On to the North Coast

July 27th

The morning we left the peninsula in Saint George Bay (25th), we hiked to the top along the cliffs through dense low woods. The last of, what blanketed the ground, yellow Lady Slippers were blooming, Irises and others I can’t name. The cliffs are high and there is no warning of any kind if you are not careful one could easily walk off the edge, especially in the morning fog. The town's people have a traditional stone oven at the entrance and sell fresh baked bread for two hours each day.



On to Gros Morne. The Canadian Highway, the only main road, starts to get busy near Corner Brook and Deer Lake. Getting off the highway it is just like any crowded American park entrance area…folks zooming from gas stations and fast-food places gearing up for the camping experience. We decided to start with the most southern part of Trout River as the campgrounds on the edges are less full. The high season fills them all and reservations are needed. This is a real change from the last week of boon docking good luck in spectacular settings. That said I was happy to find a place to pop up the Eagle. There are heavy fines for boon docking inside the park.



It is jaw dropping beautiful. Mountains that look like the half dome in Yosemite. Moonscape areas and spruce and fir forests. The trees near and especially on the coast that take the brunt of the winter howling, icy wind are all stunted and bent away from down wind. The trunks are very thick like bonsai but only 6 ft tall and packed close together.



We arrived at the Trout River campground and though friendly and clean it was packed with travelers. We lucked into a site (15) that was well sheltered from the surrounding sites. Glad to be here. Showers and a walk to the waters edge…no one there and mountains all around. Rabbits and moose. We decided on what hike to do. There is a place (Tablelands) that is an easy walk/hike…an hour or so to see the geology special only to this place on earth. Discovered in the 1970’s, rock that was first thought to be a special basalt turned out to be part of the earth’s mantle pushed out from the depths. Very odd looking figure and color. The hike there is through marshy ground and stone, runoff from the snow pack still visible on the mountain top. More pitcher plants and mosses. We had the walk to ourselves and escaped as a massive tour group arrived…the throng.



More decisions were made at the last junction…either north through Gros Morne or to head east to the jagged peninsulas of the northern shores. These are long convoluted peninsulas more easily ventured to by boat as the villages are invariably at the tips. Once a decision was made to commit to one it would take hours to drive to the tip of another though close by as the crow flies .



The choice was made … and it was the wrong one…happens. But as they say MISTAKE QUOTE. We found after a few hours drive that there was a festival in the area we were on our way to.

The lure of crowds and associated ‘fun’ was not what we sought.

The village of Twillingate and the nearby Provincial Park…. by the name ….Dildo Run…. no kidding. We were stuck in a miles long traffic of campers and sightseers… road  construction…time to think…. this is not why I came here…. RETREAT!….. The paving boss let me turn the truck around and go back whence we came using our so wonderful list of possible boondocks sites to shoot for. We took a chance on a private campground at the end of the peninsula at the village of (I could not make up these names) “Leading Tickles”. Not a boondocks site but just as good!



An incredible find. We are camped on the water and there are a few others nearby…. super clean and remarkably beautiful. The photos below will attest to an inkling of that truth. We also found en route a ‘chipper van’ and ate cod and chips. The sunset on the cove stone beach was sensational.



There is angst in traveling each day on the fly. It isn’t all tra-la-la-la… I should have more faith that what comes along will be what it is but my nature is a “planner”…. so I put a lot of energy …will… into making things happen the way I want… that is a recipe for woe if not tempered with a sense of humor. Still in all we have had good luck. My heart goes out to the man ahead of us pulling a camper at 100 Kph yesterday… heard a bang and clouds of black smoke from the engine…oh that can’t be good. There was nowhere to stop for us so had to keep going… there was cell service at least for him.



This place here at Leader Tickle is so nice we stayed a second night and booked a third. (26,27,28)…. can’t imagine a better find. AND… after 10 days of sun and some cloud (days)… looks like a few days of rain coming in so best enjoy the seaside in a beautiful spot.



Oh and yes that is an iceberg in the last photo.

