Gravel Roads And Arches

We survived it!  We survived camping in the cold!  We are currently in a motel room in St. Barbe and are hoping to get a spot on the ferry to Labrador tomorrow morning.  Should have had a reservation but every time I tried to book it online I got an error message so I decided to chance it.  Turns out it is fully booked but apparently they do give away spots on a first-come basis.  The Ferry terminal is in the same building as this motel so we should be able to pull it off.

Now, I do believe that the last blog post mentioned something about how it was not supposed to be cold that evening but that did not turn out to be true.  It was quite frigid.  Last night was a little less cold, temperature-wise, but the wind was out of control.  So it goes.  Like I said, we survived it, so no need to complain about it too much anymore.

The days between the cold nights, however, were quite nice.  Yesterday was cloudier than the days before but the temperature wasn't so bad.  We got up and at em on the earlier side and went into Rocky Harbour for an actual sit-down breakfast.  It was a nice break from our usual breakfast of Clif Bars, dates, and fruit.  We both tried moose for the first time.  It was actually quite tasty.  Unfortunately the town is currently in the midst of, ahem, dismantling that beached whale that I wrote about earlier and, whooo, the whole town smelled like hell.  So we high-tailed it out of there.

Our first stop was a 6km hike along the Coastal Trail which was windy but beautiful.  One of the many unique features of this area is, along the coast, there is forest that extends up to the beach but, given the harshness of the coastal winds and such, their growth is stunted.  This is known as Tuckamore.  From the outside it looks like a scrubby hill or perhaps a patch of shrubbery but it is really a forest underneath. And a most unique one at that.   Every so often there is a slight break in the cover so that you can go in.  Underneath the Tuckamore is one of the coolest places I've ever seen.  You can't help but feel like a Hobbit when you are down there.  Had it not been so chilly I totally would have taken a guitar in there and a blanket and just let the muse fly.

Coastal Trail

Look one way, it's rocks and the sea.  Look the other way, it's this.

Krissy guards the Tuckamore.

The beach along the Coastal Trail

The view of the top from inside the Tuckamore.  The tops of these trees were no more than 10 or 12 feet high.

Just one example of the crazy trees inside the Tuckamore.

Hans in trees.

This is what the Tuckamore looks like from the outside.  If I was ten years old this would be the most badass fort.  Even for forty years old it is still the most badass fort.

And I shall guard my fort with all the fury I can muster.

From there went went to Berry Hill and climbed to the top.  It was very tall and steep but was a pleasant climb.  As with most of the the trails we've hiked in the park, we saw plenty of evidence of moose but we did not see a single moose.  We saw lots of moss though.

Some mossy business on the way up Berry Hill.

Close to the edge on Berry Hill.

The view from the top of Berry Hill.

Zoom in on Attila II from the top of Berry Hill.  This little trooper has taken us over 3000 miles on this journey (we crossed over today) and keeps on ticking.

Our next move was to go into Norris Point to visit the aquarium but got sidetracked by a small community trail.  We were itching for some lunch so we did not hike for too long.

View of Norris Point from atop a nearby hill.

We got into Norris Point and our plans of a picnic lunch were dashed as it had gotten a bit cold and windy so we ate in the car while listening to traditional Newfoundland music on the small-band community radio station.  It was most quaint.  After that we went to the post office to get stamps and wound up having a long and very lovely conversation with the woman behind the counter about the trip and the weather and Newfoundland in general.  Remember the other day when I was complaining of the lack of charm in some of the people?  Well, there have also been plenty of people like her who have been closer to what you would expect.  And there is nothing like a Newfoundland accent.  It could not be more Irish had it come from the heart of Ireland.  I could chat with a Newfoundlander all day, just to hear them talk. And we probably would have, had we not been so itchy to get to the aquarium.

The Bonne Bay Marine Station is a marine research facility operated by Memorial University and sits right where the two arms of the bay join.  They give guided tours which are very informative and hands on as well.  Our guide, Zack, is a student from Ontario (can't remember which school) who is at the center on a Summer study course.  We learned about the bay itself as well as just about everything in it, from the plankton to the larger wildlife.  There are tanks with examples of the marine life but the best part was going into the back with all the big tanks and tubs, the area where they actually do their work, the part that you never get to see.  And we saw, learned about, and held everything from starfish to snails and crabs.  They had a lot of snow crabs and I did feel a wee bit guilty when I looked at them and thought of how delicious they are.  But I did not eat them.  Because that would have been wrong.  Nor did I eat the lobsters that they had there.  They had a couple of blue lobsters there which are quite rare.  After the tour we were looking at the bay through the big windows upstairs and saw a Minke whale which was in the bay, right outside the station, rolling around in the water.  Very cool.

