Summer 2015 – The Maritimes -Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador – Part (3)
7/22/15 We head to Gros Morne National Park… We had made reservations at Gros Morne RV Campground about midway into Gros Morne. (Note: get you groceries in Grand Fall Windsor as their isn’t anything in Gros Morne close except a small market.) This campground looks like it will be one of the highest rated private campgrounds of the trip so far. Sites are nice and spacious with some grassy area’s adjacent to the sites. Surprise, the sun is trying to come out today so we deicide to take a hike in Gros Morne this afternoon. The trail is called the Coastal trail. This is a scenic trail along the river where we see plenty of fishermen at the mouth before we turn up the coast. We must of missed the trail sign and end up hiking the beach which is entirely rock and boulders as far as we can see in any direction. While the views are beautiful the rocks are very challenging, an ankle breaker waiting to happen. We hike all the way along the beach until we meet the real trail again, a considerable distance down the coast. We decide to take the interior trail back which is through the woods and forest. We see the most moose skat along this trail that we have ever seen. They say their are more moose in New Foundland than anywhere, we just haven’t seen any. (Note: their are some Red Adirondack Chairs at the mouth of the river where we decide to take a break before finishing the hike. Apparently the Red chairs are a signature of the Canadian Parks system.) We often found on many National Park Trails the red chairs, which served as a reward on many of our hikes.
7/23/15 The rain is back. After being on the road for several weeks and the weather again not cooperating we decide that today is a R& R day for relaxing and just getting caught up on some domestic cleaning and organizing. We spend the entire day at the campground though did venture out for an ice cream around 8:00pm. We weren’t on the road, outside the park, for 2 minutes and get pulled over by a Canadian Mounted Police. He was nice and just wanted to make sure we were ok as we were looking very lost in the dark. He said, be careful of moose, and then sends us on our way. Unfortunately with this small delay we arrive at the ice cream place as they they were closing We tried 2 other ice cream stores and ultimaely ended up at a gas station that sold hard ice cream. Heading back to he campground we discovered the gates were locked. Fortunately their was just enough room for my truck to 4-wheel around everything to get back into the campground. For a simple desert run we had quite an adventure.
7/24/15 Rain again… though decide to head to the “Tablelands “ with hopes to taking a guided park tour. It cleared just enough and the tour was excellent. We see and hear about this unique place and find out it is one of the major reasons Gros Morne is a World Heritage site. It is one of the only places in the world that you can see the mantle easily. By the time the hike ends we see the sun starting to peak through.
We decide to continue through he “Tablelands” Valley and head to Trout River. several people on the Tablelands tour tell us about a hike in Trout River and a place for lunch called the Seaside Cafe. Seaside Cafe is a simple, charming, water front cafe that has a chowder that is delicious! After lunch we walk through the small town and head to the trail head. On the way to the trail head we find a small museum that explains some of the history of Trout River. Their are 2 interns working the museum and both are from Trout river. Neither of them have strayed very far from family and this area and during the conversation each tell us about how they each use snowmobiles so they can attend school in the winter months. This is an isolated area with some very tough winters. They say the road we traveled from the Tablelands is usually closed all winter which is the only road leading to them. They show us the way to the trail head and we take the hike which is about 4km round trip. The hike has some great views of the ocean and Trout River. Definitely worth the steps to walk off lunch.
We stop at the Discovery Information Center for Gros Morne on the way back from Trout River and talk to many friendly people and ask suggestions regarding other hikes and something tonight. They allow us to use their phone and we make reservations for the “Anchors Away Show” in Rocky Harbor, where we are camping. We race home to shower and change and head to the show.
The show starts at 8:00 PM but apparently people start arriving at 4:00 pm to get seats. The show is very fun and entertaining and we would highly recommend you take the time to attend. The accordion player is the star of the show and the entire group is very talented. It didn’t end until almost 11:00 PM so we were slightly stressed about getting in the campground again but find a back entrance that works well for us.
