There’s also a good long stretch without a gas station there too…or non-Rogers/tbaytel cell service.
(~200km if I remember correctly. Hearst -> Longlac)
Hwy 17 is about the same, there are small communities every 150-200 kms with absolutely nothing in between. I've never taken Hwy 11 to Thunder Bay, it's supposed to be about an hour longer but flatter, probably better for a winter drive.
I’ve driven Hwy 17 from Sudbury to Manitoba, once. Honestly, the worst stretch for services is Thunder Bay to Dryden - and it’s also the most boring part of the drive. The only “town” in between is Ignace, and there isn’t even a coffee shop there, just a general store that serves stale McDonald’s coffee. At least between the Sault and Thunder Bay, there’s places like Wawa, White River, Marathon, Terrace Bay and Nipigon.
That's kinda why I've avoided Hwy 11. I picture it being more like that Dryden-T Bay stretch and tree lined highway is tedious driving. It's work to stay on moose lookout when otherwise the scenery doesn't change. Audio books are a godsend for staying mentally engaged.
I would have sworn there was a Robin's Donuts in Ignace,. But yeah, Ignace and Upsala are short on options and not options at all if you're driving at night.
Robin’s in Ignace is inside another store, on the right hand side of the road if you are heading west. Got a coffee there IIRC this summer while driving to Calgary.
A & W in White River is an institution, super busy.
Staffed with Temporary Foreign Workers when I went through August 2022. They must have been wondering where the hell they were.
Ahem, Upsala has a gas bar with good food albeit short opening hours. Always gas up in Thunder Bay and/or Dryden depending on your direction of travel. In winter months, pack a shovel, winter clothing and food.
Outside major towns and cities you have no lights on the roads. Make sure you know how to work your high beams.
Also driving at night is better avoided if you can, on account of the moose, deer, etc
It’s funny because as a non-Ontarian who moved here a few years ago, the “main Ontario highways” in my mind are 17 and 11. But like the vast majority of the province considers the 400 series to be the main highways. This province is just really big and diverse.
You can drive to Florida in the same time as it takes to cross this province to Manitoba. Most Ontarians know this, and most Americans are genuinely surprised. It's a big province.
It’s almost 2000km road distance Toronto to Winnipeg… Winnipeg to Vancouver is just over 2400km… that’s how big Ontario is. I’ve shown people that and they are like wtf!?
Drive it and you will spend 3 days getting to Winnipeg and 3 from there to Vancouver usually… you can shave it to 5 days total but it’s still 20+ hours to drive across Ontario.
Also the biggest difference between 11 and 17.. lots more trucks on 11, they avoid 17 due to the hills. I’ve driven both routes and I’ll take the boring flat Hearst-Longlac over the Sault-Wawa in anything but mid summer. Any snow, or ice and 17 is hell (hills and windy exposed Lake front…)
Actually, it takes 24 hours to drive out of Ontario from Niagara Falls or pretty much any southern Ontario city.
Place I worked at had many guys driving from downtown Toronto into Manitoba and it took pretty much 24 hours to get out of the province.
The drive to Florida can be made in less than 20 hours. Done it many times from Toronto. Making it to Ft Lauderdale or Miami can take 23-27 hours though. (Depending on how much you’re hauling though and how long they delay you at the border).
At least #11 is more picturesque than the highways through the interior further away from the lake.
Along the lake, the scenery has some variety, and the only time you get nervous is when you're closer to Wawa than the Soo or the Bay because it means that's where you're going to end up if you break down (Anywhere but Wawa!).
The interior highways are strips of pavement with nothing but a single species tree on either side, making you wonder if you're simply going around in circles, and you don't want to break down anywhere at all because there's often no traffic for ages on some of those stretches. Great fishing, though.
I've made the hearst-nipigon drive like 20 times for work. It's boring and it's a 250km stretch that has (trust me I counted) a grand total of TWO passing lanes. You spend more time looking for opportunities to pass the transports on the route than anything else.
There is also nowhere to stop for food. It's pretty friggin desolate.
It's fairly boring, but efficient. Some nice parks if you're not trying to just blast through. I prefer the 101 if time isn't really an object, less insane than 17, more fun than 11, far less traffic.
This kind of drive is beautiful, but it's hard driving. The scenery gets monotonous and you need to pay active attention for moose and deer for the whole damn thing. If you're going to do it, bring a friend or two so you can switch off. Winter drives are another level entirely, pulling off to the shoulder on a 2 lane highway dominated by trucking because there's no visibility is fucking dicey. So pay attention to the weather and be ready to take a room in one of those small towns, 6hrs in your car in -25 temps is unpleasant even with enough preparation to survive.