Once we finished up there we went back to the campground and did laundry and wrote out some postcards.  By then the weather had gotten fantastic.  Sunny and very, very warm.  Being that it was Friday night and they were calling for a beautiful weekend in Gros Morne, the campground exploed with people.  It was a major shock to our systems because there were times this week when we were the only people in the entire camp and then, boom, there were people everywhere, including two couples right next to us who were very loud, playing way too many crappy songs from like 1996-2002 and flapping their yaps long beyond quiet time.  Fortunately it was soon time to move on.

Got up this morning, broke camp, and hit the road.  One of the first things we saw one our way out of town - for the very first time since our first day in Newfoundland - we saw two moose.  Just chillin' on the side of the road, eating grass.  The first, and larger, one took off before Krissy could snap a shot but the other one didn't care.  He just kept on munchin'.

A'yup.

Our mission for today was to drive up the coast to Saint Barbe, which is where we are staying tonight, and hit all the cool looking stops along the way.  Our first stop, after the moose, was the SS Ethie, the site of a dastardly shipwreck off the coast in 1919.  It was during an awful storm, as it usually is, but everyone survived, including a baby that was sent ashore in a mailbag.  Not all of the ship is still there but there is a good bit of it, obviously quite rusty from having sat there for 95 years.

Look how clear this water is.  Just look at it.  That is how it is up here.  And, in the sunlight, it glows a shade of blue that you just don't see anywhere north of the tropics.  Cold as all get out but pretty to look at.

Some of the rusted remains of the SS Ethie.

Our next stop was the Arches Provincial Park.  The Arches are just what they sound to be.  Massive clumps of  breccia that, over millions of years, have been carved into arches by the pounding waves of the gulf.  The sad part, of course, is that one of these days they are going to collapse into themselves and either exist as a pile of boulders or end up as sea stacks.  That probably won't occur for millions more years.  Fortunately we exist in a time when we can see it in its glory.

Hans leads the way to the Arches.

Closer to the Arches.

Ohhhh Arrrrrchie!!!!

Hans gets pensive, studying the sea.

Andersons and rocks.

Krissy rocks.

From there we continued down the road for a while and made our way out of Gros Morne National Park.  After a while we stopped for lunch at a park called Torrent River.  We had our picnic.  While it was chilly and very windy on the coast, just a few hundred yards away from the coast, it was warm and beautiful.  I discovered a boardwalk trail around the river and the adjacent pond and so we hiked it.  It was a beautiful trail that went on and on and on and on.  Eventually we ended up off the boardwalk and on a gravel road, after crossing the river on a bridge.  The boardwalk picked up on the other side of the bridge, but nor going back in the direction that we needed it to and we had no idea how much longer it was going to go so we followed the gravel road up to the highway, probably at least a kilometer or two.  It was the closest we've come to being "lost in the wilderness" while on this trip.  Not that we were lost, but we were in some serious backwoods business.  We did not get many photos of the gravel road part but the pond part sure was lovely.

The pond inlet at Torrent River.  Look how blue this water is.

We met this little red squirrel on our adventure.  Those things are so adorable.

Look at how green this place is.  And it's not even at its peak.

Ducks in the pond.

We crossed this bridge once we got to it.

View of the Torrent River from the above-mentioned bridge.  Not so much a torrent here but there are other places, which we don't have good photos of, that are quite the torrent.

Crossing the old bridge and starting in on the gravel road to who-knows-where.

Our next stop today was at Port aux Choix National Historic Site.  Unfortunately the visitor's center was closed for the season still (up on the peninsula nothing really starts until mid-June) but we still made it to the Point Riche Lighthouse.  Set back amidst vast fields of basalt, we had a field day, running around those rocks.  There is a trail there that leads back to sites where archaeological digs revealed Maritime Archaic Indian settlements from thousands of years ago but we did not have time to check that out.  We may hit that on the way back South, next week.

