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Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

jamesbayroad.com

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Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#11

Post by bix6 »

retrac wrote: post #7
newyankee wrote: post #3

Its funny when I saw this road, I realised the distance is probably more than the N-S or E-W distance of Bangladesh , a country with > 171 million people last checked. In fact barely equal to the diagonal length of the country. How much ever one talks about fertile plains, tropical weather being able to support more people, this no is still bonkers to me

The low population density of central Canada is not because it's not fertile. A few hundred kilometres south of the area in the article, is a vast clay belt of about half a million square kilometres. It's fertile. You can grow potatoes and oats and the usual garden vegetables up there. Somewhat settled on the Quebec side, and there are farms, but less than 5% of the area suitable for agriculture, is currently used fo…

Does it matter if it’s fertile though? Isn’t the climate there the limiting factor on ag?

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#13

Post by bonzini »

jedberg wrote: post #9
mgerdts wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This story is about a road in Canada. I doubt the 20 mile thing holds in remote parts of Alaska.

Updated my comment because you're right, I meant contiguous USA. And I'm aware it's about Canada, which is why I said "I wonder what the answer to this same question is for the USA". :)

You probably want contiguous rather than continental. Continental does include Alaska but not Hawaii or US territories.

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#14

Post by moralestapia »

jedberg wrote: post #6

Intersting! I know that in the contiguous USA, you will never be more than 20 miles from a road no matter where you are, but have no idea how far one can drive from a town.

So if you're ever lost, you just walk?

(Assuming nothing kills you in nature)

Edit: Wait, no. You could be extremely unlucky and be walking parallel to the closest road, lol.

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#16

Post by Nursie »

I'm a fan of the Gibb River Road in northern Western Australia, it's around as long, has some beautiful gorges along the way for a little swimming, there's a river crossing at the Pentecost.

There are a few campsites along the way, and there is fuel at around the halfway point, and a town at each end, so it's not quite as far from civilisation as the Trans-taiga, plus you don't have to drive back the same way to get out! It's also significantly warmer, so much so that you want serious sunscreen and bugspray.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibb_River_Road

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#17

Post by School-Cotton »

moralestapia wrote: post #14
jedberg wrote: post #6

Intersting! I know that in the contiguous USA, you will never be more than 20 miles from a road no matter where you are, but have no idea how far one can drive from a town.

So if you're ever lost, you just walk? (Assuming nothing kills you in nature) Edit: Wait, no. You could be extremely unlucky and be walking parallel to the closest road, lol.

Walking in a spiral pattern (where the layers of the spiral are close enough that if you look toward the center, you can always see the point where you were on the previous layer) will guarantee that you eventually see all points on any given radius.

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#18

Post by bravesoul2 »

moralestapia wrote: post #14
jedberg wrote: post #6

Intersting! I know that in the contiguous USA, you will never be more than 20 miles from a road no matter where you are, but have no idea how far one can drive from a town.

So if you're ever lost, you just walk? (Assuming nothing kills you in nature) Edit: Wait, no. You could be extremely unlucky and be walking parallel to the closest road, lol.

Nerd snipe: given a compass and dropped in a random location what is the best strategy (based on direction assuming no clues from terrain) of finding a road. E.g. strategy might be 1000 steps south then 1000 east, repeat.

Nerd snipe 2. Same without a compass or any sense of direction. Assume you can accurately make a 90 degree turn and count steps

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#19

Post by [deleted] »

newyankee wrote: post #3

Its funny when I saw this road, I realised the distance is probably more than the N-S or E-W distance of Bangladesh , a country with > 171 million people last checked. In fact barely equal to the diagonal length of the country. How much ever one talks about fertile plains, tropical weather being able to support more people, this no is still bonkers to me

[deleted]

Re: Trans-Taiga Road (2004)

#20

Post by rfrey »

bix6 wrote: post #11
retrac wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The low population density of central Canada is not because it's not fertile. A few hundred kilometres south of the area in the article, is a vast clay belt of about half a million square kilometres. It's fertile. You can grow potatoes and oats and the usual garden vegetables up there. Somewhat settled on the Quebec side, and there are farms, but less than 5% of the area suitable for agriculture, is currently used fo…

Does it matter if it’s fertile though? Isn’t the climate there the limiting factor on ag?

The short growing season is somewhat offset by the very long summer days.
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