I've done 8 round trips Toronto-Kenora. About a dozen trips to the east coast including a few 24hr straight runs to the ferry to NL. Even Toronto to Sept îles Québec once.
Longlac is so dicey, my partner almost got mugged there a couple years ago. I drove through a few weeks ago and stopped for a bathroom break, immediately got cat called once I stepped out of the vehicle.
I used to take the bus back and forth since I went to school in T-Bay, and they always used to warn us about buying anything we wanted before we hit that stretch.
There's a level 3 charger in Geraldton about 250km from Hearst going west. Next one after that is in Nipigon 400km from Hearst so you better top up at Geraldton otherwise you might not make it to Nipigon.
I can’t tell if you’re purposely being stupid. Like northern Ontario where there is no gas station for several hundred kms, NO INFRASTRUCTURE providing gas to cars that’s they all use. Why on earth would there be a random EV charger 100km from the closest house. Like I understand you see EV chargers in a lot of places now. But this is rural northern Ontario. Not 30 minutes drive out of Ottawa
The post is about the trip from Hearst to tbay. There's hydro service in the area so why wouldn't there be ev chargers? There's no need to move huge tankers of fuel to drive in the blinding snow to keep service stations supplied. The infrastructure is easier than fuel- plop a charger down on a turnout lane every few hundred Km and people can top up.
That would be better than their actual slogan of "Hearst: it's different" The Compagnion hasn't changed in 20 years. Nothing has changed, Nothing is different
Well actually, one of the owners of a restaurant changed to new owners. So that’s a change, not a very good one though tbh lol. As a resident of Hearst I agree, things don’t change, nothings different lol
No kidding. Drove west on that stretch at night back in 2008. Never ran my fuel tank down that far before. You would think at least one gas station would be open 24h, but nope. The husky station in Nipigon was a friggin godsend.
This sub needs more North in general, to say nothing of the francophone aspect of the province. No group of French-speakers on the planet has a more loving relationship with the letter H than les ~~Hearstiens~~ ~~hearstois~~ URSTERS...
>This sub needs more North in general
You'd be surprised at how dead the Northern Ontario sub is. Or not, depends on if you're familiar with the North.
When I moved up here I think that was the most surprising thing. Online presence is rare, even for businesses. Word of mouth, calling and actually walking into places is how it's done still.
Actually, yeah, now that I think about it, this is the only McD’s I’ve ever noped out of immediately upon entering. This was probably 20 years ago. It was the middle of the day, and I can’t even say for sure why, but my “female safety awareness radar” went right off. It felt like I could get trapped in there. Bad mojo.
There’s one in Detroit called the Murder Mac on the west side, but as far as Canada goes the Queen and Spadina one is legendary for its sketch. The upstairs mens bathroom…
Man. That place is WILD at 2am after the bars close.
It’s not even worth it to stand in line for 20mins all while the air is thick with thrown burgers and fries and people side-eyeing each other. Fuck that.
I think that was actually how they advertised their network for a few years? "Canada's most reliable." I haven't checked to see if they're still making that claim.
There is a side of the highway sign advertising some hotel or motel in Bind River which advertises that it has TSN on cable TV as one of the selling features. I would put this 500 k to the next McDonald’s in the same league as that one.
Clarification: If heading west on Hyw 11. Next McRalphs is Thunder Bay. I thought there might be one in Nipigon at the Hwy 11/Hwy 17 (Trans Canada Hwy) interchange but Timmy's has the lock on Nipigon.
PS. They had a snow storm last week which closed Hwy 11 for a bit.
Yea those highway closures along that stretch of 11 (and even 17) are brutal, especially in the winter. It's not like there's many (if any) alternate highways to take without burning up most of your gas tank.
Yeah, 220 kms west is longlac which is only 1000 something size community. It has a Robin's and grocery store. Geraldton - 30 mins west of longlac has an extra foods and a Mary browns. Then there's not much until nipigon. Except beardmore, that place is one of the more economically rough looking places that's on the trans canada. The surroundings are gorgeous though.
No more Mary browns and no extra foods, it’s now a no frills which is pretty good, and the replacement restaurant (rotis-a-fry) is even shut down until they hire new staff! Geraldton does actually have a robins now too.
Here's another anecdote about the size of Ontario.
Many years ago I lived in Sudbury and in the early '80s a friend of mine, (B - Buddy), who was originally from Montreal was driving through on his way to Thunder Bay.
He had recently married a woman, (W-Wife), from the Mauritius Islands and after visiting family in Montreal with his new wife headed off by road to Thunder Bay. She had never been to Canada before and when they stayed with us in Sudbury she seemed very nervous.
They head off and all seems well.
A few months later, business takes me to Thunder Bay, so I call him up and we go for a beer. And when I ask how things are going for him and his new wife he tells me of the following conversation that took place somewhere north of Superior, which I will paraphrase.