This went on for a long time.  This is some fun stuff to run and scramble around on.

A perfect shot of the spirit of the Point Riche Lighthouse.  If it was Summertime and it was hot I would have totally been in this crystal clear lagoon.

Hans on the rocks.

Top of the lighthouse against a pure blue sky.

Hans + lighthouse = this.

A couple of the outbuildings at the lighthouse.

From there, we drove around Port aux Choix for a bit and stopped at a memorial at an ancient Maritime Archaic Indian cemetery.  It was nothing more than an interpretive panel and a simple marker but it was nice.  We did not take photos, however, because that would not be nice.

Once we were back on the highway we high-tailed it to Saint Barbe and the Dockside Motel.  Grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant and chilled out.  The ferry to Labrador is at 1pm tomorrow and, if all goes well, we will be on that boat for a two-day drive up and down the coast.  Should be a good time.

Also, tomorrow marks one month that we have been on this journey.  In a way, it's hard to believe that it's been a month but, given just how many adventures we've had, it really feels like it's been a million years since we have been home.  It kind of feels like the road is home now and it feels great.  Krissy is looking more forward to the stops where we will spend more time and be a little more grounded.  I am looking forward to that too but I am really enjoying being on the go.  I love seeing and learning new things constantly.  This has been an absolute blast.  I think I can say that I have never been happier in my entire life and I don't ever want this journey to end.  Sure, it will end at some point, but not for a long time.  So many more adventures to be had.  This is just the beginning.

Hopefully the next blog entry will find us in Labrador.  Until then, I shall leave you with one last untold little learning lesson from our stay in Gros Morne:

Jiffy Pop + Andersons + campfire = disaster.

Bakers Brooks and Berries

Well today was a pretty chill day.  After the brutality that was last night (sleeping in 33 degrees and a frost-covered tent) it was wise of us to try and take it easy today.  And we really did try.  I think I got up around 8:30 and soon after started working on the last blog entry.  For some reason, mostly because of all the photos and the fact that I am on a wi-fi connection in a campground (read: slow) it took me about four hours to finish the blog.  Fortunately it was a most beautiful day and a perfect morning to just chill out in the sunshine.

Around 1:00 or so we finally got on our way and we headed up to Baker's Brook, which is a 10km hike to a waterfall.  Yeah I know I said we were trying to take it easy but it was also almost 60 today and we couldn't pass up the chance to finally take advantage of a beautiful day.  Also, the trail was mostly flat and mostly boardwalk and was oh so totally worth it.  We were impressed by the type of hike and how it passed through bogs and meadows and healthy coniferous forest and totally dead deciduous forest and it was totally unlike any other waterfall hike we'd ever taken.  There was a ridiculous amount of moose droppings as well as a fair bit of bear poo on the path but we saw neither on our hike.

The wooden road to nowhere.

Another beautifully stubborn tree amidst a sea of chaos.

This was not far past the above.  Crazy trails indeed.

Krissy at the Baker's Brook Falls.

The Baker's Brook Falls in all their glory.  We packed a picnic lunch and ate it at the waterfall.  It was one of the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I'd ever eaten.

From there we went to Berry Head Pond and were going to do a loop around that.  We got about 1/10 of the way around the pond and got blocked.  By snow.  Over four feet in some places.  As far as our eyes could see.  So we bailed.  Not trying to deal with that.  Still what we saw was very pretty.

See?  Very pretty.

Pretty and adorable and oh so peaceful.

D'oh!  You guys must find this hilarious.

This dude probably did but he humoured us enough to hang out and eat leaves while Krissy took his picture many times and I, well I just gawked.

 That's about it for today.  Made it back to camp early and made dinner and here we are.  It is 9:03pm and dusk is just about starting.  And the temperature is dropping.  It is not supposed to get as low as last night.  I think low 40s is what they are calling for.  Still chilly but manageable.

Tomorrow is our last day in Gros Morne.  At least until we return in August.  We have a few hikes planned tomorrow and perhaps a dinner out.  From here, on Saturday, we will head up the Great Peninsula towards Saint Barbe, where we will stay for a night (in a hotel) before taking the ferry to Labrador on Sunday.  And no, we will NOT be camping in Labrador.  No way, no how.  We will be staying with a friend's family on one night and a B&B on the second night.  Looking very forward to seeing a bit of "The Big Land", as they call it.

