Seeking Route Suggestions: Quebec & Ontario Canada

[Deltamark]

Greetings Group,

 

My wife and I are going to leave this weekend on a ride and head east from northwest Ohio. Thinking about going through New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and into Maine. On the way back, we'd like to visit relatives near Traverse City, Michigan and are considering going back through Canada. Anyone ever ride Provincial Route 17 to Sault St. Marie? Is it nice? My other thought would be to go through lower Ontario (partially on 401) and enter Michigan at Sarnia / St. Clair. Or should we just drop the whole idea and go to the MOA in Wyoming? In any case, we have two weeks total to get back to NW Ohio. The infinite wisdom of this group is always appreciated!

Mark

[Albert]

We did the section of 17 from around Sudbury to Ste. St Marie last year. It is a pretty desolate section of highway (2 lane) with a whole bunch of logging trucks. It was somewhat overcast when we were there so "picturesque" may depend on that too. I had hoped the road would be a bit more coastal along the top of Huron but that's not the case.

 

I'd be tempted to come across southern Ontario and cross at Port Huron. You could cross the interior of Michigan or follow the coast along Lake Michigan. We found hwy 25 to be quite nice if you've got the time to loaf along. Since you're going to be that close you should probably take a jaunt up to Macinack to the bridge and maybe stay a couple of days in Mac City. Plenty to do and you can park the bikes and walk to most of it. Have fun, I wish I had your dilema.

[Traveler]

Riviere Du Loup ferry up the river to Lake St Jean! From there go to Chisasibi via Radisson. Plan ahead if you don't have 200 mile fuel capacity! Then ride down to the Souix along Rt17 along the coast. Don't forget Wilderness State Park just across the bridge! You will remember the ride for the rest of your life. The Lac St Jean ride is in this months Rider Magazine. I did this ride on the way up to Labrador in '06 and it was as nice as the rest of the ride.

[Albert]

I should have added, we went up central Ontario to Tobermory. From there you can take a ferry (around 2 hours) up to Manitoulin Island and a bridge back onto the mainland. Lower Ontario was nice and Tobermory was nice for a night.

[Deltamark]

Thank you Albert. I was thinking this might be the case. I appreciate the info!

 

We did the section of 17 from around Sudbury to Ste. St Marie last year. It is a pretty desolate section of highway (2 lane) with a whole bunch of logging trucks. It was somewhat overcast when we were there so "picturesque" may depend on that too. I had hoped the road would be a bit more coastal along the top of Huron but that's not the case.

 

I'd be tempted to come across southern Ontario and cross at Port Huron. You could cross the interior of Michigan or follow the coast along Lake Michigan. We found hwy 25 to be quite nice if you've got the time to loaf along. Since you're going to be that close you should probably take a jaunt up to Macinack to the bridge and maybe stay a couple of days in Mac City. Plenty to do and you can park the bikes and walk to most of it. Have fun, I wish I had your dilema.

[Deltamark]

Riviere Du Loup ferry up the river to Lake St Jean! From there go to Chisasibi via Radisson. Plan ahead if you don't have 200 mile fuel capacity! Then ride down to the Souix along Rt17 along the coast. Don't forget Wilderness State Park just across the bridge! You will remember the ride for the rest of your life. The Lac St Jean ride is in this months Rider Magazine. I did this ride on the way up to Labrador in '06 and it was as nice as the rest of the ride.

 

Thank you Traveler! I am looking into this route. Hmm, guess I'd really need to take my French phrase book!

[Traveler]

Don't worry about your French. Be friendly and they will be too. Awesome people. Expect to be invited to go fishing! They, for the most part, all speak English enough to get by.

[JTWright]

If you pass through Montreal, take I 15 north and get on 117 whereever you want. It'll give you some great views of mountains, some cool towns and good riding.

 

Some of our roads are in pretty rough shape.

 

This summer Quebec City [Quebec to the natives] is celebrating it's 400th annaversery and there are lots of neat things to see and do there - check the website for your travel dates. It's a two and one half ride by freeway and four hours via the scenic route.

 

NASCAR has it's "only street course" race in Montreal on August 2 if you like that kind of stuff

 

We find that the further we get outside the city the less English is spoken. My SO speaks French so we do ok. As previously mentioned, you can get around fine without it. Some traffic instructions and directions take a bit of concentration, but not much.

 

Our avatar says Tryon, NC, but we are residents of Montreal.

[canoehead]

If you do wind up going across the top of Lake Huron, you might want to consider a side trip into Killarney just south of Sudbury. The scenery is great and there's an excellent fish and chip shop on the docks in the town. I'd recommend budgeting some time to go for walks in the park. The rocks are glacier polished some pink, some white quartzite and the water is crystal clear. One of my favourite places in the province.

 

As for traveling in Quebec, you probably won't need a phrase book as mentioned but you do need to pay extra caution with the drivers. We've had some awfully close calls there as they drive with considerable disregard for rules of the road.

[Selden]

Riviere Du Loup ferry up the river to Lake St Jean! From there go to Chisasibi via Radisson. Plan ahead if you don't have 200 mile fuel capacity! Then ride down to the Souix along Rt17 along the coast. Don't forget Wilderness State Park just across the bridge! You will remember the ride for the rest of your life. The Lac St Jean ride is in this months Rider Magazine. I did this ride on the way up to Labrador in '06 and it was as nice as the rest of the ride.

 

That looks like quite a ride. Is the road between Radisson and Chisasibi paved, or at least well graded? Looking at Google Maps and Google Earth, I don't see any obvious roads west or south out of Chisasibi; it looks like you have to double back toward Radisson, then head south along the Route de la Baie-James for a long way through some pretty empty country.

[Traveler]

The road is paved all the way to Chisasibi! Great too! Middle of nowhere more than the road to Alaska. Awesome! There is about a 1/2 mile bit of gravel from the Indian Reservation at Chisasibi to the waters edge of James Bay. Brave the gravel and drive right onto the beach and get a picture. It is awesome. If you make it to the ferry, you went right when you should have gone straight to the bay. Keep going, you are almost there!