Salmon, Vikings and Charity

July 29 - 31st

Traveling, especially with new gear always is a test… the new battery system (LiFePo4 Lithium) up to this point has worked superbly. I sensed something amiss as one of the 4 cells was low and one cell high. I am sussing out the ‘what’s happening’ in fits and starts as we still want to move on and hike etc. We woke to no electricity in the camper …hmmmm. There was ample volts in the battery but one cell down. (different from an AGM battery in every way)… So there it is… no panic just readjust things. We bought 5 pounds of ice on the road and put it in the fridge. That will keep all well. Our propane stove is not effected and we have head lamps if needed. But all day I will be thinking as to why it happened. Five hours into the day the juice starts up! Why? Who knows. I have a bluetooth app that allows me to monitor the battery/solar goings on. I sent a message to the guru of these batteries on WTW (Rando) and he got back with the reassurance that we weren’t going to burst into flames… But it would take a re-teaching of the batteries (4 packs of 30 cells) to get each pack in balance ….not an ‘in the field’ job. He explained what I had to do to re-balance the packs and that will be done on our return. As of this typing at the end of the day, the fridge is online and cold and we have enough juice to enjoy the electrical things like an exhaust fan and LED lights to read tonight.



Hard to leave such a place as Leading Tickles. Setting out early we headed back to Gros Morne (N) stopping for a few hikes. Green Point Coastal Trail (1 1/2 hours) and the West Brook Pond (2 hours) going to the Gros Morne boat trip, separated by 20 kilometers each. After a long drive great leg stretchers. We have found that the only info that is useful from the information centers is the ‘zone specific’ color coded pamphlets. My issue with this is that one must stop in each of the Info centers in each of the 5 zones to acquire these, only having their zone’s pamphlet. Perhaps it is to cut down on waste of human nature to collect all even though they did not travel to that zone. Our go-to is the Backroads Mapbooks for Newfoundland and Labrador. Topo maps, road maps and detail information for everything you need and want to see or do.



I will say that I under estimated the time needed to get up into each area. There is a big fast highway but one needs to travel on small roads, off to the out of the way places that are what you are here to see. Newfoundlanders are warm and proud of their province. It is important to and fun to take the time to talk to as many people as possible. They have a lot to say and it just feels so good. There is an incredibly strong community here in some very necessary human connections. Family and village. It is like  it was 75 years ago in US that most people now seem lost without… no ‘center’ … We have lost that except in small towns. The safe, slow (in that people stop their day to talk), the less harried pace. Last night we could hear the congregation, who once a year come to the cemetery and sing hymns to the sailors who have been lost at sea. We listened to the hymns and solos….so very moving.



Great to watch kids at the seaside collecting shells or digging holes, exploring gooey stuff. The beaches, due to them being in a current not delivering plastic on the tide, are as they were once. No shoes necessary to walk the beach in fear of god only knows what…. just sand, rocks, shells and bits of wood. There will have to be another trip here to see the other half of this province we will not have time to see on this one. Perhaps excluding the huge Labrador return trip the next time will make it happen.  The return ferry does require rethinking of route as it is hard to re-drive a route (one highway) to get places.



Both the hikes were fun. The coastal was quite windy and less people . The hike to Gros Morne…looking up the valley was busy but people spread out and the trail well done. We camped for a second time within Gros Morne at Shallow Bay. It serves as a good campground at the end of the day, after doing what you want elsewhere, a place to eat and sleep by the ‘sea’ which is actually the Saint Lawrence seaway. Winds blowing here.



Lucy Rose. Taking a dog, especially a young herder who can track a fly in a room and watches machinery to figure out how it moves…is work… she is on duty 24/7. Hyper alert for all input. Exhausting. She needs to have something to do or keep moving for the next scent. Training opportunities for this breed are either catch can or full time. Lucy has had to deal with ‘learning-up’ on the road. It was stressful at first and each move to a new locale starts stressful then now more easily moves into the oh-boy. An an investment any hunter knows about with their dog. This trip has offered an accelerated course in “travel dog”. Ferries, local dogs, camping, rabbits/red squirrels, road construction, the list goes on. Tough on an 18 monthly dog but good in the long run. She has found her safe space in the camper and falls asleep there fast.



