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Most remote place you've visited in Canada
I will start.
um... Edmonton. |
Uranium City SK. Went for work a few times. Got to take the ice roads once !
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Furthest east - Cape Spear NL (easternmost point in North America).
Furthest west - Victoria, BC Furthest north - Edmonton, AB Furthest south - Point Pelee, ON (southernmost point in mainland Canada). I wouldn't consider any of these places particularly remote. There have been places along the way that have seemed remote. Probably the most remote feeling one was Cape Race and Trepassey in NL. When you get into the southern barrens of the Avalon peninsula, you are essentially passing through subarctic tundra, complete with caribou and ptarmigan. There isn't a lot of people who live there. You could easily pretend you are in northern Labrador. |
Nothing too remote. The farthest north I've been is Fart McMurray. Eastward, I've been to Cape Breton Island. The farthest west would be Tofino/Ucluelet. I've been to Point Pelee.
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The most remote place I've been would be Besnard Lake, Saskatchewan. It's a little further north than La Ronge and less accessible. At least at the time I was there it was more than an hour and extremely rough gravel road to get there.
Also in the running, but easier to get to, but it feels ridiculously remote. Bauline, NL https://live.staticflickr.com/3629/3...561ae815_c.jpg Untitled by (HomeInMyShoes), on Flickr |
For me it was Moosonee for a week. Well, for a day then we were up-river at a camp for a week.
That was part of my summer in Ontario Rangers, we were based at Wade Lake in between Cochrane and Iroquois Falls, which was pretty remote itself. But Moosonee is ~10 north on the train from there! We also did a week long canoe-portage trip somewhere along the Abitibi river system, I have no idea where exactly. But we saw no roads, bridges, or any other signs of civilization except a few makeshift campsites from where we dropped in the water until we got picked up somewhere else a week later. Honourable mention to Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac, in Quebec near the NB border. Not remote in terms of access to roads or anything, but we were driving to Nova Scotia in December 2020. It was a snow storm, we were out of gas, it was late at night with nothing open, and we couldn't cross into NB in the morning when the checkpoint opened. Ended up sleeping in the car in a parking lot, and getting woken up by the snowplow clearing the lot at 4:30. |
Probably the northern tip of Cape Breton. It's not exactly Ellesmere Island, but it definitely felt remote for me as someone who has lived and spent time in rural and wilderness areas before. Last time I was there was maybe a decade ago and there was a point when heading north past Cheticamp where the sign says last gas station for 100km or something. First time i ever saw a sign like that. And when exploring the areas off the Cabot Trail there were many time when there was no cell signal whatsoever. It's common for signal to be weak in NS if you're on back roads away from a town or city and sometimes for it to drop intermittently. But that was the first time in NS that I had it just disappear entirely for an extended time.
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Great Harbour Deep, NL. Had to get to it via coastal walk-on ferry, and the town was shut down in the 90's and it's now abandoned.
Not in Canada, but also: Shipwreck Beach, Lanai, HI feels pretty remote once you get there. Drive up Mauna Kea or Haleakala it also feels like you're kind of on the moon and in space at the same time. |
Can't decide whether it's Carcross YT (northernmost town) or Bennett BC (least populated and most isolated) for me... They're from the same trip, stayed for less than 1hr each.
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Eureka, NU
hoping to get up to Alert next year. (All work based travel) |
For me the most remote is probably Prince Rupert, at the end of Highway 16, a scenic eight hour drive west of Prince George, which itself is an eight to nine hour drive north of Vancouver.
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I drove the entire length of the Trans-Labrador Highway. One stretch is over 400 km between gas stations.
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It's either Oxford House (Bunibonibee Cree Nation), Manitoba - or any from a handful in this province. St. Anthony, La Scie, Epworth, Lamaline, Bay de Verde, Cappahayden, Rose Blanche, Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Perhaps St. Pierre et Miquelon to the extent they're neighbours.
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It was Stewart, BC, until I visited.....
Gingolx, BC https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7056053f_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...48d6e721_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...36a6acf4_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5346fbf8_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c0e70128_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8adb0fc7_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...061f1ec7_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f4e047aa_h.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...658f6943_h.jpg I've also been to Bella Bella in the Spirit Bear Rainforest. That's pretty remote as well. |
Nothing too crazy for me, either.
The most remote place in terms of distance from a major road was probably this marina/corner store in the 30,000 Islands of Ontario. Other than that, maybe Tofino. |
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For southern parts of Canada, that Road to Renous in New Brunswick (Route 108 (Plaster Rock-Renous Highway) ) seems very remote...aside from a crappy service station halfway, there is nothing along the road but trees and lakes and moose. I've driven it maybe 10 times over the years.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Route_108.jpg the only sign of civilization on this road (EDIT: I don't think it is still operating): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...08_%284%29.jpg |
kinoosao sask raindeer lake about 2hr drive on a good day from my house up one of canadas worst kept highways pr394
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Winn...oASAFQAw%3D%3D |
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I am lucky that I have been into a lot of communities in the far north for work (Iqaluit and Pond Inlet as well - both stunners). |
Either Port Renfrew or Lillooet, both in BC. Unless you consider the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper NP to be remote.
