Manicouagan Crater

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Journey To Manicouagan Crater - Prelude To An All-Out Expedition

I first came across images of the 40 mile diameter crater in north eastern Canada that is known as the Manicouagan Crater in late 2004.

Manicouagan Crater

After reading a few personal stories that people had posted on the net concerning their travels to this crater I found that I developed an intense desire to go there myself. This is an account of that journey and a projection of what the next visit should entail.

As the area is very remote, and services available there are so limited, I decided that I would plan my first trip to the crater with the thought that it would most likely be a touch and go mission. At most it would involve camping at the crater for 2 nights. Or possibly, it would just be a day trip from one of the more popululated areas within a few hours driving distance of the crater.

I had originally planned to go to Australia for a couple weeks this spring (April/May 2006), but a few personal happenings intervened and forced me to delay that adventure in favor of an easier pack and drive trip. Voilà… I was headed to northern Quebec in June of 2006; north instead of south. I think they speak French up there…

So anyway, I waited until most of the travel restricting issues worked out and then I started packing. I bought a French 1 CD language course that I worked on during my drive to and from work every day. I can now say that “I don’t speak French” in French (don’t laugh too hard, that got a few smiles in couple of very non-English speaking places).

About a week before the trip I found out that there was going to be a star party in north central Pennsylvania that I could swing by on my way home from the crater. This was announced on the by Dave Mitsky who would be speaking there Friday night. My plan was adjusted and infact it became more likely that I would spend no more than a few hours at the crater.

Some of the maps included herein show what the plan was as I drove out of the driveway, and what actually happened as I adjusted my path to suit circumstances. Staying flexible was a must to my enjoying the long drive and so I only made advance reservations where (absolument nécessaire) absolutely necessary. Did I mention that I printed out emergency English/French phrase translations from Google Translate. Just in case.

Loads of pictures were taken during this journey. More than a few from my moving car (For those, I set the Canon 20D to point and shoot and just kinda pointed and shot). I would have liked to have stopped to get better shots of all this stuff but I had a lot of ground to cover.

To browse the photos sans narrative (unguided)... ignore the warning sign and enter the road to Manic 5.