Last month, Nat and I travelled Highway 389 from Baie Comeau to Labrador, then the Trans-Labrador Highway (Highway 500 and 510) for our summer road trip. I was grateful for the descriptions written by others who have done the same that I pored over ahead of time. I hope this brief list of things to consider is helpful! For context, we drive a 2018 Civic (stick), and it was (almost) all fine.
Here’s some thoughts (in the direction of Baie Comeau to Blanc-Sablon):
– 389 from Baie Comeau to Manic-5 with a stop at Manic-2 is an easy, very pleasant drive. It was a little sinewy, fun to do driving a manual. There are moose; watch your speed. There is no cell signal, but there is a fair bit of traffic and it never feels particularly isolated. Stop at the Motel Énergie and stay overnight once you’ve toured the dam. The next day is a doozy. The motel has good WiFi, gas and the restaurant is friendly and serves up a good hearty meal.
– 389 goes through the ghost town of Gagnon. It’s very odd passing through. There is nothing around, but suddenly the highway is flanked by sidewalks that have curb depressions. As you continue, there is a turnoff area with some flagpoles and plaques. Do not drive any significant distance into this turnoff. It goes quickly from sand-covered old ashphalt to deep sand. Short story, we got the car stuck. Very quickly, the driver of a 4×4 stopped to pull us out, and a semi stopped in case he needed to pull out the 4×4. My French-language proficiency was tested. We were apparently the third car the guy with the 4×4 has pulled out of that spot.
– There is a 104 km section of 389 from north of Manic-5 to Relais Gabriel that is gravel. I found this very driveable with care and was able to maintain a reasonable speed. There is a second 67 km stretch of unpaved road from Fire Lake to Mont Wright, though, with multiple sharp turns and hairpins and uncompacted gravel that I found to be a white-knuckle drive. It’s a mining area, and the workers – who have company 4x4s and know the roads – travel quickly and sometimes impatiently. You’ll get through it, but take it slow.
– Once you get to Labrador City-Wabush and the Trans-Labrador Highway (Highway 500), and then again from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Blanc-Sablon on Highway 510, the road is shockingly good for the rest of the drive to the coast. It’s newly paved, the curves are gentle, and it’s plenty wide. You’ll be able to maintain a consistent reasonable speed watching, of course, for moose. Traffic is very sparse but there is enough that someone would come along with 10 minutes at the most if ever you got into trouble.
– We fueled up at Manic-5, Labrador City-Wabush, Churchill Falls, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Port Hope Simpson to get to the Red Bay area. The longest stretch between gas stations is that Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Port Hope Simpson drive at around 400 kms – about 2/3 of a tank in our Civic as we were getting around 5.8l/100km. Once you get to Port Hope Simpson, services become more regular along the populated coast and fuel stops being a concern. There is also cell signal, sometimes intermittent, once you reach the coast.
– From Baie Comeau to Port Hope Simpson, there are virtually no washrooms except for the towns where we filled up. Even the facilities at Relais Gabriel were out of order. There are the occasional small pull-offs from the highway where you can safely park to use the bushes. Carry TP. It’s important to be aware of just how empty of the traveler services we’re used to the drive from Baie Comeau to Port Hope Simpson is. It’s (almost) all very drivable and beautiful, fuel was never a problem, and we carried snacks, but don’t count on stopping anywhere between Manic-5 and Labrador City, between Churchill Falls and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, or between there and Port Hope Simpson to use a bathroom, get coffee or pull off to sightsee.
– The ferry from Blanc-Sablon to St. Barbe has a very hearty breakfast on board.
Manic-2, especially Manic-5 and Churchill Falls hydro facilities are all worth seeing and I’m very glad we did this trip! I hope this list of considerations is helpful if you’re planning your own trip.
