Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour to Radisson/James Bay week of August 5?

Motorcycle Mike

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
As the title states, I am looking to do a trip up to Radisson, Quebec and the James Bay during the week of August 3rd to 11th.

I intend to stay in hotels/motels in Matagami and Radisson, but will bring a tent/sleeping bag/food and spare fuel just in case.

I figure it will take 4 or possibly 5 days to do this trip and I am off work from the 3rd to the 11th. Day 1 could likely be Toronto to Matagami, Day 2 Matagami to Radisson, Day 3 Radisson to James Bay and back and checking out the area, Day 4 Radisson to as far South as our endurance allows, Day 5 (if necessary) to home.

I will be riding a Vstrom and plan to carry about 2 gallons extra fuel in rotopak.

Anyone interested in such a ride?
 
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I've always wanted to do a trip to Chisisabi. Ill check my schedule.

I'm not down for camping, and I doubt I'd bring extra fuel as my bikes range is just above 400kms
 
Working the 3rd & 4th but Monday 5th to the 11th could work. When would you want to confirm?
 
stevie t said:
Working the 3rd & 4th but Monday 5th to the 11th could work. When would you want to confirm?
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I'm pretty flexible and would be fine with leaving on the 5th.

Now, you guys that are thinking about going on the ride... would you be into sharing a hotel room (two double beds and/or sleeping bag on the floor) or would you be expecting separate rooms? I'd prefer to share a room to save some cash, and I am also not sure how many available rooms these far northern hotels would have available.

From google, I can only find one hotel in Chisisabi but about 6 or so in Radisson.

I was even considering doing this trip alone, but obviously having at least one other rider would be safer. So, if any of you can get the time off work, let me know and lets go for it.
 
Did that a couple of years ago - you may be taking too much time.

You can slab at high speed and hit North Bay by noon or earlier. Then it's 564 km to Matagami - it's not a horrid single day trip as the first part is fast.
We did it earlier in the year tho so had longer days. 960 KM I think to Matagami from Sauga

You will likely need gas - there is one section 368km between stations.
There is a thread here somewhere with pics

Rouyn-Noranda is another potential stop and there's a good AL Van Houte coffee place to stop for a break and wifi. Accommodation is not cheap up that way.

I'd get to Radisson ( not much to see ) then cruise back to Rouyn-Noranda and loop east on the TransCanada down through Quebec and then across through Ottawa and home given the time you have.

I'd suggest not staying in Chisisabi - your bikes are vulnerable to gangs of kids - you would need to store them in a lock up according to the local tribal police guy.
If you do go - the road out to James Bay is heavy loose gravel from Chisisabi to the water.

The road from Radisson over thos is very nice - had a wild ride to beat the sunset ( caribou, moose etc ) and the sun was behind us....we boogied.

There is only one hotel in Radisson afaik so call ahead. Might get cold that time of year - you are pretty far north so layer up.
Good thing is you won't have as many bugs.

I might be interested in going as far as Noranda then heading east into Quebec - I'll watch the thread. 2 Ltr likely not enough spare - I think I have a bigger one if you want to borrow. I just stuck it in an old tank bank and strapped in on the pillion.
 
I'm good with economy, sleeping bag is fine, like macdoc sz, dusk to dawn brings out the road critters, so I would stick to daylight hours for riding. Camping is ok, worry about bears though up there. Would probably look into an epirb, just in case.

Seems there is a campground in Matagami on the lake.
 
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I did this trip about three years ago. We camped rough along the JBR. Although we were careless with food and saw scat we never saw a bear.

The dam tour is well worth doing but needs to be booked before you leave - it's free and seeing the Giant staircase is amazing.

The JBR is frost heaved and the constant but irregular thump thump thumping is annoying for 600kms each way. After Radission you head a bit farther north and west and actually get to the coast of JB. I felt obligated to to taste it's brackish water.

If you take the 100km gravel road detour (one way) to East Main as we did you can see the well preserved gravestone of Mr George Gladman who was buried almost 200yrs ago. One of the 3 in our group was his 4-5x Great grandson. Hence the reason for 200 kms of gravel on sport bikes. Mr Gladman ran a Hudson bay trading post and the town grocery/everything store still incorporates a part of it.

We took extra gas cans because you need to span 387km between gas stops, however when we went, there was a temporary gas station set up to facilitate building a new mine so we didn't need to use the jerry cans.

On a sad note the jr Gladman had to abandon his Ninja on the way up the JBR. He pulled over with a small fire he managed to extinguish but after it made a horrid clunking. It was a 1987 with north of 100k on the clock so he paid a fellow at the major rest stop 50$ to trailer it off the road and see it into a dumpster. It wasn't worth the gas money required to fetch it with a truck - trust me he did the math. But being a diehard he spent 1600kms riding pillion before buying a bike in QC on the way home.

All in all a good time. I recommend the trip highly.
 
I don't want to stay in Chisisabi, I just want to see James Bay....maybe even touch the Arctic water. (I'd also love a chance to see the Northern lights)

I've wanted to do this trip for years, but didn't want to do it solo. It's much too "out of the way".
...again, my bike regularly does 375kms before the fuel light comes on....then I have an extra 40-50kms before empty. I'd bring spare fuel as peace of mind.

