If you're a connoisseur of roads, Gros Morne National Park does not dissapoint.
Caught an exceptional sunset just as we were returning to our cabin @ Rocky Harbor, NF. Of course photos never capture a moment like this. For 5 minutes WHOLE WORLD WAS RED!
Western Brook Pond tour. Gros Morne National Park. Calling this place a pond is an understatement. Its a fjord carved by glaciers and it feels lik'e you're on a lake at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Yes, that's not just one, but two amazing waterfalls that fall onto another diagonal surface and continue falling. At the very end is a place where you can be dropped off to set out for a multiple day hike to some other spectacular views. For now, the afternoon boat ride was plenty for us.
Finally the rain lets up and we get a night camping @ Shallow Bay, NF
We had called the roads between corner brook & lomond the "logging roads" in our itinerary, and expected it to be an adventurous day. there were plenty of "resource roads" in the area and the feeling of being out in the "real wild" was great. but the roads were reasonably well groomed and we passed several RVs and even a prius (?) along the way. many camp / RV sites were well maintained for year-round use.
a nice little hike over a trail that was basically a stream. since we had no idea where we were headed, the rapids / waterfall at the end was a nice surprise.
Probably my favorite hike so far, ever. A complete surprise if you look at the hiilside next to Little Port, you’d never guess there was a trail hiding in there. Its a steep climb, at times holding onto ropes and crossing over bridges over tiny waterfalls, until you end up on a heli-pad hanging out over the ocean, feeling like you're floating in the clouds. Dirk somehow spotted a whale down below, but it was too far out to get a decent shot.
A nice afternoon spent hiking around Bottle Cove.
Lunch overlooking Bottle Cove, Sandwich-Meister-Dirk back in action. And introducing, Water-Meister Leeann.
Lark Harbor
The travelers dilemma: Plan too little and you could miss something spectacular. Plan too much and you spoil the surprise. I may have over-planned this trip but the road east of English Harbour was a nice surprise. A few miles of gravel road alongside a huge drop to the ocean. It eventually leads to a gate and if you bring a bike, go the rest of the way. It looks like its worth it on Google Earth. On my way back I passed by an ATV gang who say there's a helicopter pad at the end of the road where they like to go BBQ.
I had high hopes for getting some drone shots here, and to camp in the great sites at the edge of these cliffs. But the rain was just...In...Sane. With the camera covered in a rain-cover and wiping the lens after each shot, we were each a gallon of water heavier after just 10 minutes. Another great, lousy place to pitch tents in the rain. We skipped on to Corner Brook.
Almost immediately after getting off the ferry in Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland, we turned onto Tower Road, a service road leading to the top of a hill where a WWII radio tower used to be. I had seen photos from the top of this hill and the great view of the lake below and made a note "don't bother if its foggy". It was foggy. It was quite steep in parts, with a bit of low-level rock crawling over the occasional washed out section but mostly smooth sailing. Just machine rubber and stone, up and up and up. It was a fun climb. Leeann admitted later she completed part of it with her eyes closed singing happy songs to herself. We got about 3/4 of the way up and accepted the weather was not getting any better and there was absolutely no view ahead so we turned back, saving the suspension for future abuse.
North of Neil's Harbor. My second "White Point" of this trip. This was one of our favorite surprise spots. Somehow didn't make it high on my list while planning but if you are in the area, be sure to stop by. Gorgeous rolling hills on top of dramatic cliffs and beaches. A hot young couple went for a swim that looked incredible, as we old folks watched and thought about how damn cold the water must be. No regrets!
Neil's Harbor. We didn't have HUGE expectations since they said it would be unlikely to see much on this day, with the wind and choppy waves but we saw a handful of sunfish and a couple minke whales. Although I think they were just fat lazy dolphins. Yep. Fat Dolphins. Either way, it was a fun afternoon and we all totally want Zodiac boats now.
Shortly after this mellow jaunt, we realized we were on an ATV trail and ROBOTWO earned a few new pin-stripes. Resale value: down. Overlander pride: up. This route ended up having the most dangerous moment of the trip as we past a small drainage gully which crossed the path, eating away a decent chunk of it and dropping 15 feet. This meant a tilted crossing with the tires right up to the edge of the ditch's hungry, black-hole-mouth. Getting out and planning the approach we noticed a crumpled heap of Detroit's past rusting right below us. Not a good sign! It was no problem heading across it one way, but after realizing we had no solid destination in mind (or perhaps my off-road hostages were finally successful negotiating their safe return), we turned back. About a foot before re-entering the danger zone, the front end slid a few inches towards "Rusted Landrover Creek". Once stable, I honked at Angus, spotting from ahead ahead, and motioned "Watch out!, Coming in hot!" and started forward, slowly but desperately building momentum. Well, we made it. Low torque, not hitting it too hard too fast, while smoothly increasing forward momentum, seemed to work. Then again it might have been luck. The dash-cam video of this trip (to be posted later) will not visually communicate the danger of the situation, but will feature an interesting range of "nearly shit my pants" jokes.
A fun camp spot on the very northern tip of Nova Scotia. Overlooking a gorgeous bay. Although we weren't expecting an adventure at the time, this place turned out to be our 2nd most extreme driving situation of the trip as the staff had us follow them to our cabin while they drove an ATV up a wet grass hill with a steep sideways slant. We all have our theories on how far the rig was leaning, 25° or 30°? not out of range for the LR3 but if we slipped, it surely would have been a 6 foot sideways slide to a 6 foot drop, and if the smaller path below us didn't stop the tumble, it would have continued another 150 feet down to "Rusted Landrover Cove." Lesson learned, in spontaneous conditions, follow enthusiastic guys on ATVs with pessimistic caution.
sandwich meister dirk. the pepper on the tomatoes, so good!