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.  

Boondocking at Mt Carmel to Bauline East near St Johns NFL

July 22:

Would you believe that on Friday I got us lost leaving Mt Carmel….again! This village is about the size of Sopchoppy but there are three paved roads that intersect there at the head of a bay. For some reason I kept wanting to go south instead of east. When I could get a cell phone signal I kept trying to get us a camp site for the night. No luck. It was Crab Festival Weekend at Holyrood and the best I could do was a promise of a space in a field that would allow us to use their washrooms. For $40!

Going south put us on the southeastern “claw” of the Avalon Peninsular doing a loop that would bring us back to the vicinity of St. John’s, NFL’s capitol city. It was another stunningly beautiful day with miles and miles of amazing ocean views. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center for the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve and dropped the RV in their parking lot so that we could use the Jeep to go out to Cape Race. 

 Mistaken Point’s  580 million year old fossils are the oldest known complex, multicelluar organisms in the world. You can only go out on the cliffs with a guide, it is a rough five mile hike, and it was freezing cold. We passed on seeing fossils “in situ” and opted for waiting to see them in the museum in St. Johns.

It was freezing out at Cape Race too, but having the Jeep enabled us to follow trails out over the tundra right to the edge of the cliffs. It is no wonder that so many ships wrecked here. It is just about as desolate as it gets! The amazing thing is the immense variety of wildflowers! They are rarely more than three or four inches high but the ground is covered with them and they are so colorful. There are  a number of different varieties of orchids that are native to  NFL and some of them grow in the tundra and are almost too small to see.

Looking for a campsite we figured it would be another gravel pit but luck was with us. We stopped at a Provincial Park near Burnt Cove just for the heck of it. They were full but the Ranger suggested we try Celtic Rendevous just three miles down the road. I called and they had a spot for a small RV! We are so grateful for our small rig.  Nearly every campground can tuck us in somewhere.

More about Celtic Rendevous later.

Ghost Villages of the Baie Vert Peninsular

One of the highlights of our trip so far

Stream at Tilt's Cove below a huge abandoned Copper Mine

Snooks Arm

Road to Round Harbor

is the day we took the Jeep and explored abandoned or near abandoned villages south of La Scie. With Confederation, the Canadian government resettled thousands of folks living in remote coves and villages all over Newfoundland and Labrador. There are said to be over 700 such communities. Some of them were never completely abandoned and some are beginning to be repopulated. Many of them can only be reached by boat. I wanted to share some photos of our (mostly) off-road trip.

Twillingate to the Southeastern Avalon Peninsular NFL

July 18:

Our campsite at Dildo Run was just about perfect in the style of State/Provincial parks. Our spot was shady, spacious, and over-run with mosquitoes. I felt right at home! We had 20 amps electric but no potable water. It also had only one vacancy and that was for only one night. So off to Twillingate the next morning to another drive-in movie style place. Payton Woods RV Park was hosting a Fantasy Caravan of 20 + monster rigs so we little guys were put in the back in what looked like a recently cleared gravel guarry.  The sites were so narrow that you had to keep you elbows at your sides when you went outside.

Twillingate is famous for being located on Iceberg Alley and for whale watching. We had reservations for an afternoon boat trip but it was cancelled due to rain. The next day was little better but we did get out in the afternoon to see the lighthouse and to buy some groceries. That night we went to the Twillingate Dinner Theater for lobster and entertainment. I am always amazed at the talent hiding in little towns. Local folks who do ordinary jobs during the day and turn into first class musicians at night. The skits were a little hokey but the actors clearly enjoyed themselves so much that the audience had to join in.

Leaving Twillingate we took the longer coast road back to the TCH.  This eastern coast faces directly on the North Atlantic with no barrier islands and is noted for its long, sandy beaches. The huge boulders along the shore have been so worn by the surf that they are as smooth as pebbles. The shoreline is covered with low growing gorse and is full of wildflowers. We saw a lot of dispersed camping in this region with travel trailers just sitting out in the dunes. The sand is treacherous though, just like at home.

