Jul 29, 2017
Caniapiscau Regional County Municipality, QC, Canada
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Caniapiscau Regional County Municipality, QC, Canada
Where the Road Ends: Chibougamau, Quebec
We went for a drive today, and we began to think to ourselves - where do we get to if we keep going? Normally, we're fantasizing about going due West for a bit and taking in some sunshine in California, but today, we were driving north, and we started to wonder - how far could we go from New York if we just kept driving north, and we didn't want to jump on a ferry or a snowmobile or anything like that? The answer, it turns out, is the Caniapiscau Reservoir in Quebec, which is part of a massive hydro-electric project in northern Quebec and about a thousand miles from hopara central in New York. The closest town has the very awesome (and somewhat unpronounceable) name of Chibougamau, which is four hours south of the road's terminus. This got us thinking... what exactly do you do this far north (in reality, it's not that far north by Canadian standards - it's about as far north as Calgary, which, come to think of it, is pretty darn cold in the winter).
It turns out that there's a lot more than we would have expected! So, yes, you can go on a tour of the hydroelectric plant (whoopee! Look, there's a turbine! And there's another one!). But you can also do what we think looks like the coolest sport we've never tried - paraskiing (apologies for the site that's all in French, but it's the best information we found up there. Hooray for Google translate)! In this sport, you attach a giant kite to yourself and use that as your propulsion to ski across lakes and the flats. Trying this might be worth the drive! There's also a whole host of other winter activities (heck, there are three places in town to get your skates sharpened), as well as a lot of hunting and fishing in the area - this is where a lot of fur comes from. There's also canoe trips down their wild, untouched rivers as well as antique snowmobile races (we have to question the wisdom of being on an antique snowmobile in this kind of weather, though).
Obviously, with a thousand-mile drive (ok, it's only 800 to Chibougamau), we're going to need a place to crash. There are three B&Bs in town in addition to a few larger hotels and some cottages on the lakes. As for food... well, we couldn't find a credible review on any restaurants in town (and the ones that we found were less than inspiring). Our guess - and if you've been there, let us know - is that you're pretty far from the food chain up in Chibougamau, and you're best off ordering things that you know they can do locally. That means light on veggies and grains, and heavy on fish and game. If we do this drive, we'll let you know. Oddly, this is the first time we've thought about Quebec and we haven't been excited about food - maybe we've just been spoiled by poutine for too many trips up north!
Lac Pau, Caniapiscau, QC
Caniapiscau is the last dam I will encounter. It has aggressively transformed the land into many strange things, including a reservoir nearly thrice the size of Connecticut, my home state.
Carved-out island within a reservoir. The rock innards of this former hill holds the water back.
During the damming of this region, it was not known that a naturally occurring and harmless form of mercury in the soil would be converted by bacteria to deadly methylmercury which is associated with birth defects and numerous neurological disorders (Maxwell et al., 1997:24).
Maxwell, James; Lee, Jennifer; Briscoe, Forrest; Stewart, Ann; Suzuki, Tatsujiro. "Locked on course: Hydro-Quebec's commitment to mega-projects." Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 1997.
Fish account for a full quarter of the traditional Cree diet. Mercury toxicity undermines this food source, forcing reliance on to the store bought groceries currently connected to an increase of heart diesese, obesity, and diabetes. One study found that 64 percent of natives tested with unsafe levels of mercury poisoning (Maxwell et al., 1997:24).
Maxwell, James; Lee, Jennifer; Briscoe, Forrest; Stewart, Ann; Suzuki, Tatsujiro. "Locked on course: Hydro-Quebec's commitment to mega-projects." Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 1997.
Deep passes cut through hills enable centralized control over the water. No fences are needed around this ledge because people are not expected to go here.