r/geography • u/christopherbonis • Oct 06 '24

Terrifyingly Vast Discussion

Post image

So I live in Massachusetts. And from my point of view, Maine is huge. And indeed, it’s larger than the rest of New England combined.

And I also think of Maine as super rural. And indeed, it’s the only state on the eastern seaboard with unorganized territory.

…and then I look northward at the Quebec. And it just fills me a sort of terrified, existential awe at its incomprehensible vastness, intensified by the realization that it’s just one portion of Canada—and not even the largest province/territory.

What on Earth goes on up there in the interior of Quebec? How many lakes have humans never even laid eyes on before—much less fished or explored? What does the topography look like? It’s just so massive, so vast, so remote that it’s hard for me even to wrap my head around.

5.6k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

View all comments

410

u/GoldenBuffaloes Oct 06 '24

Maybe my favorite region on Earth. I’ve spent so much time on Google maps just looking at the remoteness of Quebec. All the lakes are forests are so cool.

99

u/christopherbonis Oct 06 '24

You and me both! Australia and the Amazon too. I find it oddly relaxing (but scary).

38

u/tytrim89 Oct 06 '24

You should start looking at Africa, too, specifically off tributaries of the Congo River. I was looking for super remote places and ended up looking at random barren spots in the jungle, 50-100 miles, as the crow flies from any other signs of human habitation.

3

u/christopherbonis Oct 06 '24

Believe me, I have. The DRC is insane.

20

u/sairam_sriram Oct 06 '24

Become a driver for a Google Street car. You'll get to explore the vastness, and you'll be safe, and you'll get paid for it.

12

u/markothebeast Oct 06 '24

dream job.

13

u/christopherbonis Oct 06 '24

Ha, if only there were roads up there!

2

u/merryman1 Oct 06 '24

Do it over PNG! Gets fun when you spot some tiny little village in the middle of vast tracts of jungle.

3

u/Vandrel Oct 06 '24

It's super interesting to look through the photos available on Google maps for extremely remote locations. Random research stations, mining towns, villages on the northern edge of Siberia, etc.

3

u/HabitantDLT Oct 07 '24

The Manicouagan Reservoir is one of a few really neat features of the region's geography.

6

u/isakitty Oct 06 '24

I really want to go to that circular lake formed from an asteroid strike!

2

u/Successful-Mine-5967 Oct 06 '24

my father has a camp in the woods there, lots of lake trout and giant pike, really cool area

1

u/mattehohoh Oct 06 '24

Same. I'd love to visit Torngats National Park some day. It's expensive and fascinating.

1

u/Caniapiscau Oct 07 '24

Fun fact: more than a third of all the lakes in the world are located in Québec. That’s prime territory for incoming water wars.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/cpadg4/map_of_all_14_million_lakes_in_the_world_10_ha_or/

1

u/OfficeSalamander Oct 07 '24

I sorta want to drive up to the top of it at some point

1

u/OfficeSalamander Oct 07 '24

I really want to drive up there at some point, to the very northern part of the road

1

u/Loyalfish789 Oct 09 '24

It's awesome when you fly over by plane. From above, it looks like complete wilderness.