Opps!

We stopped at the community of Dover to climb the overlook to see the Dover Fault. It looks just like any other narrow inlet and it is hard to believe that one side of it was what is now Europe, the other side South America. (That is a very simplistic description of course.) In 1929 there was a 7+ magnitude earthquake there that caused tsunami’s as far away as Cape Breton Island.

We spent the night at a 300+ site campground right off the TCH called Jakes Pond. Our expectations were low so we had a pleasant surprise. This CG is spread along the shore of a lovely “pond” (e.g. lake).  There were some campers in small loops, but for the most part everybody had a waterfront site. Ours was right beside the water and we had great neighbors.

From Jakes Pond, located at Arnold's Harbor, we left the TCH and took a long loop road down the southwest side of the Avalon Peninsular. The scenery was beyond spectacular. We stopped a lot to explore and to let Bonnie run. We walked on the beach at Gooseberry Cove and we drove out to the Cape St. Mary’s Ornocological Seabird Ecological Preserve where we saw thousands of nesting birds.

The zillions of white spots are birds. The "snow" on the cliffs are nesting birds.

We put in a long day today and learned a valuable lesson. When you ask a Newfy for information or directions, be sure that you have your map and a pencil handy. We are truly people  separated by a common language! We became so thoroughly lost that we had to disconnect the Jeep and scout for a place to park for the night as there were no designated campgrounds in the area.We eventually bedded down in an old gravel site just outside the village of Mount Carmel on St. Mary’s Bay. No services, but it was private, quiet…….and cheap! Newfoundland is full of spots to pull off and camp but we don't do it unless absolutely necessary.

Boondocking at Mt. Carmel

Epic Journey Phase III. Exploring Eastern Newfoundland

It has been 25 days since lift off from Sopchoppy we are well into Phase III of our trip: When we visited Newfoundland/Labrador in 2008 we stayed strictly on the western coast. It was fabulous and we hope to end this trip there, but this time we wanted to go East first.

  

We finished up Nova Scotia by spending Tuesday (7/ 9) on the coast of Chedabucto Bay. I read about a good sea glass beach at Queensport so we went to check it out. This area of Nova Scotia is very old and some of the villages date from the 1600’s. There is even a little park outside Queensport in honor of Earl Stanley of Orkney who some believe landed nearby in 1360. The Scots feel that his discoveries were ignored by the Roman Church in favor of Spanish and Portuguese sailors who were from more acquiescent countries. An interesting idea.

We drove to North Sydney on Wednesday and parked at Walmart for a few hours before going to the Ferry Terminal about 7 pm. It was cheaper to board the Jeep and the RV on separate tickets so we disconnected. I was in the front of row nine; Butch was in the back of row 10. We hung out in the camper until about 9:15 pm when the first boarding call went out. I was loaded by 9:45; it took Butch until 10:30. As a result of making late reservations, we couldn’t get a cabin so we got reserved seats in the recliner section instead. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t great either. Bonnie had the best deal as she stayed in her bed in the camper.

We disembarked in Port au Basque NFL just before 7 am on Thursday. I was the second vehicle off the ferry and Butch was not too far behind. We hooked up the Jeep and headed out for Corner Brook.  We pulled into the Visitor’s Center there and slept for about three hours. They have restrooms, a dump station, potable water, and are super nice. They are accustomed to exhausted folks coming off the night ferry.

We drove less than an hour to Deer Lake and spent the night at Gateway to the North Campground. This is a “drive-in movie” type set up but the sites are not crowded and they have 3-way hookups.  We chatted a bit with the owner and learned a lot about the Baie Verte Peninsula, an area of interest to us. He turned out to be somewhat of an amateur geologist, archeologist, and all-around expert on Baie Verte. The next morning we set down with him and our detailed maps to pick his brains about where to go. His advice was priceless. There is nothing like a knowledgeable local to steer you in the right direction.