I don't mind sharing hotel rooms, though I'd prefer not to have to spoon with any of you fine gentleman at night.

dirtbag said:
On a sad note the jr Gladman had to abandon his Ninja on the way up the JBR. He pulled over with a small fire he managed to extinguish but after it made a horrid clunking. It was a 1987 with north of 100k on the clock so he paid a fellow at the major rest stop 50$ to trailer it off the road and see it into a dumpster. It wasn't worth the gas money required to fetch it with a truck - trust me he did the math. But being a diehard he spent 1600kms riding pillion before buying a bike in QC on the way home.
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FAAHHHHHKKKKK.......that's rough....and a big fear. Being so far away,
 
slowbird said:
I don't want to stay in Chisisabi, I just want to see James Bay....maybe even touch the Arctic water. (I'd also love a chance to see the Northern lights)

I've wanted to do this trip for years, but didn't want to do it solo. It's much too "out of the way".
...again, my bike regularly does 375kms before the fuel light comes on....then I have an extra 40-50kms before empty. I'd bring spare fuel as peace of mind.

I don't mind sharing hotel rooms, though I'd prefer not to have to spoon with any of you fine gentleman at night.



FAAHHHHHKKKKK.......that's rough....and a big fear. Being so far away,
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I'm all for going to the end of James Bay Road: https://www.google.ca/maps?q=53.973...&spn=0.103013,0.248909&num=1&t=m&z=12&iwloc=A

and just staying in Radisson, but I can't find recent info on this road's condition. Wikipedia and jamesbayroad.com think the road ends just past Radisson, but google earth indicates a road to where I indicated above.

I guess the only way to know for sure is to go there and find out. If that road isn't accessible then we can get to James Bay through Chisisabi.

Yeah, I am not into spooning either... so a room with two double beds and/or sleeping bags on the floor would be the best option. Pull straws for who gets the bed vs floor.
 
If you ride as far as Radisson it would be silly not to ride the extra 20 minutes to stick your toe in Artic water (James Bay).

I can't recall exactly but I think you go north out of Radisson and then turn left at a fork in the road and a few kms later it dead ends at the shore (a grave yard for old snowmobiles). Anyone in Radisson could confirm that. These are roads used by the local first nations and will likely be in very good shape. The gravel road out to East Main was very good, in fact we met a grader on the way back to the JBR.
 
The problem is that the gravel is quite deep for road tires.
I'm fine on most dirt and gravel but not that one.
Now it might have just been done but the last thing you want is to drop a bike in the middle of nowhere and it's about 12 km from town to the bay and even then the border of Quebec runs offshore in all but a few spots.

You would have to get to the fort across this channel ( looks like there is a ferry )



Then make your way right to the end to say you hit Nunavit - might be a fun try tho.



The border clips the end of the island

There are no roads north out of Radisson - I think you are thinking out of Chisisabi which indeed is correct.
 
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On Google Earth it looks like that channel is bridged by a dam now... now I am not saying the public has access to that road, but if we do then it looks like there is another route to James Bay without going to Chisisabi... you drive towards Chisisabi and take the North fork leading to this dam:

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With all due respect guys it seems to me ypu're over complicating things. Once you're in Radisson the coast is another 20 minutes on a gravel road. We made the same trip on sport bikes with no problems.
 
Re: Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour

I have this trip on my to-do list. I'll see if I can get the time off

Sent from my tablet using my paws
 
Re: Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour

Well whoever can get the time off of work, lets go for it. I already have August 3 until August 11th confirmed off of work. We don't need all of those days, and I don't care when during that gap I go.

The only thing I need to do is break my bike in a bit more before the ride... I only have 220km on it now so I have to get it past the first service and beyond before then... shouldn't be a problem.

RockerGuy said:
I have this trip on my to-do list. I'll see if I can get the time off

Sent from my tablet using my paws
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Re: Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour

With all due respect guys it seems to me ypu're over complicating things. Once you're in Radisson the coast is another 20 minutes on a gravel road. We made the same trip on sport bikes with no problems.
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I think you are on a different road OR you really didn't get to the coast. Care to point out the gravel road to the coast on a map?

there is only one road out of Radisson towards James Bay and then it splits off to Chisisabi
There IS a fork on that road that might be what you are talking about but the road to Chissabi is paved - then there was available out of there another deep gravel ( at the time ) road that led to the coast.

The gravel was way too deep for a road bike to do the 12 km to the coast - maybe it was fresh or something.....and I'm not afraid of taking a road bike on dirt and gravel.

Has to be that fork off to the right as you are heading to Chisisabi



as it goes right out to the bay. At least on GoogleEarth that section is in high def - the rest of that road is blurry

Looks like that is the boat storage and launching area

 
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Re: Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour

OK - I'm interested as well - I was going to head out on solo trip to B.C around this same time, but now I'm thinking of finally doing James Bay... (perhaps head east on the way back) - I'll keep an eye on this thread...
 
Re: Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour

I may be interested also. I rode a solo 18 state, 14 700 km trip last summer and am looking for new adventures for this summer.
 
Re: Anyone interested in a James Bay Highway tour

Just remember the fuel issue - 380 km between stations Otherwise have fun - we did
 
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