Who's camped on the James Bay Road?

[sburns]

Over the years I've had some pretty miserable experiences hiking and camping in the back country with swarms of aggressive black flies and mosquitoes.

Coordinating a trip with a couple of people involves multiple schedules and lots of potential conflicts, but have you considered going in mid to late August or even after Labor Day. I think weather would be about the same, but the number of bugs likely hugely diminished compared to early June.

I went up in mid July. The bugs were insanity.
But if I remember it might have also been one with higher then normal swarm levels or whatever happens once every few years.
I just walked around with my helmet on all the time it was so bad.

 

[timtune]

Been up twice. Wasn't bad enough to stop a second trip.

 

[MacDoc]

Private Pilot ......it stuck in my head as I got to my motel right at dusk and I had to chase the manager to get in plus fair number in the room. Nothing that I would not expect that time of day but stuck in my head cuz of the delay .....weird ride could not even get a place to sit down to eat.....used the bike for a table


and finding Tim Tams in the middle of remote Ontario

 

[PrivatePilot]

I went up in mid July. The bugs were insanity.
But if I remember it might have also been one with higher then normal swarm levels or whatever happens once every few years.
I just walked around with my helmet on all the time it was so bad.

These things can be sanity savers sometimes and you can often get them at Dollarama.

.weird ride could not even get a place to sit down to eat.....used the bike for a table

Yeah, we found one little supply store / motel / restaurant-ish place at one point along the Trans Canada that actually let us come in, fired up the grills again and made us a great meal, and let us eat in (IIRC) despite Covid (seemed like a bit of an old boys club, bunch of friends sitting around etc) and that was awesome, but a good portion of the rest of that trip was what fast food we could scrounge up - I remember eating a lot of Timmies. In Pickle Lake it was whatever the hotel was serving that night, and the same for breakfast. It was a weird year, that's for sure.

 

[timtune]

These things can be sanity savers sometimes and you can often get them at Dollarama.

View attachment 65847




Yeah, we found one little supply store / motel / restaurant-ish place at one point along the Trans Canada that actually let us come in, fired up the grills again and made us a great meal, and let us eat in (IIRC) despite Covid (seemed like a bit of an old boys club, bunch of friends sitting around etc) and that was awesome, but a good portion of the rest of that trip was what fast food we could scrounge up - I remember eating a lot of Timmies. In Pickle Lake it was whatever the hotel was serving that night, and the same for breakfast. It was a weird year, that's for sure.

Yup. And beer passes right thru that fabric.

 

[Sukiyaki]

We indeed were swarmed in June but for reasons unknown ...they were not biting...and I've been in fishing camps when you need to duck tape your sleeves and ankles to prevent them crawling in and leaving huge welts.
I don't have an explanation for it.
Jay was hilarious as he'd bought a compact stove/coffee maker and was determined to make himself a brew on the road but the wind was not having it.
Finally found an emergency phone booth.
View attachment 65803


Now no way he could have spent the 15 minutes or so, bare headed and bare handed fiddling to get a camp coffee going if the black flies were biting....they were around though not in clouds of them and I don't recall a single bite for either of us on the trip. Maybe only the males had hatched, maybe the species...I just don't know,

The environment was certainly black fly friendly...lots of fast water
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You did the JBR on Burgmans?

If so, I’m not mocking you - I’m intrigued. Didn’t know you could do a full set up of hard cases on those…

 

[MacDoc]

A Burgman 650 with a 45L top case has 120 L of storage space - lots for solo touring.
I took a 5L fuel container which you can see peeking out of my pillion seat case on the RDL.

Small wheels makes for expensive rubber replacements. The tank holds 4 gal which gives decent range unless you cruise at 70-80 mph when it drops a lot. The machine pushes a lot of air ....tho it is very good in bad weather ...I rode out of PA south in 10 degrees and rain with only summer gloves. 100k enjoyable km on two different Burgman 650s.
Heavy expensive bike no longer made. Seems an ideal chassis for an EV.
That trip I put 950km days back to back thanks to the RDL.

The worst part of that trip for Burgman was the frost heaves....the B has very little suspension range....buddy on the Vstrom floated over them...I had my teeth rattled.
I think they have fixed the worst of those. Let us know

 

[Hardwrkr13]

Looking into doing this trip next year. I’ll check some ride reports but my main question is there enough lodging along the way? I plan to go to the end at Long Point and don’t mind long days. I’m past the age of enjoying camping but the accommodations don’t need to be high class that’s for sure.

 

[Gaoler]

I’m past the age of enjoying camping.

Preach brother...

 

[Mad Mike]

Preach brother...

I kinda like motocamping. If you have the right gear setup and knockdown is a few minutes.

You get the benefit of unhooking yourself from a plan and freedom to change the journey.

While simple, it does take experience to enjoy. Almost everyone I’ve motocamped with got discouraged mostly because they struggled getting restful sleep.

 

[Sukiyaki]

Preach brother...

Ultralight fast packing…

Spending a bigger fortune to live the homeless person who just got rolled for all their stuff.

 

[timtune]

Almost everyone I’ve motocamped with got discouraged mostly because they struggled getting restful sleep.

I've been doing this for decades and with age a good nights sleep is getting harder to come by.
That said I won't quit doing it any time soon. All the other pluses outweigh this minor one.

 

[KLR Junkie]

Almost everyone I’ve motocamped with got discouraged mostly because they struggled getting restful sleep.

Just go on longer trips. After 3-4 crappy nights sleep you'll be so tired that you'll conk out the second your head hits the rolled up bundle of clothes that you're using for a pillow.