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Depends on how you define remote but for me:
In Ontario: Moosonee (also been in a boat into James Bay) I've seen beluga whales in Ontario in the Moose River not far from James Bay. In Quebec: Chisasibi and Radisson (James Bay Region) Went to James Bay there as well. I've been to Southern Labrador and almost everywhere on the island of Newfoundland. I've been to every province but it really depends on what is considered to be remote. I've been to Tofino and Ucluelet in BC. |
Murtle lake, British Columbia. I can't remember how many hours it was to drive the logging road and then how many hours to portage to the lake from the town of Blue River.
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I guess I was too harsh when I said Edmonton. Sorry.
I've been camping north about an hour north of Mont-Tremblant at a reserve faunique, guess that is pretty remote. No cell service there so no one can be glued to their phones. Drew seems like the winner so far. Eureka. Damn. |
When I was in the Armed Forces we held an exercise near Tuktoyaktuk, NT. I don't recall having many good memories of the wilderness there.
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Red Chris Mine, BC
Once you turn off of Yellowhead at Gityanow, it's six hours of lonely road. The only sign of humanity is a gas station at an intersection that leads to Stewart. Had to drive home in an Alaskan cyclone. Whiteknuckle whiteout on chisel road for six hours until you hit the Yellowhead where it cleared up. |
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For Canada for me: Furthest North: Prince Albert National Park in SK (Chisasibi QC a very close second) Furthest East: Cape Spear NL Furthest South: Point Pelee National Park ON (at the tip) Furthest West: Tofino BC |
Rainbow Lake Alberta, really at the end of a highway west of High Level about 10 hours NW of Edmonton close to the NWT and BC borders.
I worked on Stuart Island in between the Mainland and Campbell River Vancouver Island long ago, fairly quiet, somewhat remote, part of the Discovery Islands. |
North: Tuk U. (yeah, Tuk U too!). Way more remote in 1978 than it is now.
West: Juskatla (as a semi-populated place). Unpopulated, either of Rennell Sound or Mitchell Inlet, or maybe Ninstints. All on Haida Gwaii. South: anywhere along the border with our neighbour to the south. They seem pretty remote from common sense right now... East: somewhere off the main highway in Cantley (don't ask; it was for work). Disclaimer 1: my parents when they were still alive lived on Haida Gwaii. Disclaimer 2: as the child of an exploration geologist, I was able to experience many large roadless areas of BC, Yukon and NWT in my youth, and truthfully have been to Nowhere. |
A great question.
Furthest east - Cape Spear, NL. Growing up in St. John's, always took out-of-province relatives there. Even now, every trip back to St. John's involves a trek to the Cape. Not the most pleasant place to be in the middle of January. Furthest north - Whitehorse Furthest west - The BC/Alaska border on the Whitehorse-Skagway highway. It is about 135.16W vs. 135.11W for the western parts of Whitehorse. Furthest south - Fort Erie, ON In terms of remote places, I would put Fraser, BC up there. It's the location of the CBSA checkpoint on the Whitehorse/Skagway highway. Powell River, BC is an interesting place. Though it's on the Sunshine Coast and the BC mainland, to drive anywhere north or south beyond 30km, one needs to take a ferry. It's a two ferry ride, with an 80km drive between the two ferry terminals to travel to Horseshoe Bay. BC Highway 101 ends at Lund; about 30km north of Powell River. Would highly recommend it. Given its location, Powell River is yet to be overdeveloped like many southern BC coastal towns. |
Been around Yukon, it is very remote. Second to that would probably be Northern Ontario, highway 1 between Kenora and Thunder Bay. Nothing for hundreds of KM but forests, muskeg, and lakes.
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The northern tip of Vancouver Island maybe? San Josef Bay - a few hours drive down an old logging road from Port Hardy is pretty remote; as are the other towns in the area like Coal Harbour and Holberg.