We decided to stay a few days longer and travel to the northern tip to visit the Viking site L’Anse Aus Meadows. BUT before we left the Shallow Bay site…they have a beautiful beach which makes it worth staying there…(the showers and bathrooms are also terrific)… it is a 3 mile beach of soft sand for a wonderful long walk before traveling on in the morning …beach empty…(evening has a lot of the campers out… and shells are always better in the morning). The next stop north was at Torrents River at Hawkes Bay. A Salmon ladder and restoration project and if you like the opportunity to fish a beautiful river.  Stop at the Info place and decide if you want to walk. There is a three kilometer boardwalk which is worth the walk ( we did 2K and returned as we had the dog) or then drive as we did later to the Center and fish ladder for the tour. Very impressive with large windows to watch lots of 15 pound Atlantic salmon going up stream. Anadromous.



We stopped at Port au Choix to get take out fish and chips (cod or halibut…we got halibut …like butter) at the Anchor Restaurant (past the also excellent higher scale restaurant). We took this about 20 kilometers to Bar’d Harbour along the road under the mountain…a road pull off to a quarry… by the sea. Ate standing up with the meal on the hood looking out over the the Gulf of Saint Laurence. Decisions decisions … to boondocks ( 3 possibilities… or a for sure at the Pistolet Bay Provincial Park … no services so no monster rigs… mostly tents and no cell service so nice and quiet.



We really had to think it through as our boondocks sites were at fishing piers or light houses and windy… there is finally after 14 days going to have rain… Oner day we had maybe 2 hours of sprinkles…then it cleared up…we are spoiled. The Viking site is our first stop tomorrow and then on to Saint Anthony’s Harbor where the Dr Grenfell Museum is located. A man from England who dedicated his life to caring for the indigenous people of the Northern Maritimes for 48 years . Good restaurant called Lighthouse Cafe …best ‘chowda’ and “Cod cheeks” and fries in

town.



The Viking site is incredible, mind blowing. A World Heritage UN site with a great visitor center. We did a 2 Km hike by the shore trail and boardwalk…. trying to imagine a Viking ship landing here and building a settlement in 1000 AD.



We boondocks camp tonight back near where the ferry leaves Newfoundland and crosses (1.5-2 hours) to Labrador at 7 AM …so need a site close to the harbor. It is a spit of old land and wharf out into the bay with a great view of the lighthouse and old house across on the island.  ( I am geo-tagging where I stay). The long range weather looks like a long wet ride across the black fly province of Labrador … an adventure for sure. We have rain-dues to pay as we have no real rain for two weeks!  Ended today with a shower but more rain tonight as we boondocks camp Ended today with a rain shower but more rain tonight. Off to Labrador tomorrow morning !

Labrador, Northern Quebec, the Saint Lawrence and home

8?6/19   I had to check where I last left off as it seems so much has happened and a long time has past. Not like a “vacation” at a resort. A lot going on. It’s like the difference between sitting in a boat with a fishing pole…. a line in the water and a bobber…waiting all day for a strike… or fly fishing… lots of thinking, organization and active involvement in fast moving water… a lot going on thinking like a fish. 

We awoke to a mini disaster at 5 AM… a 3 gallon water jacket for the solar shower had popped a leak and flooded the camper…. and it was raining. Hmmm. (definitely not a resort). So Luann took the dog out for her walk as I tore up the carpets…cutting them where needed and sopping up water with out two towels… bummer. We carry big trash bags so everything went in there … (remember we have a ferry to catch). So the camper is now loaded with bags of wet stuff. We had to pill the dog before the ferry of 2 hours in rough water so she would be semi-out of it as It is a loud below deck ship with large semi tractor trailers etc. 

Onto the ferry for the crossing… arriving actually in the tiny port of Quebec province but then immediately crossing into Labrador.

Very different than Newfoundland. The land of snow, water, moss, lichen, rock and black spruce. The flag says it all. Our immediate needs were to get ice, a satellite loaner phone to be returned at the end of the 1,100 kilometer Trans-Labrador highway, and a place to properly dispose of the wet rugs and towels as there would be no drying time. It was raining and foggy so it made the landscape that much more mythical. Thinking that the Vikings had walked here a thousand years ago and it looked a lot the same. We went to the tallest light house in the Maritimes at L’Anse Amour… then on northwards.

