Back To The Rock Walking A Lot

Hikes 

Despite its 1,000 year history, Newfoundland has very little to show in the way of historical sites, monuments or buildings. Settlement for the first few hundred years was seasonal followed by several wars which meant that the Rock did not become an official Crown colony till 1824. The Great Fire of 1892 wiped out most of the capital of St. Johns, the Great Depression of the 30's caused the economy to collapse and the cod fishery closure in in 1992 has kept the Rock from reaching its full potential.

What it does have in spades is scenic views and the friendliest people in Canada and some would say the world. Tourism is a 1.2 billion dollar industry and employs over 20,000 people with the majority of the industry operated by small local businesses. Our plan was to take advantage of a many of those scenic views as we could fit into our timeline of 3 weeks.

Our first morning in St. Johns greeted us with fog and a thick wet mist. Not quite pea soup, more a tomato bisque. Breathing it in felt a little like what being water boarded must feel like. The plan for the day was to hike the North Head Trail which would take us to Signal Hill a place we visited on our first trip but drove there in a rental car. 

Photo was taken during our trip in 2010

Signal hill is famous as the location where Guigielmo Marconi sent the first radio signal to reach England. My plan on the first trip was to call a friend in Poland to mark the occasion but surprisingly, cell service was sketchy. I am sure Marconi would have been disappointed. 

The trail head was a five block walk from our hotel. The trail is not long but strenuous. It takes you from the harbour along the base of Signal Hill before taking you up to the top climbing a 500 step staircase. We had trouble finding the trail head in the fog, could barely see the trail when we found it and Signal Hill was completely whited out by the fog.

Photo: explorewithdora.com 

Perhaps plan B was in order so it was a quick hike around Quidi Vidi lake with a visit to Quidi Vidi brew pub for a pint of their beer made with 10,000 year old iceberg water. It was okaaay, different, perhaps a bit fizzy for my taste. After some thought I believe that given the waters age, perhaps it was missing the pollution that flavours our so called fresh water today.

Twillingate- from twillingate.com website

Nestled amidst the rugged beauty of Newfoundland’s coastline, Twillingate is an experience waiting to be embraced. Our charming town boasts a timeless allure with unspoiled landscapes. 

Twillingate is the largest town on South Twillingate Island and located about 150 K north of Gander. The town sits in the middle of the island giving it easy access to hundreds and hundreds of kilometres of coast line. They have taken advantage of this and created numerous easy, moderate and hard hiking trails called the Rock Cut Trails. There was even the possibility of an iceberg siting if the fog ever decided to let up.

Website: rockcuttrails.ca/history 

A rock cut is an overhang in the cliffs or a cut in the rock that offers shelters from the wind that consistently batters Twillingate island. Back in the day, older people in the community would hike up into the hills and tuck into a rock cut to check on the water conditions, the ice flow, or to see their sons coming home from sea. 

This was such a frequent occurrence that these rock cuts became regular local gathering spots. Over time, these paths were beaten down and now form the incredible coastal hiking trail system known as the Rockcut Twillingate Trails.

Most of the hiking trails on Twillingate Islands were roads and walking paths to abandoned or resettled communities, berry picking and wood cutting paths, or animal grazing paths (many people would allow their sheep and cows to roam the island freely and graze in the summer months). Other paths, were beaten down over time by fishermen, sealers and older folks walking to look out over the sea. 

As you can see from the pictures our time in Twillingate could be at times foggy and damp. The weather was very unpredictable but never so bad as to prevent us from doing what we wanted to do. 

Gros Morne National Park- from the Parks Canada web site

Soaring fjords and moody mountains tower above a diverse panorama of beaches and bogs, forests and barren cliffs. Shaped by colliding continents and grinding glaciers, Gros Morne’s ancient landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Most people I talk to about Gros Morne have heard of it, but other than the name knew very little about it. 

The park has a dozen or more trails and we spent three days exploring as many as we  could and could have used another three days. A place we could easily visit again.