https://i.imgur.com/PIVyUkV.jpeg https://worlds50beaches.com/san-josef-bay/ https://i.imgur.com/dk1Edxw.jpeg https://www.fototripper.com/san-jose...couver-island/ The emptiest place that I've been in Canada - that is, the least populated and furthest from any major settlements - would be Northern Ontario. Also a very beautiful part of the country. https://i.imgur.com/tPfBqji.jpeg https://www.blogto.com/travel/2023/0...national-park/ https://i.imgur.com/WiUShDF.jpeg https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...o_Ontario.html |
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The easiest way to get there is to fly to Comox and then take the ferry across from the Island. I did not know how common that was until I was a walk on the ferry and so many others as well had airline tags on their bags. For me the most remote is Skidgate in Haida Gwaii. Most east point is St John's NFLD. |
Others have commented about the same area, probably were on the same type of Alaska cruise as I was lol. This pic is somewhere in BC along the Klondike Highway between Alaska and Yukon. What I found odd about this area is that there is almost no mention anywhere that you are in BC. I saw a Yukon highway department truck, we stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge (in BC) and all of the souvenirs are Yukon. I don't even recall a sign at the border at White Pass saying BC. I talked to people on the ship who had no idea they had been in BC. Also stopped in Carcross and went up to Whitehorse, both also mentioned upthread. Later in the trip we stopped in Prince Rupert BC, also mentioned, not sure which city felt more remote, Whitehorse or Prince Rupert. The drive from Carcross up to Whitehorse is significantly less interesting though.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a7f5fef3_z.jpg |
Another remote place was a summer I spent in Hampden Newfoundland as a pre-teen over 45 years ago. My best friend at the time was going there with his dad (my dad's army buddy) so I tagged along. I look at the place on the map now and wonder how I filled 5 weeks, but I remember it just being the best summer ever. I even notice one of the streets is their family name (Regular's Lane).
https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.40785...oASAFQAw%3D%3D |
I've done forestry and reforestation work throughout North BC. Remote places like Quinette Mountain Southwest of Tumbler Ridge. Bowron Lake couple of hours Southwest of Prince George are two that stand out.
North end of Takla Lake was another spot very remote. These were all back in the late 80's and early 90's while i was going to uni. Worked 5 summers in these regions to pay for my degree. |
I lived in Iqaluit for 2 separate 4 month stretches in the mid-2000s. Which is pretty remote, albeit has all the conveniences of modern life (even if they cost a ton). Unfortunately didn't make it to any of the communities when I was up there.
Within Ontario been to a bunch of small unincorporated communities in the North like Gogama, Rossport and Hawk Junction. These were for work however. |
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I spent a lot of time exploring Vancouver Island back in the days when I lived in Vancouver and Kelowna. |
I've done a lot of mining exploration field work in the past, and so have been to some pretty remote locales. In terms of distance from the nearest settlements, it's probably Goose Lake in Nunavut. There is an actual mining operation there now, but at the time it was just an exploration camp. One of two videos I have on youtube is actually flying back to camp in late August I think, maybe early September. I think I still had a flip phone back then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaVJjqb_5v4
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canadas just an insainly large country
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Gris Fjord Elsmere Island Nunavut. In the east and Holman Island in the West Arctic. Was scheduled to go to Alert but an Engineer pulled rank.
In Alberta Garden River west side of Wood Buffalo NP, and or Ft Chipewyan. When I get back to my computer I'll post some photos. CBSA Check point for me is Skagway as well. Cape Spear East, Ucluelet in the lower Westcoast . Haines Junction or Dawson City for furthest west. Gris Fjord. [IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/2542/4...5d5759bf_b.jpgGrise Fiord by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG] [IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/2579/4...44d89ab4_b.jpgMuskox in Grise Fiord by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG] Holman Island Western Arctic [IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/2665/4...c09a601d_b.jpg10 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG] https://live.staticflickr.com/2651/4...cae75c34_b.jpg7 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr Dawson City [IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1970292e_b.jpgDawson Winter Night by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos[/url], on Flickr[/IMG] [IMG]https://live.staticflickr.com/8154/7...6115a8f9_b.jpgDawson Yukon by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/[/url], on Flickr[/IMG] |
The Magdalen Islands
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Tofino.
The drive there is the longest, most treacherous and desolate that I have ever made. |
For me it would be the village of Puvirnituq in Nunavik.
On the shores of Hudson's bay, it is located 1800km from Montreal, it is roughly the same distance from Montreal to Florida. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e2946359_h.jpg DSC01644 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...751d4216_h.jpg DSC01529 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...58f7b42e_h.jpg DSC01618 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr |
No photos but I once spent a couple of nights on George Island which is near the middle of the north basin of Lake Winnipeg.
With the exception of seasonal commercial fishing dock, shed and a few bunkies it was like being on a deserted island in the middle of an ocean. Absolutely beautiful beach on the north shoreline. |
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Even the name. Great Harbour Deep sounds like a place worth expeditioning. |
Regina. It is located in the southern part of Saskatchewan. Coordinates - 50°27'06"N 104°36'56"W.
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East. Gander Airport West. Vancouver Island North Moosenee South Windsor In the World East. Kirkenes, Norway (as far east as Istanbul) West. Oregon Coast North. North Cap(e) Norway 71 degrees north South. St Maarten |
Somewhere north of Manning, AB. Might have been High Level, actually. Not really "remote" in the sense that it's not like you're the only person for a thousand miles but something about going north bothers me. It feels like I'm heading towards the edge of the world. lol
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I spent a few summers and falls in Naramata BC, obviously not that remote but being on a dead end made it seem like it.
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