Newfoundland and Labrador: May 31 - July 8, 2017

Finally getting around to posting the trip report from last summer’s adventure to Newfoundland and Labrador.  

We wanted to travel the great circle route via the Trans-Labrador Highway rather than to just take the ferry both directions so we decided to take the ferry to Newfoundland and then return via the Trans-Labrador Highway.  That meant the only time constraint we had was getting to the ferry at the start of the trip.  We ‘winged it’ for the rest of the trip and had no issues with finding a place to stop for the night.  

We left home and had a leisurely 2-day drive to North Sydney, Nova Scotia which is the departure point for the Newfoundland ferries.  There are two ferry routes - Port-aux-Basques (about 6 hours) and Argentia (12-14 hours).  We took the short one.  We were lucky and had a very smooth, albeit foggy, crossing.  We chose to get a cabin for the crossing, even though we were traveling during the day.  They are relatively inexpensive  and it was nice to have a secure place to drop our stuff when we wanted to wander around.

Looking back to the ferry dock in North Sydney

View from the ferry heading in to Port-aux-Basques

We spent a couple of nights in Port-aux-Basques.  We explored to the east from Port-aux-Basques to the little town of Rose Blanche.

Rose Blanche Lighthouse

Barachois Falls

From Port-aux-Basques, we drove north along the west coast and out to Lark Harbor.  

Our beach side campsite at Blow Me Down Provincial Park (PP)
Lark Harbor

Celina - Bottle Cove Trail
Blow Me Down PP

We then started the drive across the island toward the east coast.  We stopped overnight along the way.  Newfoundland might be an island, but it is big.    We spent several days on the Bonavista Peninsula visiting the towns of Port Rexton, Elliston, Bonavista and Trinity and sampling some of the local delicacies - Cod Tongue (yes, cod have tongues) and Fish 'n Brewis (made with hard tack, salt cod, salt pork and onions). The weather was cold and windy, but the scenery was spectacular!

Seal Disaster Memorial in Elliston

Brett in Elliston

Elliston is known as the root cellar capitol of the world.   They were everywhere.

Pack ice with iceberg in the distance
Elliston

Trinity Harbor

Anglican Church in Trinity

Bonavista Lighthouse

Dungeon Provincial Park
Bonavista

                                                                 
Next up was the Avalon Peninsula including St. John's, Cape Spear (the eastern most point in North America), the Lost Colony of Avalon, the amazing Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, St. Vincent's, and Placentia.

Qidi Vidi Village
St John's

Cape Spear Lighthouse

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve
The cliffs are covered by thousands of nesting Northern Gannets, Kitiwakes and Common Murres.

Northern Gannets
Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve

         

Waterfall at La Manche PP

A beautiful beach side boondocking spot
St. Vincent's

Another beach side boondocking spot on the Avalon Peninsula
near Placentia

Brett at Castle Hill National Historic Site
Placentia

After leaving the Avalon Peninsula, we head back north towards Twillingate.  Along the way we visited the Cable Station National Historic Site in Heart's Content, which was the terminal for the transatlantic telegraph cables.  The museum there is worth a visit.  We also stopped in Newtown, hoping to visit the Barbour Living Heritage Village, but they were not yet open for the season (we were there June 16, they opened the 19th).   Despite it being mid-June, this part of the island was completely blocked in by pack ice.  None of the fishing or tour boats could get out of the harbors.  The ferries needed to follow ice breakers.  It was pretty amazing to see.

Colorful cabins
Cavendish

Newtown

Church with pack ice in the background

Black bear along the road
near Musgrave Harbour

Our camper parked at Long Point Lighthouse
Twillingate

Pack ice blocking the harbor
Twillingate

Ferry following an ice breaker
Twillingate

After leaving Twillingate, we headed back toward the west coast to spend a few days in Gros Morne National Park.  It is an amazing park, especially from a geologic standpoint.    

Celina - Stanleyville Trail
Gros Morne National Park

Lunch at Norris Point
Gros Morne National Park

View of Tablelands
Gros Morne National Park

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse
Gros Morne National Park

After leaving Gros Morne, we headed up the Great Northern Peninsula. We drove to the east side to visit Conche - a small town with French heritage before heading north to St. Anthony and L'Anse aux Meadows.  Along the way, we stumbled across a sign for "Underground Salmon Pool".  We decided to check it out. Fortunately it was worth the drive down the very rough dirt road.  It is the only known place in the world where salmon swim through underground river caves to get to their spawning grounds. Very cool.