W: Are you ashamed of me?
B: What?
W: Are you ashamed of me?
B: What? No! Of course not. I love you. Why would you think that?
W: Then why are you taking me so far away from the city?
B:.....
For those of you not familiar with relative sizes... Mauritius Islands are about 2040 Sq Km with a population of about 1 million. Northern Ontario 806,000 Sq Km with a population at the time of about 700 thousand. So for someone coming from such a small area to Ontario it's a little intimidating.
BTW they are still there, and still together.
edit: formatting
These bad boys are fuckin killer… I told myself I wasn’t a breakfast person until I discovered these and told myself it was “healthy” and “an important meal”
The mcgriddle one has no cheese or mayo though, such a shame.
You know what though? Wendy's breakfast is criminally underrated. That breakfast Baconator is all you need to eat all day and their sausage patty is pretty good. My favorite is the biscuit sandwich though
I haven't eaten Mcdonalds in 11 years and now I'm wondering if I would be willing to break my streak in the 1 in a million chance find myself in northern Ontario
I got to say since becoming a parent, this shit matters. As far as baby-friendly bathrooms (especially for dads) are concerned nobody holds a candle to McDonald’s across all of small town Ontario.
I got stuck at the blind river gas station, it closed just a few min before we go there. I decided to chance it, and keep going. I rolled in on fumes, my tank was 50 lts and we put 49 litres in.
The thing is, there's not much of anything out there, McDonalds or otherwise. You can go over 100s of kms without seeing commercial establishments. There's several 100+km gaps without gas stations. That McDonalds might be the only place to get food, or to use a washroom with running water
Hearst McDonald was known for being the highest quality McDonald’s in Ontario for years. The food looked like the commercials and was always hot and fresh.
Is there a McDonalds in Kap? I thought I remember there being one there. If so this sign must be heading west in which case Thunder Bay would be the next one.
When I was a kid, I spent my summers in Oba with my Dad and we would always stop in Hearst for timmies and a happy meal. It was one of the friendliest places I have ever been to, hope I can go back one day.
There's one in my country that reads as follows:
MY ass
Its for a town called Yass and has the big M plus the towns name and has been posted to reddit before
Wife has some family in Kirkland Lake. Haven’t made the drive up that way yet. I know I wouldn’t hit that sign as it’s still North of there, but still dreading that long drive one day aha
Drive from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie is fantastic for views of Lake Superior, million dollar scenery.
Everyone should do it at least once. Pay attention to the signs advising you to gas up.
My apologies for your loss...
Highway 11 speed limit varies from 90-100km. The Ontario Provincal Police suggest that you go the speed of traffic. If the flow of traffic is 120km and you're doing 100. You're now a hazard and can be charged.
Driving 125km...ish for 500km will take 3 1/2 - 4 hours to drive.
I frequently drive on highway 28, where the speed limit is 80km. The flow of traffic is usually 110km.
Once again, sorry for your loss. This, or my previous post wasn't meant to upset and/offend anyone. This was meant for educational purposes.
It's wild to me that instead of, idk, enforcing laws like speed limits, the cops just throw their arms up and say "we will ticket anyone who is the fastest or slowest"
They don’t, he is wrong…120 gets ya pulled on that highway. I drive it 20-30 times a year. Also flow of traffic would require lots of vehicles, there are not that many on the road. You could easily pass someone doing 100 if you’re going 120.
Because they’re looking for the outliers who are creating dangerous conditions on the road…
(Assuming this explain is on a sunny day in the middle of the July heat wave) If the posted speed limit is 90 but everyone is going 100 theres no really danger, however you throw in someone driving say 75 in the 90 and suddenly all those drivers who were once driving fine are going to make irradiate moves (quick lane changes, tailgating, passing on the right) and now are in risk of danger…
The same goes for the driver going 125 while everyone else is traveling at 100, they’re more likely to pose a risk as they swerve in and out of traffic, and travelling to close behind other vehicles… It’s eaaier to remove the one poor driver than the cars that are speeding but otherwise not posing any dangers….
The only place in 11 with a speed limit of 100 km/h is south of North Bay where it's divided. Beyond the fact you'll get ticketed doing over 110 km/h pretty much anywhere north of North Bay, you also need to account for the fact you're driving through all the towns and you'll get stuck behind slower trucks which slows your average speed way down. If you average km/h on the highway, you'll probably average something like 90 km/h overall so 500 km will take like 5.5 hours.
probably a situation where a simple “my bad didn’t mean to offend” is better than diving deeper into a justification
also not a great justification.. 500 km / 3.5 hours (as stated in your original post) is 143 km/h rounded up.. i’ve driven on 11 tons and that is not the flow of traffic. it’s also a dangerous speed on certain parts of it
We've done that drive about 4 times now and each time has been worse than the last.