7/25/15 We wake to the nicest day we have seen since arriving in Newfoundland. The company that sells ticket for the “Anchors Away show” also sell tickets for the “Western Brook Pond Boat Tour”. We had bought tickets the night before and are ecstatic the weather is going to cooperate. We leave the campground around 9:30 for the drive to the trail head. That’s right this tour is about a 3Km hike from the trail head. The hike is not hard though it is a ways. The boat tour though the fjords is spectacular in every way. $30.00 per person is money well invested in this scenic tour and the weather couldn’t have been better today. This tour can’t be missed on your trip to Newfoundland and Gros Morne.
After hiking back we decide to do a picnic lunch though not before we see a bear across the pond foraging for food. We start looking at the trail maps and look at 3 different hikes. We decide to take the middle distance hike, Baker’s Brook Falls”, which is about 10K roundtrip. We begin the trail at 3:00 PM. while not over strenuous it is a long hike at 10K after already doing 6k in the morning. Baker’s Brook Falls has some terrific photo ops and we arrive back at 6:00 PM at the truck. Here’s a link to the Hikes in Gros Morne National Park.
We decide to have a nice dinner on the grill and just get a good shower before turning in. We know we are going to be boondockng the next couple of days.
7/26/15 Today we leave for St. Barbe and the Northern points of Newfoundland. Before we depart Gros Morne we decide to make a quick stop at Lobster Cove Head and the Lighthouse.
The drive up the coast is a full day though the landscape is quite different than others parts we have visited. In New Foundland, you can always see either the mountains or ocean and most of the time both. One thing we forgot to point out, that when you are driving around Newfoundland you often find piles of wood and gardens along the side of the road. Apparently it is accepted practice for New Foundlanders to have these wood piles easily accessible for the winter months. This seems like a long tradition of practice and a active honor system is in place where that no one will bother your wood pile or garden.
St Barbe is where the Ferry Terminal is for Labrador. When we planned this trip we also included a bucket list item to visit Labrador. Across from the Ferry terminal is a small gravel pit campground with a couple of sites, though we inquire if their is any place to boondock. They tell us to take the road just back down the street, which will wind out to the ocean, and their are plenty of places to just pull over and camp. As we pull past the fisheries we come upon a motorhome, connected to a box trailer, just parked looking over the ocean. We stop and get the lay of the land and they say they have been there about a week with no issues. We scope out some adjacent areas though their appears to be far too many nails in the areas, used to rebuild the lobster traps. We decide to move on. We find a grassy area close to the road about mile further down the road. The site is level and across the street from a cemetery. Great view of the water, private, and the price is right, “free”. For a little post dinner stroll we decide to walk through the cemetery across the road. The touching markers and monuments are we’ll decorated in here. Their family history and pride is very evident for this final resting place for so many from this area. We can’t believe how many people stop by here this evening. Probably the busiest cemetery I’ve ever seen, especially for such a small town.
St Barbe Boonocking
7/27/15 Our ferry for Labrador is at 10:00am, which means we have to be at the dock by 9:00 am. The cost for ferrying the camper over is cheaper than just taking the truck and getting a Bed & Breafast in Labrador which was our original plan. We meet some wonderful people on the ferry, who offer us a campground site for free with hook-ups for the evening. It’s a generous offer though we decide to drive to Red Bay instead. Red Bay, Labrador is the last paved road in Northern Canada. From there it is all gravel and dirt going North and West on the TCH. Note: the weather is no different in Labrador as it’s raining, cold , and very foggy. Driving North to Red Bay we decide to stop at the Visitors Center first. The second stop is the Point Amour Lighthouse.
Point Amour Lighthouse -Labrador
We depart the lighthouse at 3:00 PM and decide to continue our drive to Red Bay. The terrain here is much different than anywhere’s we’ve been on Newfoundland. Just as we make the turn into Red Bay we come upon one of the largest icebergs we have ever seen right in the harbor. Big Wow Factor! We decide to do the Whalers Museum in town. (another Unesco World Heritage Site) We ask someone in the museum about a good place for boondocking for the night and he directs us to a trail head, just outside of town, we had passed on the way in.
