QOTD: Is Your Destination… Isolation?

For no reason in particular, your author found himself researching the various attributes and eccentricities of Greenland these past couple of days. Again, no reason. And while Greenland itself is pretty sparse and remote, you can’t actually drive very far from what passes for civilization in that big island sort-of country. Something to do with fjords and glaciers and such.

If you’re looking to really get away from it all behind the wheel of a vehicle, there’s better choices closer to home. And, obviously, further. But maybe you already know that…

This Greenland business came about not long after a TTAC chat room discussion about the most isolated place any of us has ever reached via car. Essentially, the furthest point, by road, from any settlement that appears on a map.

The answers were varied. Yours truly wins on account of being a wandering Canadian who doesn’t easily grow bored. In my case, that point would be either somewhere on the Mackenzie Highway in northern Alberta or in the Northwest Territories, or perhaps that oft-mentioned trip up the Trans-Labrador Highway. Adam pinpoints a spot in the desert Southwest. Our managing editor points to Iceland, with a caveat that, while rugged and remote, the locale wasn’t that far removed from Icelandic civilization. Corey, it should be noted, doesn’t drive anywhere.

Jerkwater, Indiana doesn’t count!

And while all of us expressed regret that we’ve never taken the long road to Alaska, you don’t have to head northwest to find the most isolated piece of roadway in North America. You need to head north by northeast.

The Trans-Taiga Road, a thin ribbon of phone- and gasoline-free civilization pushing deep into the subarctic swamps and forest of northern Quebec, holds the distinction of being the most isolated road in eastern North America, and its terminus is the furthest point accessible by road from any settlement on the continent. As you’d imagine, this driving challenge is something your author finds alluring and irresistible. Maybe GM will lend me a diesel Colorado 4×4… with a truck cap for sleeping purposes.

To get to the end of this road, you’ll probably need that all-wheel traction and, if you’re at all sensible, a supply of fuel and probably two full-size spares. Water, food, coolant and oil, and perhaps a gun would be in order, too, if for nothing else than peace of mind. The road is not paved. To get to this free-of-Twitter locale, one must first drive 452 miles north of Montreal to the start of the James Bay Road, a route that already ranks among the most remote roads on the continent. After some 338 miles on that road, you hang a right and drive another 414 miles to the Caniapiscau Reservoir — an enormous man-made lake from which Quebec and much of New England draws its electricity. Both roads owe their existence to our postwar need for cheap, plentiful energy.

The fishing is apparently great up there, too, but the swarms of black flies could probably carry off a moose.

While this isolated spot is truly remote (462 miles from the nearest settlement), there’s also places called Africa and Asia, large swaths of which host almost no human population. And yet roads exist. Maybe you’ve ventured out into the Sahara before or perhaps plunged into the taiga forests of Siberia in a Lada Niva or atop an adventure bike (note: we’re hoping for a Niva story). Then there’s all-overland Antarctica, where if you don’t let most of the air out of your tires, you’re dead. And that’s no guarantee of safety.

So, B&B — in your many adventurous years on this planet, what’s the furthest you’ve ventured from civilization in a road vehicle?

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]