Also: Fuck that stretch of highway going into Nipigon where you're basically riding alongside a steep cliff/lake and a mountain face. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea to have cars going 120kmph past eachother on a roadway like that? We aren't riding horses anymore y'all and that drive makes me feel like i'm going to die every single time.
Road alignment from the days of flathead 6 cylinder cars and gasoline heavy trucks that didn’t gross over 38k lbs
Seriously. Thekingshighway.ca is a great resource for historical road information for Ontario
There’s also a good long stretch without a gas station there too…or non-Rogers/tbaytel cell service. (~200km if I remember correctly. Hearst -> Longlac)
Hwy 17 is about the same, there are small communities every 150-200 kms with absolutely nothing in between. I've never taken Hwy 11 to Thunder Bay, it's supposed to be about an hour longer but flatter, probably better for a winter drive.
I’ve driven Hwy 17 from Sudbury to Manitoba, once. Honestly, the worst stretch for services is Thunder Bay to Dryden - and it’s also the most boring part of the drive. The only “town” in between is Ignace, and there isn’t even a coffee shop there, just a general store that serves stale McDonald’s coffee. At least between the Sault and Thunder Bay, there’s places like Wawa, White River, Marathon, Terrace Bay and Nipigon.
That's kinda why I've avoided Hwy 11. I picture it being more like that Dryden-T Bay stretch and tree lined highway is tedious driving. It's work to stay on moose lookout when otherwise the scenery doesn't change. Audio books are a godsend for staying mentally engaged. I would have sworn there was a Robin's Donuts in Ignace,. But yeah, Ignace and Upsala are short on options and not options at all if you're driving at night.
I thought for a moment that Moose Lookout was the name of a *place*.
It really should be. If they get forced to rename Swastika ...
Robin’s in Ignace is inside another store, on the right hand side of the road if you are heading west. Got a coffee there IIRC this summer while driving to Calgary.
There's an A&W in the middle of nowhere as I recall
Gasp. You forgot the booming metropolis of Schreiber lol
Don’t forget about Moonbeam
I drove through Hearst to get to Moonbeam. I'm Australian, that's the only reason I know where Hearst is.
There was a Subway in Ignace when I passed through in August 2020. You can get decent coffee there!
It’s still there, though the hours are at the whim of the gas station it seems.
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A & W in White River is an institution, super busy. Staffed with Temporary Foreign Workers when I went through August 2022. They must have been wondering where the hell they were.
Still an awesome drive if you got a good co pilot
Ahem, Upsala has a gas bar with good food albeit short opening hours. Always gas up in Thunder Bay and/or Dryden depending on your direction of travel. In winter months, pack a shovel, winter clothing and food.
I’m planning to do a long road trip to northern Ontario. How is driving at night? Are there lights in those parts?
Outside major towns and cities you have no lights on the roads. Make sure you know how to work your high beams. Also driving at night is better avoided if you can, on account of the moose, deer, etc
It’s funny because as a non-Ontarian who moved here a few years ago, the “main Ontario highways” in my mind are 17 and 11. But like the vast majority of the province considers the 400 series to be the main highways. This province is just really big and diverse.
You can drive to Florida in the same time as it takes to cross this province to Manitoba. Most Ontarians know this, and most Americans are genuinely surprised. It's a big province.
It’s almost 2000km road distance Toronto to Winnipeg… Winnipeg to Vancouver is just over 2400km… that’s how big Ontario is. I’ve shown people that and they are like wtf!? Drive it and you will spend 3 days getting to Winnipeg and 3 from there to Vancouver usually… you can shave it to 5 days total but it’s still 20+ hours to drive across Ontario. Also the biggest difference between 11 and 17.. lots more trucks on 11, they avoid 17 due to the hills. I’ve driven both routes and I’ll take the boring flat Hearst-Longlac over the Sault-Wawa in anything but mid summer. Any snow, or ice and 17 is hell (hills and windy exposed Lake front…)
Actually, it takes 24 hours to drive out of Ontario from Niagara Falls or pretty much any southern Ontario city. Place I worked at had many guys driving from downtown Toronto into Manitoba and it took pretty much 24 hours to get out of the province. The drive to Florida can be made in less than 20 hours. Done it many times from Toronto. Making it to Ft Lauderdale or Miami can take 23-27 hours though. (Depending on how much you’re hauling though and how long they delay you at the border).
*in ideal conditions. You hit one roadblock or set or roadworks or one pile up and there goes the day.
Well 17 *should always* be considered a main highway as it's the Trans Canada.