Welcome to Red Bay, Labrador
We depart the museum and even though we plan on eating at the Whaler Cafe we deicide we should check out the boondocking site before it gets any later. As we turn into the road we were directed, we see a perfect place to camp. I get out to look the site over and I’m immediately attacked by the most black flies/mosquitos I have ever seen. We’ve heard stories, though hadn’t seen this yet. I have to tell you this was nothing like I have ever experienced before. My white truck was almost black with so many mosquitos clinging to it. I guess we should have heeded those clues when we saw mosquito repellent being sold every place we visited, along with netting. We did everything we could to get turned around quickly, before literally being eaten alive at this spot. It was a nice spot though their was no way we could set-up in that.
We decide to head back into town for dinner and just put off the camp site decision. We park in this dirt parking lot right across from the restaurant downtown on the water. It really isn’t much of a town though we were definitely parked in the middle of it. The Whaler Cafe had come recommended by several people and we were not disappointed. A good meal for a fair price. We ask our waitress about a place to camp for the night, after relaying our mosquito story. She laugh’s and says that’s the way it is here except right down by the water because of the wind. She asks where our camper is now. We point to it out the window in the small parking lot. She responds, “why don’t you just camp there for the night” We immediately say- “Can we?” and she responds – “Why Not?” The people in Labrador are as friendly as the people in New Foundland. We pay our bill and walk acrross the street and get into our home for the night in downtown Red Bay, Labrador.
About 3:30 in the morning we hear the heater starting to make funny noises and discover that we have to switch to our other propane tank as tank one is nearly empty. Good thing we have a backup, as it is cold again.
7/28/15 We have a terrific pancake breakfast before departing Red Bay for our slow ride back to the ferry. We stop to take some pictures on the way though are again swarmed by the black flies. We spend over 10 minutes trying to kill the ones that had clinged to our clothes, once back in the truck. Joanne and I both agree we aren’t getting out again as the flies are just too bad.
We arrive back to the ferry terminal early and decide to head south along the coast for some additional sightseeing, crossing into Quebec for about 20 miles. The beaches are very beautiful in this area. Turning around we finally arrive in time for our 3:30 ferry back to Newfoundland.
Note:
- The roads in Labrador are terrible. Be prepared for lots of potholes and bumps.
- The flies are no joke here. I repeat they are no Joke!
- Gas is readily available though more expensive then New foundling.
- Gravel Pit/Boondocking iOS very easy and accepted here.
- We exchanged some money here and got the best exchange rate of the trip at the L’Ans Au Loop Credit Union.
After de-boarding the ferry in Newfoundland we drive 1.5 hours North to St Anthony’s and Triple Falls RV Park. We so wanted a river front site though after trying to maneuver into site 21 several times we finally decide to go to the lower gravel lot which is a lot easier. We were the only camper in this area of the park and it worked well.
Triple Falls Rv Park – St. Anthonys, NL – R&R by the camp fire…
7/29/15 We wake to rain again (big surprise) and decide to do the Grenfell Museum. The museum is well worth the time. Dr. Wilfred Grenfell was a missionary doctor that came to Labrador/Newfoundland to help with health, social life, and education. He made a significant difference in the lives of fisherman and their families in the late 1800’s. As we depart the musuem the weather seems to be clearing and we spend the balance of the day discovering St. Anthony’s. We visit the coves of Great Behrat, St. Carols, Anthony Bight, and the last stop is Goose Cove. We could visit cove’s, fishing villages, and hking trails all day in this area.
7/30/15 This morning we are heading to L’anse aux Meadows…. Home of the first Viking landing and village in North America. It’s only about a 30 minutes so we are glad we have modified our plans to stay 3 nights in St Anthony’s instead of 2 nights there and 2 nights in L’anse aux Meadows. We arrive in time to take the 10:15 tour that includes a short hike to the Vikings village and a presentation. After the tour we watch the short video and look thorough the small museum. While the tour included a short hike we decide to take an additional hike here called the “Noddy Bay Trail” . The trail takes you up a mountain, by the ocean, which had some unbelievable views. As we approach the top the fog begins rolling in and the weather changes very abruptly. While the round trip hike was like 2 hours it definitely had some challenge and the weather really was a factor after we got to the top and on our descent. We really enjoyed this hike and the views. We saw some whales from here as well.