Until then...

What a hoser.

Fjordie Fjordie We're Goin' To Floridie

Not really, but we sometimes do dream of some of our more tropical vacations and wonder why we can't wish ourselves there every now and then.

So here we are, still at Gros Morne.  We've had quite an eventful couple of days.  We've taken in some breathtaking scenery and suffered through some brutally cold nights.  It has been chilly during the day but, as I sit here and write this in the sunshine at 9:33am, it is already well into the 50s, which may seem cold to you guys but it feels down right balmy.  It is supposed to get to 60 today.  We might die of heatstroke.

So after my last entry we got cleaned up and hit the road.  Oh, I should first mention the size of this park.  It is huge, like seriously huge.  It can take a couple of hours to drive from one end to the other, and all the human activity is from north to south, along the coast.  The part itself extends way inland but exists there as a preserve.  

Anyway, the weather on Tuesday got quite cloudy so we made our way to the Discovery Centre, which is way down near the Tablelands.  We spent some time there, talking with the staff and checking out the exhibits.  Some of you know that I am the type that has to read every interpretive panel I come across, so sometimes it can take a while.  And, since it was cold, it was a good idea anyway.  

From there, we went and hiked the Tablelands.  This place is impressive, to say the very least.  Just these massive plateaus that look like nothing I have ever seen.  As I mentioned before, these tables were once part of the floor of an ancient ocean, Iapedus.  As the then-continents collided to form Newfoundland, some of this sea floor, which was meant to slide under the continents, instead got pushed up, and then pulled apart.  A most pristine example of plate tectonics and the result is extraordinary.  Unfortunately it was very cloudy when we did the trail but hopefully the photos can capture at least a little bit of the splendor.

Two tables and a bit of snow.

Table for three.

Hans loves the Tablelands.

From there we stopped in the fishing village of Trout River and walked around for a bit.  Since we are so far ahead of the curve as far as tourist season is concerned, I think we confuse a lot of people in these small villages.  Everyone just kinda looks at us weird, none more so than this one woman we passed in Trout River who totally gave us the evil eye.  We've constantly been hearing about how warm and friendly the people are here but we haven't quite experienced a whole lot of that yet.  In time, I hope.  Still, Trout River, as tiny as it is, is a cute little place and totally indicative of a typical coastal fishing village in Newfoundland.

These little colorful fishing huts dot the coast everywhere.  These seem to be in far better condition than many that we've seen.  A lot of them seem to be held together by splinters.

The boardwalk and beach of Trout River.

From there we intended to go back to town and get a bite to eat but then we found this amazing rocky beach, just by chance, and wound up spending a hour down there.  Pretty much every rock type and size could be found down there.  Like most of Gros Morne, this beach was a geology nerd's dream come true.  So many different types of rocks had made their way to that shore over millions of years and every one of them had a story.  It was utterly fascinating.  I could spend my whole week down there just looking at all the different metamorphic rocks that are found there.  

This beach does not seem to have an official name but it is one of the coolest places we've been to on this leg of the trip.

Hans, on the rocks.

Boulders, cobbles, pebbles, grains, this place has it all.  

We found proto-PacMan, fossilized on the shores of Gros Morne.

The Gulls pose for their album cover shot.

From there we went into Rocky Harbour and had dinner.  I got my first of many helpings of fish & chips made with real Newfoundland cod.  Oh my, the difference.  Makes you never want herring again.  They serve moose at this restaurant, and we totally intended to try it, but I was sucked in by the fish and Krissy went to town on some mussels.  We might go back and try a moose burger before we leave or surely we will come across many other places long the way.

Yesterday we got up and made our way to Western Brook Pond, where we had scheduled a boat tour.  Now, we all know that everything is bigger in Canada, but to call this place a pond?  It makes most lakes seem puny.  It took an hour to get from one side to the other and the scenery, oh my words, was to die for.  I know I've used the word "majestic" quite many times so far in this blog but that is really the only word that can properly describe this place.  Makes you realize what a wonderful world this really is.  Krissy took about 200 photos from this boat.  Trying to whittle it to a handful will be tough. 

