[Paddlewise] Newfoundland TR

I'll post pictures on my website soon, too:

I had long been told that Newfoundland was a desolate, cold, and
featureless place full of strange people who were horribly inbred. Even
the people who live there call it "The Rock". Then, I started meeting
people who had been there, who all said "you have to see it", and saying
what great people the "Newfies" are. So much for the quality of
information you in the US about places outside the US that aren't Europe.

Judith and I went there for 2 weeks in July of 2003, with 4 friends (Mike
M, Mike K, Alison & John) to see the area around Gros Morne on the west
coast, and the eastern part of the Bay of Exploits on the north coast.
Paddling would be our primary goal, and a little hiking, too.

Driving off the ferry into Port aux Basques, I saw a treeless terrain,
with mountains all around. The architecture was what I expected (Basic,
sturdy buildings, mostly painted white), and the town is small, and right
on the water. The scenery changed as we drove up the west coast, and then
trees appeared, and then forests. Once we got 40 or so miles north of Port
aux Basques, the terrain began to remind me of southern Alaska on a
smaller scale.

Our first campsite was on Bonne Bay near Gros Morne. Bonne Bay is a fijord
that has two arms, and our campsite was at the end of the northern arm.
Gorgeous. And then the rains started.....I set up a tarp, and set our tent
up under it. It rained all night, and until about noon the next day. Once
the weather broke, we went paddling from camp. We didn't go far, because
the winds were whipping up the fijord at about 25 knots or so. I wore my
tuliliq, much to the amusement of everyone in sight, but it kept the wind
out of my ears. I also sweat like a pig in it. The water was much warmer
than I had thought it would be, so even a few rolls didn't totally cool me
off. We paddled upwind for a while & then surfed back to camp.

The next day, we drove up to Woody Point on the southern arm of the bay to
paddle. Woody Point is next to the Table Lands, which is a piece of the
earth's mantle that forced it's way up through to the surface. Very
amazing sight --- a huge bunch of barren, flat-topped red rock mountains
in the middle of a forest. They dominate an already gorgeous landscape.
There were patches of snow near the summit, even though where we stood it
was about 80 degrees.

As we were driving to Woody Point, Judith started yelling and pointing out
the window at the bay. I stopped the car & looked out: A pod of Minke
Whales were in the bay near Woody Point. We drove into town, and got a few
pictures from shore. We launched our kayaks about a half hour later, and
were almost immediately surrounded by whales. A Finback whale cruised by
close behind us, and the Minkes were in front of us. Ahhh.....my perfect
record of paddling with whales in Canada remains intact! We paddled from
Woody Point to Norris Point, and then out into the Gulf of St Lawrence to
Rocky Harbor & back to Woody Point. About a 14 mile paddle. We saw whales
off and on all day long & paddled along the cliffs on the way out to Rocky
Harbor. Great day. We saw several Moose in the road as we were driving
back to camp that night. Newfoundland has so many moose that they have
signs next to the road that depict a moose standing in front of a crushed
car. Sort of a humorous version of a universally understandable warning.

We hiked the base of the Table Lands, and then climbed a hill next to them
to get a good view the next day. You're not allowed to climb the Table
Lands, because of the winds on top. We encountered a huge bull moose on
the way back to the cars. The view from the top was wonderful: You had the
Table Lands on one side, and Bonne Bay & Gros Morne on the other. Judith
and I both agreed we could have spent a lot more time here, and still not
see everything. I would have liked to have climbed Gros Morne, too.

We relocated camp at the end of the week to New World Island, on the north
coast, bordering a stretch of water called Dildo Run. It's about a 5 hour
drive from Bonne Bay. Dildo Run is littered with islands & rocks,
literally thousands of them. The terrain is much lower than the west
coast, but interesting in it's own right. We paddled Dildo Run two
days --- once sweeping to the east and once sweeping to the west & back to
camp. On the eastbound day, we met a family on a power boat that were
enjoying the warm sunny weather. We talked to them for a half hour or so.
We also entertained the park rangers after the paddle with a little skills
practice in the water next to our campsite. Everyone we met there wanted
to talk to us, and were interesting to talk to, and extremely friendly.
You can spot an American there a mile away, just by their attitude, and
the fact that they avoid contact, unlike the locals, who'll talk to you
all day. I even overheard one middle-aged American man complaining that
the Newfies "need to be taught proper english". The Ugly American is alive
and well.....

Then came "THE" paddle of the trip. We drove up to Twilingate Island, and
launched out of Shady Harbor, on the Bay of Exploits side of the island,
just west of Long Point. Long Point is a 300 foot high cliff with a
lighthouse on the top. Shady Harbor is an abandoned copper mine, with
machinery still in place, including an old steam engine that once pumped
water out of the tunnels. There was a 4 - 5 foot swell running in from the
north that was bashing the cliffs and rocks, and spray was flying all
around, creating a fine mist at the base of the cliffs. We were going to
head out of the launch, paddle around some large rocks and small islands
to the west, and then round the point and paddle into Twilingate Harbor.
We did about a 7 mile paddle which took 5 hours. Every corner you rounded
yielded a dozen new play spots. The waters were turbulent, but not pushy,
and were the most amazing deep emerald green I'd ever seen. It was so
clear that you could see 30 feet down, and the swells were churning up
foam all along the shore. We stopped in a cove for lunch that had a sea
cave on one end of it, and cliffs all around. A very sweet place to stop.

I paddled more rock gardens, ledges and cliffs in that one day than I had
in the entire several months before it. Mike K, who is a shutterbug, shot
about 3 rolls of film this day. He caught John nearly losing it when a
swell broke high on a rock he was paddling over, Alison surfing a chute
between two ledges, John and I paddling right on the cliffs and rock
gardening in the swell, and just about every other thing we did. We earned
a big dinner and early bed this day. We didn't have any whale or iceberg
sitings here, but nobody seemed to mind. We saw lots of guillemots, but no
puffins. I was intently looking for puffins all the time we paddled there.

We took a "tourist day" to just poke around, and then did the 8 hour drive
back to Port aux Basques in one shot, and took the ferry back to Nova
Scotia the next morning. I'll definitely be going back soon.

You have to see it!

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Wayne Smith
wsmith16_at_snet.net

Check out my sea kayaking & homebrewing page:
http://pages.cthome.net/wsmith16/home.html




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