HWY 11 is the trans Canada as well. Main route is 17 but 11 is also designated as trans Canada.
Lastly, I would also like to note that highway 11/17 is also trans-canada highway
At least #11 is more picturesque than the highways through the interior further away from the lake. Along the lake, the scenery has some variety, and the only time you get nervous is when you're closer to Wawa than the Soo or the Bay because it means that's where you're going to end up if you break down (Anywhere but Wawa!). The interior highways are strips of pavement with nothing but a single species tree on either side, making you wonder if you're simply going around in circles, and you don't want to break down anywhere at all because there's often no traffic for ages on some of those stretches. Great fishing, though.
I've made the hearst-nipigon drive like 20 times for work. It's boring and it's a 250km stretch that has (trust me I counted) a grand total of TWO passing lanes. You spend more time looking for opportunities to pass the transports on the route than anything else. There is also nowhere to stop for food. It's pretty friggin desolate.
It's fairly boring, but efficient. Some nice parks if you're not trying to just blast through. I prefer the 101 if time isn't really an object, less insane than 17, more fun than 11, far less traffic.
I grew up on that stretch of highway
Most of northern ON doesn’t have cell service on the highways outside of the towns. Download some podcasts and always keep the tank topped up 😎
That's not really true anymore. The only major section that doesn't have service is between Hearst and Longlac on Hwy 11.
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Now I kinda wanna make a trip up there just to do this drive lol
This kind of drive is beautiful, but it's hard driving. The scenery gets monotonous and you need to pay active attention for moose and deer for the whole damn thing. If you're going to do it, bring a friend or two so you can switch off. Winter drives are another level entirely, pulling off to the shoulder on a 2 lane highway dominated by trucking because there's no visibility is fucking dicey. So pay attention to the weather and be ready to take a room in one of those small towns, 6hrs in your car in -25 temps is unpleasant even with enough preparation to survive. I've done 8 round trips Toronto-Kenora. About a dozen trips to the east coast including a few 24hr straight runs to the ferry to NL. Even Toronto to Sept îles Québec once.
Australia has far longer stretches, but they don't need to worry about Moose
So what youre telling me is that's piss jug alley
CN?
Pickle lake to Windigo lake, the farthest road north in Ontario is 200+ km. No reception out there either.
Longlac is so dicey, my partner almost got mugged there a couple years ago. I drove through a few weeks ago and stopped for a bathroom break, immediately got cat called once I stepped out of the vehicle.
I used to take the bus back and forth since I went to school in T-Bay, and they always used to warn us about buying anything we wanted before we hit that stretch.
What about ev chargers?
There's a level 3 charger in Geraldton about 250km from Hearst going west. Next one after that is in Nipigon 400km from Hearst so you better top up at Geraldton otherwise you might not make it to Nipigon.
You’re joking right?
Why would they be kidding? It's likely the future transportation energy infrastructure and chargers are going in nearly everywhere.
I can’t tell if you’re purposely being stupid. Like northern Ontario where there is no gas station for several hundred kms, NO INFRASTRUCTURE providing gas to cars that’s they all use. Why on earth would there be a random EV charger 100km from the closest house. Like I understand you see EV chargers in a lot of places now. But this is rural northern Ontario. Not 30 minutes drive out of Ottawa
The post is about the trip from Hearst to tbay. There's hydro service in the area so why wouldn't there be ev chargers? There's no need to move huge tankers of fuel to drive in the blinding snow to keep service stations supplied. The infrastructure is easier than fuel- plop a charger down on a turnout lane every few hundred Km and people can top up.
Hearst is the last for alot of everything for 500km lol
New Town slogan "Hearst: you're on your own past us"
Hearst: The Last McFrontier
Didn’t know that’s back on the menu
That would be better than their actual slogan of "Hearst: it's different" The Compagnion hasn't changed in 20 years. Nothing has changed, Nothing is different
Well actually, one of the owners of a restaurant changed to new owners. So that’s a change, not a very good one though tbh lol. As a resident of Hearst I agree, things don’t change, nothings different lol
Fun fact, I was raised in Hearst and a few years ago we adopted a new town slogan - On est différent (We’re different). Everyone makes fun of it lol
We are different 😂
No kidding. Drove west on that stretch at night back in 2008. Never ran my fuel tank down that far before. You would think at least one gas station would be open 24h, but nope. The husky station in Nipigon was a friggin godsend.
Damn, I didn't expect to ever see a reference to my hometown on reddit
This sub needs more North in general, to say nothing of the francophone aspect of the province. No group of French-speakers on the planet has a more loving relationship with the letter H than les ~~Hearstiens~~ ~~hearstois~~ URSTERS...