The Tablelands Trail- Parks Canada

Half a billion years in the making – formed deep in the middle layer of the Earth, in the mantle. It was thrust up as ancient continents collided, building the Appalachian Mountain chain and assembling a supercontinent called Pangea!

More that 400 million years of those towering mountains eroding were needed to reveal what we see today: a surreal barren, orange landscape -- the Earth's inner soul: the mantle - exposed to you the way few have seen it.

Walk upon the Earth’s mantle - normally found far below the earth's crust. This walk reveals some of the earth shaking ideas that changed how we understand our planet. Parks Canada guides will help you explore this bizarre and beautiful landscape, the glacially carved valleys and the unique plants and vegetation that call the Tablelands their home! 

We were blessed with a few hours each day when the sun came out to play. 

And play we did. 

But the wind and fog were still our constant companions as we woke each morning. But as in Twillingate the weather did not hinder us in the least. The least being 60 kilometre wind speeds. 

The foghorn was getting a good workout today. 

The Viking Trail- from the explorenewfoundland.com web site

An automobile cruising the Viking Trail is really a time machine that takes you to the beginnings of our planet and the 1,000 year old Viking settlement at L'Anse Aux Meadows Historic Site. Travel through wooded valleys, over mountains, along a windswept seacoast. This tour can take from two to 10 days. Take your time, for time will tug you gently along the Trail, urging side trips to fjords and falls, sand dunes and fields of wildflowers.

We took their advice and planned for 4 days which we filled with adventures. Wooded valleys, over mountains, and along the wind swept coast and I do mean wind swept. But on the plus side it kept the fog to a minimum.

We are on our way to village of St. Anthony's which will be our base to explore the Viking Trail. 

Waterfalls

Wind swept coasts. 

The wind swept seacoast is so windy it can blow holes in the landscape. 

There will be more about our exploration of a Newfoundland fjord as it deserves it's own blog.  

Photo- West Brook Pond

Arriving in St. Anthony's we  drove immediately to the Visitor Information Centre as we had heard from some tourists we had met at our hotel the night before that there was a berg visible from the Centre. Nothing to see today. We queried the staff and they directed to a trail located nearby. 

A 25 minute walk brought us to a viewpoint and our first Newfie berg.  It seems that the bergs can be moved very quickly by the wind and currents and today we experience gusts of over 40 kph. 

The next morning started out foggy, windy and wet. Our plan was to hike the Lamage Point Trail as we heard there was another opportunity to see more ice bergs.  With the hope the rain would slow down so paid a visit to the museum to get a picture with a local dignitary who came to visit St. Anthony's and never left. 

On occasion the St. Lawrence Sea Way freezes over allowing all kinds of critters to cross over from Labrador. 

  

We arrived to the trail head just as the rain turned into a drizzle but still windy. "We won't melt." The trail will take us up a  steep hill for a view point promising us unsurpassed views of the area. The trail would then continue on for another 2 kilometres to the next bay over from St. Anthony's which is where we had been told more icebergs might be hiding out. The views as promised were pretty good.  

We were gifted with two whales that seemed to be following us as we made are way along the trail. Breeching every few minutes to allow me to capture one of them. 

I thought they were Orcas but told but people who know more than me and looking at my grainy picture said they were Humpbacks. 

As we reached the top, the wind hit us with gusts that would stop us in mid-stride. While it wasn't raining very hard, at 60 kph it was being driven right through our rain proof (hah) gear leaving us completely soaked within minutes. 

From the viewpoint, we were able to see into the neighbouring bay and through the fog could see at least three icebergs. At this point we were  faced with a gale force head wind and a 4 kilometre round trip to get to the viewpoint and the possible chance for better views of the bergs. 

Our mantra "We won't melt" died that day and with our soaking tails between our legs, turned around and headed back to our car and a warm shower.  

We are headed for L'anse aux Meadows tomorrow and have booked a trip on a boat and berg tour the following day. Weather for tomorrow is the same as today but a little sunnier for our boat tour day. Fingers crossed.