Arches Provincial Park
Parson's Pond

 

Underground Salmon Pool
Roddickton-Bide Arm

Brett
Underground Salmon Pool

Bateau at French Shore Interpretation Center
Conche

Overlooking Conche

If you have any interest in history, then L'Anse aux Meadows is a must visit.  It is the only known Norse archaeological site in North American.  The National Historic Site is where the actual settlement was, but the nearby Norstead is worth a visit as well.  

Inside the Norse longhouse
L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

Viking Longhouse
L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

Replica of a Viking Longboat (built in Maine and sailed from Norway)
at the Norstead Norse Village, L'Anse aux Meadows

Chapel at Norstead Norse Village
L'Anse aux Meadows

Sea otter at L'Anse aux Meadows NHS

Lief Eriksen statue
L'Anse aux Meadows

Iceberg tour out of St. Anthony
I think the one in the background looks like a sleeping polar bear

After visiting L'Anse aux Meadows, we headed back south a short way to Saint Barbe to catch a ferry to the mainland.  We did not have a reservation for the ferry.  We stopped by the terminal to make a reservation for the next day, but there was room on the ferry about to depart (they were already loading) so we drove on with no wait at all.

Moose along the roadway
For all the warnings about moose, we did not see very many

Roadside gardens appear along what look like vacant sections of highway.  Soil is not very good in Newfoundland (there is a reason they call it "the Rock").  The dirt that was pushed aside when they built the roads is some of the deepest and best soil around, so folks claim a spot, build a fence to keep the moose out, and plant a garden.  

Flowers Cove 

Looking back at Newfoundland from the ferry

Minke whale as seen from the ferry
We saw more whales on the ferry crossing than we did on the boat trip out of St. Anthony.  There were Humpback, Minke and even an Orca.

The ferry to Labrador actually arrives in Quebec.  There is a short stretch of road (about 30 miles) along the Lower North Shore of Quebec that is worth exploring. The roads there were in much better shape than the ones in Labrador. 

Brador Falls
Lower North Shore, Quebec

Middle Bay
Lower North Shore, Quebec

Some very accurate signs in Labrador!
The problem is that it should have said next 500 km, not just 6.

L'Anse Amour Lighthouse
Labrador

This next set of pictures gives an idea of what the Trans-Labrador looks like.  Long stretches of trees, with an occasional pullout for construction equipment.  A couple of hundred miles between towns which are really just industrial sites for a hydro dam or iron mine.  We spent a couple of nights boondocking at the pullouts.  They looked kind of barren, but we actually had visits by a young bear one night and a young moose another.  The biggest issue was the insects.  By this point in the trip the weather had warmed a bit and we were away from the ocean breezes which made for black fly and mosquito heaven.  Head nets and/or bug spray were mandatory.  

Boondocking spot along the Trans-Labrador Highway

Along the Trans-Labrador Highway

Along the Trans-Labrador Highway

Trans-Labrador Highway
Long stretches are still gravel.  The paved sections were actually worse because of the large potholes.

Even after crossing into Quebec, there was not much to see until we got to Baie-Comeau along the St. Lawrence River.  We did stop in Fermont (an iron mining town) and at Manic-5 to take a tour of the hydro dam (unfortunately in French, with limited English translation).

Brett in front of a giant dump truck
Fermont, Quebec

Manic-5 Hydro Dam

Once we got to the St. Lawrence, we headed west along the river with a short detour up the Saguenay River, before crossing the river by ferry between St. Simeone and Riviere-du-Loup.  From there it was a couple of days drive through New Brunswick and then back to Maine and home.

Brett on the suspension bridge across Sault-au-Mouton Falls
Longue Rive, Quebec

Brett on shoreline at Longue Rive Quebec

Beluga Whale at Saguenay Fjord National Park
Bay Sainte Marguerite
The beluga whales live year round in the St Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers.  They are the most southern beluga whale populations and were separated from the arctic population several thousand years ago.  It was very cool to see them in their natural habitat. 

Here are a few facts from our trip

• 39 days 
• 4995.7 miles. 
• 404 gallons of diesel fuel
• 80 unique beers
• 4 Canadian Provinces  (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec)
• 1 US State (Maine)

Our actual track for the trip to Newfoundland and Labrador

Click here to bring the map up in Google Maps

We had a wonderful trip.  We are glad to have done it the way we did, but if we do it again, we will skip the drive on the Trans-Labrador Highway.  There was not a lot to see in the center of Labrador and the roads were in pretty bad shape.  We wouldn't skip Labrador or the Lower North Coast of Quebec, we'd just cross back to Newfoundland to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia.