It was the spring of 2010 and we landed on the Rock in a complete fog. It was an 8 hour flight but to clarify the fog was environmental and not brain. The fog caused us to fly over St. Johns and Gander finally landing in Deer Lake Newfoundland. The plan was to lay low here, refuel and hope the fog would clear enough to allow us to return to and land at St. Johns. Failing that we were headed to Ottawa. Having learned a valuable lesson about travel to the Rock we scheduled our return for a much later arrival in the spring. See my blog of May 2010 to find out what happened.
Our first adventure in Newfoundland was short, just a week and we quickly realized that the Rock had much more to offer. So 14 years of planning later, we arrived for a second go on the Rock. This time with some clear and established goals.
Hiking
To be honest the interior of the Rock can be a bit boring but damn those coastal views are pretty awesome when not fogged out. My trail research had us exploring 12 coastal hikes of various lengths and a handful of backup hikes, just in case. Barely dented the hiking opportunities available on the Rock.
Photo- Rockcut Trails, Twillingate Nfl.
See a Moose
I grew up in Northern Ontario and in the 50's moose sightings were a dime a hoof but I have not seen another moose in the wild since moving to BC.
Photo- A very nosy moose, Yellowknife Museum
Moose are not indigenous to the Rock. They were introduced to the island in 1904 creating an attraction for big game hunters to visit.
With no natural predators, the moose have thrived with and estimated population of 120,000. They are voracious eaters and devour the tops of young sapling trees that are needed to ensure reforestation of the forests as the older larger trees die. Despite this environmental faux pas, they have become an iconic symbol of the Rock.
See An Iceberg
During a few of our adventures we have enjoyed viewing icebergs. These icebergs were local, calved off nearby glaciers.
Photo- Nonie feeling up a iceberg calved from a glacier in Tracy Arm, Alaska.
The icebergs passing the Rock are not local as glaciers do not exist on the Rock anymore. These icebergs have travelled 1600 kilometres after being calved from glaciers found on west coast of Greenland.
Photo- A bunch of bergs calved off Glacier Grey floating in Lago Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile.
Visit a Fjord
The geographic definition of “fjord” is a long, deep and narrow sea inlet where the shoreline cuts into the mainland and fills with seawater. The cliffs are high and steep having been cut by glacier action. A fjords most distinguishing feature is it must be longer than it is wide. If it is not, it would be called a bay.
Photo- West Brook Pond, Gros Morne Nfl.
Walk Where the Vikings Had Once Walked
L'Anse aux Meadows, an historical site on the north western end of the Rock across the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Labrador. When first found it was believed to be a local indigenous village. Further investigation revealed that it had once been a Viking settlement.
Photo- A statue of an overly friendly Leif Ericson, L'anse Aux Meadows
Retracing My Ancestral Roots
The primary goal of our first trip was the small fishing village of Moreton Harbour located on New World Island off the northwestern coast of the Rock two hundred kilometres north of Gander and ancestral home of my namesake grandmother Elsie Brett. Upon our return home I dug deeper into the history of the Brett's in Newfoundland and hoped to confirm my research on this trip.
Photo- First visit to Moreton Harbour, 2010
So for the next few blogs we will be covering these goals in greater depth. The failures and the successes.
Stay tuned.
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