On Friday we drove from Deer Lake out onto the Baie Verte Peninsula to La Scie on Cape St. John. In 60+ years of camping this spot ranks in the top 10 for sheer spectacular-ness.  Island Cove CG is owned by the municipality of La Scie and is atop a cliff overlooking the harbor, the Manful Bight, and the North Atlantic. The village also maintains a series of hiking trails that traverse the cliffs, the coves and beaches, and the hills above the town. There were two other campers when we arrived but they left the next morning, leaving us all by ourselves.

Baie Verte is mineral rich and is full of old mines and quarries. Copper, asbestos, talc, silica, and gold were mined here in the past and gold is being mined again. On the way out to La Scie we stopped at a Virginite quarry and picked up some beautiful specimens. We also found the serpentine deposits that Jerrod had told us about but we could access them because the ground was so wet.

Saturday we spent the day exploring some of the coves and harbors near La Scie. There are over 700 abandoned towns/villages in NFL and many of them are these little fishing or mining coves. It was a serious off-road adventure and we were so glad to have the Jeep. At Tilt Cove we visited an abandoned copper mine and found lots of sea glass. At Round Harbor we saw a true ghost town. Everywhere we saw absolutely gorgeous scenery and we met kind and lovely people.

This morning we drove back to the TCH (TransCanada Hwy) and continued eastward to Norris Arm where we turned north to go to Twillingate. We are at Dildo Run Provincial Park tonight on New World Island.Tomorrow we have reservations for a sea cruise to see icebergs. 

 All of the photos were made from the walkways around our Campground at La Scie. 

Exploring the Northumberland Shore

July 9, 2019

Finding a Base Camp is always challenging and sometimes it requires lots of compromising of our ideal. We traveled up the Northumberland Shore and settled for a two nights at Seafoam Campground. It is a huge place, 300+ RV’s in a large field. The first night was not bad but the second was so noisy that sleep was out of the question. On the positive side, the owners were very nice and helpful and the beach access was great. We took Bonnie down, unhooked her lease, and let her run. Never-the-less, old folks cannot subsist without sleep so we moved on.

Moving on consisted of traveling only an hour further up the coast to this absolutely super spot at Linwood Habor Campground. It is Base Camp Heaven.  It is a small campground on the banks of an inlet from St. George Bay. We have a spacious and shady site, everything is immaculately clean, and the owners are great. We arrived Sunday afternoon and will leave tomorrow. There is no direct water access but it is only three miles to a wonderful and remote stretch of coast where we can beachcomb to our hearts content.

On Sunday afternoon we drove back to Antigonish and down to the beach to Arisage Provincial Park. I read in a local paper that they had fossil cliffs there. We walked a beautiful trail along the cliffs, descended to the shore beside a waterfall, and encountered a stunning beach with lots of cliffs and rocks and sea caves. We didn’t find any fossils but we had lots of fun.

Yesterday, we traveled the other direction (north) and crossed the Canso Causeway to Cape Breton Island. We opted for the shore road at Port Hastings as our destination was the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre at Judique. For the past 25 years or so the folks on Cape Breton, and especially those in Inverness County, have concentrated on reviving and restoring their traditions of Celtic music and dance. The Centre has interactive exhibits, music demos and lessons, camps, and lots of Ceilidths. The entire “Musical Coast” has hundreds of summer and fall events.  The Centre also has an excellent café that features a ceilidh from 11:30 to three every day.  The food and the music were outstanding!

After leaving Judique we went a little further north to Mobou and took a secondary road out to Mabou Harbor. The entire geology is different in what is called the “Mabou Highlands”.  There are beautiful white gypsum cliffs and the beaches are sandy.  They have just resumed coal mining in this area which is not popular with the locals.

We returned to "Base" via an inland country road that had lovely rolling hills and lots of small ponds. It is SO green here and the wildflowers are profuse. Our temperatures are in the 70's during the day, 50's at night. BUT the no-see-ums are dreadful in late afternoon-early evening when the wind calms down. 

Tomorrow is moving day. We will head to North Sydney where we will catch the Ferry to NFL tomorrow night.

The beach at Seafoam

The beach at Arisage         

The Beach at Arisage

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