From St. John's to the Western Shore: Traveling in NFL

August 1, 2019

We have  reservations for our return to the mainland on August 9, so we only have eight more days on the Island. We have had unusually good weather for this part of the world and have been able to do more than we anticipated. We are now on the Western Shore at Gros Morne National Park and getting here has been so much  fun.

When we finished the loop for the southeastern “arm” of the Avalon Peninsula we wound up at Celtic Rendezvous, a small resort on the Atlantic Coast about 20 miles south of St. John’s.  The campground has only 20 spaces but is located on the top of a cliff overlooking the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  Just offshore are small islands that are seabird refuges, mostly Puffins.  Since the capelin (fish) attracts both birds and whales we had a lot to look at. One day we took a small boat tour around the Reserve and were immersed in Puffins! They were in the water, in the air, on the rocks…..everywhere. Everybody loves Puffins and we do too.

Puffin Rookery at Witless Bay

St. John’s is a good sized city with beautiful old buildings. It reminded me of Glasgow with its long hilly streets and tightly-packed town houses. The downtown and the harbor are very busy and parking is difficult. We did manage to have lunch in the old city before going to the museum. Called the Rooms, the building itself is a marvel and the exhibits are first-class. I finally got to see the fossil collection from Mistaken Point (and elsewhere in NFL). Cape Spear is not far from St. John's and since we didn't want to miss seeing the most northeasterly spot in North America, we had a very long day!

From Cape Spear to Europe

WWII Bunker on Cape Spear

Leaving the Eastern Shore we retraced our route on the TCH to Clerenville and turned north on to the Bonavista Peninsula. Everyone we met was so enthusiastic about it, so we went. 

Our campsite, at Cabot Lake RV Park, was on a small lake that emptied into a larger one. We were right beside the lake near a perfect little canoe launch, The setting was excellent but the facilities were not great and the weather was iffy.  We did stay a few days to give us a chance to explore the area. We visited Trinity, a charming village with lots of historical buildings and tons of tourists. We encountered our first tour bus here. 

One the positive side, we missed a turn on the way to the town of Bonavista and traveled on a secondary road where we saw several moose. We went to Cape Francis to see where Cabot landed and hit the jackpot by seeing The Dungeons Provincial Park. There were also lots of whales playing in the bay around the cape. We enjoyed the Bonavista Peninsula and I’m glad we went. That said, it now goes into the “Been There – Seen That” bucket.

Cabot statue at Cape Francis

Moose

Campsite at Cabot Lake

Bonnie meets a Moose

Back on the TCH we made sure to stop in Gander at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum. Newfoundland has a deep history in the aviation world and also in the birth of electronic communications. In the previous weeks we had visited a number of stark and windy outposts where early aviators waited to cross the Atlantic and/or lonely telegraph operator’s maintained stations. The Aviation museum had excellent exhibits but the most moving were the 911 artifacts. "When the World Came to Gander". 

The Central Section of NFL doesn't seem as sexy as the coasts but last spring I read an excellent book, The River Thieves, about the demise of the Boetuck people, which occurred at Red Indian Lake south of Badger. The Exploits River is the longest river in NFL and flows from the Red Indian Lake to Exploits Bay. It was a major transportation link for European explorers and settlers and enabled the Boetucks to be hunted down and killed. As a result, I was interested in this area and in the Exploits River.

 We camped at Brookdale RV in Bishop’s Falls for a few days.  Our assigned site was wooded and private but it was too far from level for us to use it. There is only so far that you can go with a camper and plastic leveling blocks and that does not include two feet off the ground in front and 18” on the sides! The manager let us choose a spot and our choice was the middle of a gravel parking lot. By now we have learned that in this country trees equal bugs, vicious bugs. It was a nice place though with excellent trails to walk Bonnie.

First, we went whitewater rafting through the Exploits River Gorge. It was just Butch and I with the guide (Ryan) and a safety boater (Mitch) both 19 year old college students. They were great guys, full of youthful enthusiasm but not experienced on any whitewater except this section of the Exploits. The put-in was unbelievable! Picture rough cut stone "steps" (sort of) down a steep incline to a 500 yard boulder field (no defined path) to a "splash in" entry to the river. That means we were to jump into the river, then crawl into the raft. We declined and eased our way between two boulders instead. The raft, safety ducky, and all the gear was transported into the gorge via a zip line. The raft was too short (about 10 feet) for this type of whitewater and the "safety" boat was an Aire ducky. Off we Go! The Gorge itself was  a short run, less than two miles,  but it was fast, high volume water with big wave trains and lots of technical stuff. Our guide fell out at the first rapid. Butch had to bend his bionic knee at an odd angle, and I had no idea which line we should follow but was paddling like mad.

Ryan pulled himself into the raft, we achieved an eddy. The guys were obviously anxious. Here they were with two old folks and the river was higher and pushier than they anticipated. They called their boss. Butch and I were fine. They decided to strap the safety boat on the raft and put Mitch in with us. I would not have done that but I wasn't calling the shots. We sailed through the rest of the rapids with no problem. Snapped the eddies and punched through the waves.  Butch was able to paddle just as aggressively from the floor and I am old but strong. They invited us to join them next day at half price! Their business needs work but I hope they are successful.  

While at Bishop’s Falls, we went to Botwood to see the seaplane memorial and made a loop out to Fortune Harbor, following the Bay of Exploits. We also hiked the Gorge the  to see where we had been. Our last day we took a long ride southwest of Grand Falls-Windsor to the community of Buchans, a former mining town that now looks like a near-abandoned military base  Since we had a jeep, we were able to take a mining company road out to the bridge that crosses the Exploits River near Red Indian Lake. We had now followed the Exploits from its source to its confluence with the ocean. 

On the road again, we drove back to Deer Lake and made the turn north to revisit fabulous Gros Morne.