Manicouagan

Sometimes it’s worth getting away from the cities, the tourists, the roads and the clichés and remember that there are still a few frontiers out there left to be discovered. Very humbling.

This is a very pleasant thing to see on your travels. 200km north of Baie-Comeau

Manicouagan is a very impressive huge lake, the second largest in Quebec. It was created by a meteor blasting it out of the area, now known as Quebec, millions of years ago.

There is a central island almost 60 miles wide with a ring of water all around it that was caused when the Daniel Johnson Dam was built which in itself is an impressive structure. At 700 feet tall this dam dwarfs tractor trailers driving past it. The dam back filling the rivers has created depths over 1,000 feet in some places in the lake.

Salmon, Pike, Lake Trout and Brook Trout swim in its waters.
Caribou, Moose and Bears live on and around the island.

I have been there twice and plan to sail in a circumnavigation of the central uplift island.

The geology there is very interesting too. There is a lot of melted rock and breccia ledges around the lake caused by the meteor impact. Mining and logging are now coming into this area since the road to the dam has made it more accessible.

It is a very remote area and a long drive, but worth it to see this lake, which is visable from the orbiting space station and shuttle flights.

The days are long up there in the summer and the nights short.
The Aurora Borealis or northern lights are frequently seen in this magical place.

Here are a couple of photos we took of the massive dam and our campsite on an island in the crater ring lake.