of which was dirt.
We were a little soggy when we got in, but not bad.
Wed morning saw showers with sunny breaks, and a long ways to go on dirt roads before breaking out on pavement again.
On the shore of Red Indian Lake
Crossing the Victoria river
Once we were past Red Indian and we crossed the Exploits, we took the pavement up to Badger for lunch and gas, after which we jumped on the rail bed to start heading back west across the Gaff Topsails.
The Gaff Topsails is the highest point on the rail line, and is almost completely barren. Beautiful country though.
Once across the Gaff we stopped in Howley for some supplies, and spent about 15 min on pavement before getting on an old road that’s a shortcut to Cormack
We stopped in to see Big Falls on the upper Humber River. The Humber is a legendary salmon river, and you can often see salmon jumping up these falls.
We then decided to press on as far as Rocky Harbour for the night. That meant riding after dark, and really showed the shortcoming of my older, first gen KLR compared to the new ones. The headlights suck.
We rolled into town around 10, though, had a bite to eat, checked into a cabin and then went out for a few drinks. Never got to bed until about 3.
The next morning we headed south to Wiltondale where we would pick up the dirt again and head cross country to the Bay of Islands.
Stopped at a snowmobile club shelter.
Old Man’s Pond
Between Bonne Bay and Bay of Islands is all mountains and hills. Very rugged country, and just stunning.
We pulled into Cox’s Cove and had a quick look around.
These two little dolls were selling apple juice, and there was no way anyone could resist their sales pitch. They were simply adorable.
From Cox’s Cove it was all pavement over to Corner Brook, and then out the south side of the Bay of Islands until Benoit’s Cove where we went up over the hill and back on the dirt. This part of the ride was the most real off-roading of the entire trip, with probably 15-20 kms of 1st and 2nd gear only. I didn’t get many pic’s of this, but I should have some vids later.
Beaver dam has washed out the road, so down through the brook, and up the other side
Finally, around 7:30 or so, we rolled into my cousin’s place on Georges Lake.
And here’s the route we took. We didn’t even scratch the surface of the places there is to explore. There’s so many old dirt roads all over the island you’d be years getting to know them all.
A few more odds and ends.
We had a sticker done up for Guy in honour of his rather rotund stature.
Brian had a fine assortment of luggage for the trip
And my bike, despite being 20 years older than the others, did a fine job in ferrying me around. It’s really just the head light that’s a real shortcoming, and my suspension really needs to be freshened up.
A few more odds and ends.
Newfiebullet's Adventures 