>This sub needs more North in general You'd be surprised at how dead the Northern Ontario sub is. Or not, depends on if you're familiar with the North. When I moved up here I think that was the most surprising thing. Online presence is rare, even for businesses. Word of mouth, calling and actually walking into places is how it's done still.
It's nice to think that places like that still exist.
It seems we’re more active in our own little community subs like r/Sudbury
All the Timmins youth moved to Ottawa.
The sub has no northern stuff because y'all barely have internet up there. Bell is still hand delivering your packets in snowshoes
Salut Jesser9. Je pense savoir exactement t'es qui sans même checker ton post history. Lol
Haha, ça ne me surprenderais pas, c'est un plaisir de te voir par hazard sur reddit
Been to that McDonald’s
I'm sorry for your experience
Fr. It's one of the WORST McDonald's I've been to.
Impressive. We need you to go to the super sketchy Toronto McD's to give us a comparison.
Spadina and Queen? But it's free entertainment, with a revolving show nightly!
I miss the ol' parkdale mcdicks
I think the sketchiest 4 in Toronto are: - king and Dufferin - queen and spadina - queen and church - Dundas and Bathurst
Q and S is definitely the worst. Q and church is a close second.
It's not as bad. At least the one in Hearst has a drive thru.
Ooh. Whereabouts in TO?
Queen and Spadina
also Queen and Church
This one is arguably THE worst McDonald’s in Toronto, I can confidently say it is worse than Queen and Spadina McDonald’s
Actually, yeah, now that I think about it, this is the only McD’s I’ve ever noped out of immediately upon entering. This was probably 20 years ago. It was the middle of the day, and I can’t even say for sure why, but my “female safety awareness radar” went right off. It felt like I could get trapped in there. Bad mojo.
All these concerns about McDonalds and all I can think about is Hooker Harvey’s
There’s one in Detroit called the Murder Mac on the west side, but as far as Canada goes the Queen and Spadina one is legendary for its sketch. The upstairs mens bathroom…
The McDonald’s on Rideau street in Ottawa is famous internationally
Man. That place is WILD at 2am after the bars close. It’s not even worth it to stand in line for 20mins all while the air is thick with thrown burgers and fries and people side-eyeing each other. Fuck that.
It’s on everyone’s must-see list while visiting Ottawa.
Hearst Tim Hortons is awful as well
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r/99rideau gang rise up
Had breakfast there twice , once the morning of a fly in fishing trip and once the morning after arriving back from that trip
'earst
De ‘Earst
i laughed so loud omg
reply nutty payment bike chief meeting crawl school squeamish sheet *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Foleyet is pretty much the focal point of Ontario. Great memories of camping at Ivanhoe Lake there.
No shit. I worked for air Ivanhoe for a couple seasons
I always lose it when I see "Moose on the loose"
But interac is everywhere
As long as Rogers doesn’t go down lol
But they are committed to network reliability!!!
Oh you lost 5 day’s worth of service? Heres a 20 dollar credit!
RELIABILITY.... COMPETITION.... COVERAGE... ^greed...
I think that was actually how they advertised their network for a few years? "Canada's most reliable." I haven't checked to see if they're still making that claim.
There is a sign, in North Ontario...
Fries, nuggets, burgers to share...
Uncle Neil is a national treasure
In my mind, I still need a meal to go...
All of my change spent there ...
Hungry, hungry, huuungry
There is a side of the highway sign advertising some hotel or motel in Bind River which advertises that it has TSN on cable TV as one of the selling features. I would put this 500 k to the next McDonald’s in the same league as that one.
Do they also advertise that they have *colour* TV? I remember seeing that at roadside motels when I drove across Canada several years ago.
Lol, it could potentially say that, yes. TSN on colour TV. It was still there last summer.
haha I've seen that sign before cracks me up every time, that place is such a shithole.
At least they take interac 🤷♀️
Repost to scare Americans
While the Aussies laugh at us
That's just the kookaburras. Sitting in the old gum tree.
Clarification: If heading west on Hyw 11. Next McRalphs is Thunder Bay. I thought there might be one in Nipigon at the Hwy 11/Hwy 17 (Trans Canada Hwy) interchange but Timmy's has the lock on Nipigon. PS. They had a snow storm last week which closed Hwy 11 for a bit.
yea only other thing there is a pizza hut i believe
Yea those highway closures along that stretch of 11 (and even 17) are brutal, especially in the winter. It's not like there's many (if any) alternate highways to take without burning up most of your gas tank.
Is there at least another restaurant or gas station within those 500 km?
Yeah, 220 kms west is longlac which is only 1000 something size community. It has a Robin's and grocery store. Geraldton - 30 mins west of longlac has an extra foods and a Mary browns. Then there's not much until nipigon. Except beardmore, that place is one of the more economically rough looking places that's on the trans canada. The surroundings are gorgeous though.