Crossing the Pinware river was painful… I would have spent a week there fishing salmon… beyond perfect setting for beyond perfect fishing. When I fly fish I need to only fly fish. ( I still had brought all my gear but just knew it wasn’t in the cards). On a solo trip without Lucy the dog one day. We decided to go look at a few boondocks sites and then if these weren’t suitable we would do a drive up to Mary’s Harbour (wanting to see the en route, museum at Battle Harbour… two tour busses were there so we split). The bondock site there did not work and we were thinking …after two weeks we would get a motel for the night.

Now in Labrador… there are motels per-say… but dicey. We found a dog friendly place in Port Hope Simpson (actually the only ‘hotel’). Right on the water…an inlet…. a working (hard) harbor and we were thankful. Lucy’s first experience walking through a Hotel door. She did stellar. Then the helicopter landed  outside the room. It is a ‘hotel’ and ‘restaurant’ and those who ferry things to the far north ‘drop’ in for the night. Talked to the pilot… he hated his job… said he had the largest ‘hotel’ soap collection on earth … the fog was so dense he flew at 800 feet following the road to get there. And I thought I had a stressful job.

Lucy’s first training on hotel room behavior. She got an A. I had  fresh salmon dinner and Luann fresh scallops…. wow we needed a break with a shower. We ate breakfast at seven and were gone. We decided as we were starting the 560 kilometer (350 mile) dirt/mud/gravel/pothole MAJOR! road, we set our goals to be for a few boondocks sites to view on way but honestly the road is under construction through bog. Hundreds of miles of bog. Where the heavy machinery was the road was 10” deep …4WD struggled with our weight. So … after a very long day of breathtakingly beautiful tundra-like ground with black spruce bog we landed at a place that was a “company town” Churchill Falls on the Churchill River, a building that has a school, post office, grocery, swimming pool, sauna, and restaurant for road and hydro electric workers. It is like the pipeline building in AK. We parked in a dirt lot lot nearby and walked to the ‘town hall’ (Lucy locked in the camper again.

We stopped at a place to hike in to see the Churchill Falls. Before the massive hydro project diverted the majority of the river underground to generators the volume equaled Victoria or Niagara Falls … spectacular. So were the black flies. Being a math guy I was trying to figure… if in each step there are thousands…how many are there in Labrador, Alaska? It’s mind boggling. And only one in ten billion get blood to feed themselves to reproduce before they die. Anyway we had head nets on and though they can’t bite you the buzzing could drive you to jump into the falls. 

It was a canyon carved by massive river forces below the falls. What the photo shows is what the water flow is now… the rock the spring melt….and before the diversion…unimaginable.  

BTW ..we crossed AK and The Yukon …. Dalton in AK, The Klondike and Campbell crossing northern Yukon… this road is worse. One day they will have it completely paved… but at a few hundred feet a day it won’t be in my lifetime. Once opened to ‘road barns’ … it won’t be the same….in come the hordes. 

An unplanned event almost got us stuck in “Happy Valley” for 5 days… What was thought to be a blown wheel bearing …where we limped to a car repair place 50 miles along… (mind you this was after 350 miles of mud and gravel… there is only this town, none other until another 150 miles and that is just a company camp town ) the town being on holiday festivities and the part thought rtf be needed was found in Montreal…. The guy in charge of the shop went for a drive to hear and feel it…turned out to be two large rocks wedged in the serpentine belt and the wheel control arm. Couldn’t turn left. Like a miracle we were back on the road…instead of a 6 day layover waiting for the part to be flown in. 

It was a long day of focus a hundred feet ahead on the road to avoid the 2 foot holes… some were deviously hidden and it hit like dropping down a stair. Actually it was very much ;like driving down stairs… washboard. There is a ‘sweet spot’ speed described in the book “Jupiter’s Travels”, a man I met who traveled around the world on a BSA 500cc ‘thumper’ motorcycle in 1971.

