Highway 144
Highway 144 is a remote, narrow road that runs between Highway 17 near Sudbury, and the northern town of Timmins. Although I have yet to drive the entire length of 270 kilometers, my small forays on its southern edge have proven inspiring and wondrous.
To put it bluntly, 144 seems like a dangerous road. Due to construction and easement difficulties, there are entire portions with no shoulder whatsoever - just metal stakes and wire acting as a barrier between you and forests, lakes, rivers, and sudden drops. When a transport truck traveling at 100kph roars around a bend towards you, there’s a slight tightening of the hands on the steering wheel, and I can only imagine what it must be like in the winter. Rather…right NOW I can only imagine, as I’m certain I will return again when the land is covered in snow.
It’s the land that will bring you back again and again. The highway leaves the geological feature of the Sudbury Basin early on, and enters into what I believe are the remnants of a Dike Swarm. These rugged hills and bald rocks are even more prominent in the month of November - after the leaves have fallen and left the land exposed, but before the heavy snows that the area is known for.
Between the high rocky hills you frequently find beautiful rushing rivers, and gorgeous clear, placid lakes. The AY Jackson lookout is at the bottom of the highway, an area made famous by the Group of 7, and still a favorite for local hikers today. It looks over the Onaping River as it cascades over a particularly beautiful waterfall.
The human footprint is small. Thick boreal forests stretch as far as the eye can see, and only a few small, frequently abandoned farms dot the roadside on the southern stretch. This is a rugged, inhospitable land, a reminder that we in the Near North sit on the edge of what is still largely a dark continent.
The area is a haven for hunters, trappers, fishermen, and all who seek to leave behind civilization and connect with a wild, yet untamed land. The prior owner of my house was a trapper, and apparently moved up to live in a smaller home somewhere in the woods off the highway.
144 is a beguiling siren of a road, and one that I look forward to exploring in greater depth over the years to come.
Drive safe.