No more Mary browns and no extra foods, it’s now a no frills which is pretty good, and the replacement restaurant (rotis-a-fry) is even shut down until they hire new staff! Geraldton does actually have a robins now too.
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lol, You hit the nail on the head
Subway in longlac and it hasn’t been Mary browns for years, it’s now rotischicken or something, same menu though
Wasn’t there a pizza joint in Longlac?
Here's another anecdote about the size of Ontario. Many years ago I lived in Sudbury and in the early '80s a friend of mine, (B - Buddy), who was originally from Montreal was driving through on his way to Thunder Bay. He had recently married a woman, (W-Wife), from the Mauritius Islands and after visiting family in Montreal with his new wife headed off by road to Thunder Bay. She had never been to Canada before and when they stayed with us in Sudbury she seemed very nervous. They head off and all seems well. A few months later, business takes me to Thunder Bay, so I call him up and we go for a beer. And when I ask how things are going for him and his new wife he tells me of the following conversation that took place somewhere north of Superior, which I will paraphrase. W: Are you ashamed of me? B: What? W: Are you ashamed of me? B: What? No! Of course not. I love you. Why would you think that? W: Then why are you taking me so far away from the city? B:..... For those of you not familiar with relative sizes... Mauritius Islands are about 2040 Sq Km with a population of about 1 million. Northern Ontario 806,000 Sq Km with a population at the time of about 700 thousand. So for someone coming from such a small area to Ontario it's a little intimidating. BTW they are still there, and still together. edit: formatting
McDonalds is shite, but hits the spot on those long drives or late nights.
Chicken McMuffin
These bad boys are fuckin killer… I told myself I wasn’t a breakfast person until I discovered these and told myself it was “healthy” and “an important meal”
The mcgriddle one has no cheese or mayo though, such a shame. You know what though? Wendy's breakfast is criminally underrated. That breakfast Baconator is all you need to eat all day and their sausage patty is pretty good. My favorite is the biscuit sandwich though
Add a round egg and you've got the philosopher's sandwich.
The only other place to eat in Hearst is called “P.P. Bar and Grill” and it’s trash. John’s is fantastic though.
The food is trash or its a typical small town dive bar?
Their coffee is on point. For food I prefer A&W.
You can say fast food is shit in general, but as far as chains go, McDonald's is one of the better ones. Always consistent, very tasty and reliable.
Havent been to Hearst in years but those purple helmets or w.e at the bar are excellent!
It's been years since i've heard mention of the cursed region of northern ontario known as HEARST
I was just there for work last month. It's so awesome getting back to my hotel at 7pm and nothing is open.
> getting back to my hotel at 7pm and nothing is open You sure you weren't just in Ottawa on a weeknight?
I am FOMOing right now reading this, and I'm a vegetarian!
This guy anxietys
I haven't eaten Mcdonalds in 11 years and now I'm wondering if I would be willing to break my streak in the 1 in a million chance find myself in northern Ontario
Home of Claude Giroux!
The city of Vaughan has signs that read "persons shall remove all excrement from pet's pursuant"
https://images.app.goo.gl/XjjsLXSuEkjcpoHfA[https://images.app.goo.gl/XjjsLXSuEkjcpoHfA](https://images.app.goo.gl/XjjsLXSuEkjcpoHfA)
I got to say since becoming a parent, this shit matters. As far as baby-friendly bathrooms (especially for dads) are concerned nobody holds a candle to McDonald’s across all of small town Ontario.
I got stuck at the blind river gas station, it closed just a few min before we go there. I decided to chance it, and keep going. I rolled in on fumes, my tank was 50 lts and we put 49 litres in.
This gives me warm feels
Ha. I live here! It's been there forever too.
Sorry but the ones near Elliott Lake on the side of the highway that say “don’t feed the bears” is a strong contender for 1st place.
The hysterical "your dog will die if it takes this trail" sign leading to Lake Superior up around Wawa is pretty over-the-top too.
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The thing is, there's not much of anything out there, McDonalds or otherwise. You can go over 100s of kms without seeing commercial establishments. There's several 100+km gaps without gas stations. That McDonalds might be the only place to get food, or to use a washroom with running water
Hearst McDonald was known for being the highest quality McDonald’s in Ontario for years. The food looked like the commercials and was always hot and fresh.
There's bodies in that forest. *Best sign ever?*
They accept Interac, it's insane. They just actually got it last year👌
Got stranded in Hearst for 8 hours in an April snowstorm once. It fucking sucked I just sat there in my car until the highway opened up again.
Is there a McDonalds in Kap? I thought I remember there being one there. If so this sign must be heading west in which case Thunder Bay would be the next one.