Oh, a few points about this pond:  While it takes on most of the characteristics of a fjord, and is enough of a fjord for me to consider it to be one, it technically is not a fjord.  It was a fjord about two million years ago, when this was all created, but about 10,000 years ago a massive bog came into being that cut the fjord off from the sea.  See, apparently in order to be a proper fjord it has to be filled with salt water.  Over the last 10,000 years, all the salt has gone from this pond and it is now fresh water, and some of the purest fresh water to be found in the entire world.  In fact, this water is so pure it lacks the necessary minerals in order to conduct electricity.  So, basically, if you drop your toaster in this pond the only thing you'll be left with is a wet toaster.  

But I will call it a fjord anyway.

The fjord, from across Western Brook Pond.  These mountains are the Long Range Mountains, which is the northeasterly end of the Appalachian Mountains.  What is left of these mountains are merely stumps.  Millions of years ago these mountains, as the ones at home, were larger them the Himalayas.  But time has its way with everything.  Even badass mountains.

Entering the fjord.  These are bold things.

This is one of many, many waterfalls we saw while on this boat tour but the only one that so flagrantly poured itself off the top as seen here.  This waterfall is called Pissing Mare Falls.

This is called a "hanging valley".  This is when the glacier works and works at carving out a valley and then just bails on down to the bigger valley, leaving its work suspended in air.

Now this is some boggy business.

There should be a moose in this pic, munching away at some of this delicious bog grass, but there is not.

Our next stop was a beautiful beach at Shallow Bay (i think).  The sun was shining and it was brisk.  I spent most of my time relaxing while Krissy walked the beach and snapped photos of the Terns that are local to that beach.

And the formation is complete.

To everything, tern tern tern.

Just another example of the awesomeness of Gros Morne.

From there we went through the town of Cow Head and took a nice hike to a lighthouse there.  It is not a working lighthouse, though once upon a time it was.  It was recently restored and is just part of their town heritage.  It was a very nice hike and, at a certain point, you can climb up on these large rocks and the entire coastline of the park is visible.  We tried to get a panoramic shot but it's still too long to fit in the frame.

The lighthouse trail was a very pleasant shady hike.

The view from the rocks at the top of the hill, on the way to the lighthouse.

Hans as lighthouse keeper.

Krissy as lighthouse keeper.

What an adorable little lighthouse.

From there we stopped at Broom Point and did a little trail called Steve's Trail, which leads you to the edge of some impressive dunes, at the mouth of Western Brook.  The trail itself was narrow, wooded, and kinda spooky.  We saw evidence of some rather large wildlife in the area but saw none of it.  The end point of the hike was a beautiful place to sit and reflect.  One nice touch the park tends to do is, at overlooks that are particularly scenic and soothing, they have these Adirondack chairs.  They are perfect for relaxed reflection.

Steve's Trail - spooky but quite pleasant.

Hans is happy before the frost.

Only in Gros Morne can you get the sea and such totally rad dunes with the mountains right there.  Variety is king.

An old fishing hut at the end of Broom Point.  Apparently they give tours there but we were too late.

From there we went back to camp and made dinner and I got a roaring fire going.  The temperature was dropping rapidly and, but by the time we were heading to bed, it was 33 degrees both inside and out.  We have a heater and we tried to use it but it was acting funny so, in the interest in not dying, we turned it off.  We made it through the night but Krissy, who was sleeping under about ten layers of everything, had a hell of a time with it.  Even I, who am Mr. Tough when it comes to the cold, was a wee bit miserable.  And for good reason.  When I got up to pee at 5am, there was frost over everything, including the tent.  In fact, when I unzipped the flap, some of the frost flaked off and it looked like snow.  It easily could have.  Now I know why so many parks and campgrounds and other services don't open until June.  The good thing is that last night should be the worst of it.  Tonight will be slightly warmer, though only by a few degrees, and tomorrow night will be about ten degrees warmer at night.  Still not perfect but balmy compared to last night.  Then, from there, we are in beds for a few nights, as we shoot off into Labrador for a bit.  We'll see what it's like when we get back this way next week.  There may be more impromptu bookings and B&Bs and such but we'll see.  Summer is coming, slowly but surely.

"Hey cow head, chewin' over there....yeah, your cud....quit chewin' on my blog!"