7/31/15 We depart Triple Falls Rv Park for a trip south along the coast. We have left this area a few days ahead of schedule because we thought we would like to visit Gros Morne again for a few days. On the way we stop to see the Salmon swimming upstream at “Torrent River Salmon Interpretation Center”. Here’s a little video of the Salmon….
The drive is 3.5 hours and we are hoping to get a campsite at a little campground on Bonny Bay right on the water. We had seen this campground on our previous visit. It’s name is “The Water’s Edge” .We are lucky as their are 2 sites left in this little campground. Our site literally is hanging over the water of Bonny Bay. A beautiful site.
Water’s Edge – Shoal Brook – Gros Morne National Park
We get un -hooked and quickly head to the Vistors center with the hope of taking “Look -Out Trail” . This trail is very diverse and quite challenging in parts. When you reach the top the views are spectacular. You can see Bonny Bay, Gros Morne Mountain, The Tablelands, and Lookout Hill. It’s about a 5K round trip with some steep elevation changes. It was so worth the effort to finally sit in the “Red chairs ” at the top, with those views. (Note: No matter how warm you are at the start of the trail bring a wind breaker because at the top you will definitely need it.)
A video from the top of Lookout Trail… (sorry for the wind though it is pretty intense up on top)
That night we sit by the water enjoying our dinner and reflect on such a great day on the trail.
8/1/15 Because we had left L’anse aux Meadows early we still have another day to enjoy Gros Morne. We decide to have a quick breakfast in the Town of Woody Point. The town is cute though we wished we had skipped the dining there. We end up at the trail head for this moderate hike called “Green Gardens Short Trail” . It’s about 9K round trip. The hike is pretty strenuous though very worth it. One of the high points was when we emerged from the trees into some long grass fields. Here high on the rocky coastline we stumbled upon a heard of sheep just wildly grazing in the area. Between the Red Chairs and the sheep this was a very memorable hike. Recapping the day back at Water’s Edge we were so glad we had come back to Gros Morne for a second time. Between our camp-site and hiking this really is one of our most favorite areas of Newfoundland.
Gros Morne NP – Saying goodbye…
8/2/15 We depart the Water’s Edge campground for Stephenville, NL. We are now headed south as we only have a couple of days left in New Foundland. Our goal today is to find a campground by Stephensville to drop the trailer, and then head out on a drive to explore Cape St. George. We find a great campground in Kippens, (Zenzville Campground). We drop the camper off quickly, in a pull through site, and head out to explore the Cape St. George area. While the drive is absolutely beautiful (mostly along the coastline) there isn’t much reason to stop. We did stop at Hidden Falls for a picnic lunch. We complete the Cape St George Loop in about 4 hours and then head to the campsite for a campfire and dinner.
8/3/15 this is our last full day in Newfoundland. We can’t believe we have been here for 25 days, which is not nearly enough, and the time has gone by so fast. We eat breakfast early and head to the last campground in New Foundland. Grand Cod Roy RV- Tent Camping Park. As we pull in we discover this is the nicest campground of the trip, though also the most expensive. We chose this campground for it’s easy convenience to the ferry for Nova Scotia.
After setting up we head to Port aux Basques another 45-50 minutes to the southern most part of New Foundland, accessible by vehicle. The drive is spectacular and hard to describe. Their are so many lakes at the top of the hills and mountains. Every turn is another picture postcard. We stop at Diamond Cove and then head to the Rose Blanche Lighthouse.
After doing some strolling at the lighthouse grounds and taking the tour we begin the drive back. We decide to have one more meal in New Foundland at the Seaside Restaurant in Margaree, NL We decide to share the table with 2 retired teachers from Minnesota. They are very friendly and have been on their rode trip for months in a mini van. They were fun to meet and very adventurous.
8/3/15 We board the ferry for Nova Scotia. We meet 3 couples on the ferry line, all full-timers that have been in New Foundland exploring for nearly 2 months. We share stories and ask them many questions about their time on the rode as full-timers. Some day that will be us.. I’m sure the next time we return to Newfoundland we will slow down and try to enjoy it even more if possible….
Sunset on Newfoundland – This is a magical place…. Until next time.