Carrying a 1500 pound camper (with gear) it goes bang! A lot. On we went with a few pit stops for Lucy. If you have ever camped the North Maine Woods you know of black fly season… 5 seconds out of the truck and you are swarmed. We have head nets but Lucy brings in 50. Poor thing she needs to be purged each time out. If we stopped and I had left the window cracked open it would be only seconds to have the cab full of them. Then it was defroster on and all windows opened getting up to speed to flush them out.

Photos below won’t describe it as we were both busy sinking our nails into the truck dash to be bothered to grab a camera for shot out the window….the road was work. The scenery was gorgeous as unspoiled  land is…. but it is worth it to see it. The other point is one can’t stop…there is no place to “pull over” … so one has to go forward to an end. 

(We thought the dirt was over… ha!) We left the company town and went on to Wabash to drop of the satellite phone and then on to northern Quebec Province … expecting the the road that had turned to pavement to stay that way…. back to the largest mining operation I have even seen…dirt road for another 75  miles …wicked curvy and basically a toboggan run…then boom..a paved road again Quebec route 389 …. …the ONLY road in Northern Quebec. North to south. Long. It is a topographical road… no bulldozing blasted hills…it literally weaves, rises and descends like a wild roller coaster on the given terrain. It is dirt and so mud. Speed is monitored in the way that… I can’t go slow or I will be out here for weeks…or too fast and I will actually die out here. The squirrel-iness of the mud and potholed requires full attention on the spot at the point where those two aforementioned speeds allow one to be sure they can avoid hitting or losing it. I should have had a winch… I do have mud track mats …but a dive into a bog needs a winch. 

We arrived at our boondocks site, which once was a small camping area and lodge now abandoned due to they are raising the water level. It is now a rough area on the shore where we camped. This reservoir is the impact crater of a meteor estimated to be 5 kilometers wide when it hit 150 million years ago. The diameter of the now water filled crater is 60 miles or 180 mile circumference. Big. One can easily see it from space. We met a nice Swiss couple there in their 4WD van drinking a glass of wine…by a fire. Similar to us in appreciation of seeing the last of the wild places before they are gone. We camped the night and were on the road early headed for the hydro-dam at the southern tip of the crater.

The road entering into the Quebec Province is beautiful. #389 was made to get to The Manicoagan Reservoir (Manic 5) Dam from the south, the Saint Lawrence Seaway.  A Dam of Epic size and a marvel of 1960 engineering in a very remote place. It is similar in magnitude of the pipeline in Alaska…a city built to house the workers and what they did was nothing less than a marvel.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40ruylIv1uk

I unwittingly believed the road would be paved…and curiously it was for awhile….then back to wild ride roads. Eventually it does become paved again…and I will stop here to make a very important motorcycle point. If you have driven the Kancamagus 

Highway in New Hampshire … multiple it times 100 in curvy and elevation changes …a wild rollercoaster road for hundreds of  miles. Scary miles as the hills and grade descents and ascents are nuts. 12% to 15%… really. Oh… and the scenery for the passenger is crazy pretty… I only saw glimpses due to the grip on the steering wheel focus of where is the road now? And, this goes on hour after hour. 

We descended to the Saint Lawerence Seaway and drove along the Quebec road that slows a lot through towns to the last of the ferry crossings… a highway that stops… they load the vehicles and non-stop back and forth across a river finally to a road that will eventually in a few more hours approach Quebec city. We Tried a few boondocks camping site but were not happy… even after 10 hour drive. After stumbling on a rare find…a hippie eco-patch on the seaway coast an hour and a half east of the city. In the woods down an insane road to the bottom seaside where there is a commune…a cafe restaurant in a barn and “camp where you want” woods… there are trails to hike if you like. We wanted to sleep after a bagette with cheese and chili bowel…the nutty side was there was a store in the tiny village who had a 4 pack of Guinness Hop House 13 Lager… cold. Brewed in Ireland… needless to say I recovered fully from the day’s driving.

We woke at 5 AM …determined to, at this point, make a run for home. 8 hours seemed like a trip to the store… and………. after an hour wait in line to re cross ‘THE WALL’ we reentered the US.

And Home.

To the Buckland Manor …where field and yard were tall and the outside hot shower ended the 4,250 mile trip to the Canadian Maritimes.