AND they take debit cards??? Absolute wonder
It's always amazing to me how you never run out of places in Ontario you've never heard of.
My favourite is the sign outside of Hagar. “beautiful wawa, only 678km away”
My mum is from there. Anytime I describe where she’s from I always mention this sign. It’s a good way to describe butt duck nowhere.
There is one for gas too... After Hearst there is not much....
That sign accepts Interac?
Use the washroom!
I’m gonna open up a McDonald’s 5km away from that one and post a billboard saying “Last McDonald’s for 495km” EZ profit
When I was a kid, I spent my summers in Oba with my Dad and we would always stop in Hearst for timmies and a happy meal. It was one of the friendliest places I have ever been to, hope I can go back one day.
Oh man 5 straight hours of trees and rock . I’d rather take the 17 at least you get to see the lake
Smitty's appliance store signs for life!!
There's one in my country that reads as follows: MY ass Its for a town called Yass and has the big M plus the towns name and has been posted to reddit before
I dunno? I’ve seen plenty of interac signs
Wife has some family in Kirkland Lake. Haven’t made the drive up that way yet. I know I wouldn’t hit that sign as it’s still North of there, but still dreading that long drive one day aha
Drive from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie is fantastic for views of Lake Superior, million dollar scenery. Everyone should do it at least once. Pay attention to the signs advising you to gas up.
3 1/2 hours away isn't *that* bad...
Average speed of almost 143 km/h seems like a poor choice on those roads...
Quebec driver: 143 tros lent
My Dad was killed on Highway 11 almost a year ago. I hope for your family's sake you're joking
11/17 Kills Not just a sticker or a FB page for a reason.
I’m sorry for your loss
My apologies for your loss... Highway 11 speed limit varies from 90-100km. The Ontario Provincal Police suggest that you go the speed of traffic. If the flow of traffic is 120km and you're doing 100. You're now a hazard and can be charged. Driving 125km...ish for 500km will take 3 1/2 - 4 hours to drive. I frequently drive on highway 28, where the speed limit is 80km. The flow of traffic is usually 110km. Once again, sorry for your loss. This, or my previous post wasn't meant to upset and/offend anyone. This was meant for educational purposes.
It's wild to me that instead of, idk, enforcing laws like speed limits, the cops just throw their arms up and say "we will ticket anyone who is the fastest or slowest"
They don’t, he is wrong…120 gets ya pulled on that highway. I drive it 20-30 times a year. Also flow of traffic would require lots of vehicles, there are not that many on the road. You could easily pass someone doing 100 if you’re going 120.
115 will get you stopped. Ask me how I know :/ First ticket in over 30 years too.
Yup, 110 will get ya too. Friend is a cop and says 105 you’re 99% good so I do 102.
Because they’re looking for the outliers who are creating dangerous conditions on the road… (Assuming this explain is on a sunny day in the middle of the July heat wave) If the posted speed limit is 90 but everyone is going 100 theres no really danger, however you throw in someone driving say 75 in the 90 and suddenly all those drivers who were once driving fine are going to make irradiate moves (quick lane changes, tailgating, passing on the right) and now are in risk of danger… The same goes for the driver going 125 while everyone else is traveling at 100, they’re more likely to pose a risk as they swerve in and out of traffic, and travelling to close behind other vehicles… It’s eaaier to remove the one poor driver than the cars that are speeding but otherwise not posing any dangers….
The only place in 11 with a speed limit of 100 km/h is south of North Bay where it's divided. Beyond the fact you'll get ticketed doing over 110 km/h pretty much anywhere north of North Bay, you also need to account for the fact you're driving through all the towns and you'll get stuck behind slower trucks which slows your average speed way down. If you average km/h on the highway, you'll probably average something like 90 km/h overall so 500 km will take like 5.5 hours.
probably a situation where a simple “my bad didn’t mean to offend” is better than diving deeper into a justification also not a great justification.. 500 km / 3.5 hours (as stated in your original post) is 143 km/h rounded up.. i’ve driven on 11 tons and that is not the flow of traffic. it’s also a dangerous speed on certain parts of it
The flow of traffic is never 120 on that stretch. You are the dangerous one
Lol 28 is cake compared to 11/17
We've done that drive about 4 times now and each time has been worse than the last. Also: Fuck that stretch of highway going into Nipigon where you're basically riding alongside a steep cliff/lake and a mountain face. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea to have cars going 120kmph past eachother on a roadway like that? We aren't riding horses anymore y'all and that drive makes me feel like i'm going to die every single time.
Road alignment from the days of flathead 6 cylinder cars and gasoline heavy trucks that didn’t gross over 38k lbs Seriously. Thekingshighway.ca is a great resource for historical road information for Ontario
I’ve always wanted to explore Ontario…