We want to see your island but only have 2 days...

This is what people say at the visitors' center in Newfoundland. Just to put it in perspective, this is the equivalent of seeing Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia or Tennessee in 2 days... oh and the road does not circumnavigate the island so, if you go the 900+ km from the ferry to St. John's, you go the 900+ km back to the ferry. This is one of the first views that we had getting off the ferry. They are the Tabletop Mountains, part of the Long Range Mountains.

This is the Trans-Canada highway. It is the major thoroughfare on the island... notice the abundance of traffic and potholes. Or just the potholes!

For our first day we have decided to explore the Port-au-Port Peninsula. There are many small towns and what seemed like a lot to do and see. This being our first foray into Newfoundland we were unaware that 75% of the towns on the map would have less than 20 houses and no businesses. Now this does not mean that they are not very pretty and do not have hidden attractions that are barely marked. The drive is 161 km to circumnavigate the peninsula. It is also known as the French Ancestors' Route, and before 1904 this area was known as the French Shore because France had exclusive fishing rights in this area. Many French place names remain, as does some of French heritage. This area is the only official bilingual area in Newfoundland.

Sheaves Cove is one of these hidden gems. It has a public dock area where they seem to hold an annual music festival.

It also had this... not so impressive but you can tell that with snowmelt or more rain than they have had this July it would be a wonderful waterfall. If you see the pond under where the falls would be, there were little Brook Trout. They were about 20 to 25 cm and doing quite well. Just waiting for the stream to run so they can swim downstream. Little do they know, but there is nothing downstream but the ocean.

There was also this....

and this!! The rock formations were stunning and watching this stream run into the ocean was astounding. You can use Mike for perspective on how wide this stream was.

This peninsula is an interesting melting pot. It is an area where displaced fishermen with British, Acadian and native Mi'kmaq roots were successfully resettled into a functioning community. I was very surprised by how Catholic this cape is. So Catholic in fact that they have a town named Lourdes and a reproduction of the holy site. St. Bernadette was my father's favorite saint so Mike and I took a moment to stop by. The predominance of Roman Catholic churches on the peninsula is another reminder of the French history and culture. With the building of Ernest Harmon Air Force Base during WWII, much of the everyday use of the French language and traditions were lost in favor of an English-speaking economic base.

Then we get to Piccadilly and we see the Ordovician period at the surface. Go go Gadget's upheaval!!

When we took this picture it was just that, a silly photo. This photo became a journey, that became a dream to come back before we had even left. I wish I could show you the photo that made us fall in love but there is not one iconic image that really did it. When we entered the park it was pretty but the first view or two could not prepare us.

You see this photo and one can see near perfection, but I was exhausted and 10 minutes before this we were still driving. We were silent because there was nowhere to sleep in the towns near Gros Morne. Everything was marked No Parking. We thought we would need to drive 40 km out of the park to a roadside pit stop. That made me pout... and then there was this spot and this view. Sometimes we just get lucky!

Next day we woke up knowing that there were 6 days of journal to write, 5 days of hikes to hike, and our big hike orientation was at 2:30. We drove into Rocky Harbor and parked on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I have to say that it is hard to pay attention to writing when the scenery is so perfectly lovely.

We started our hiking in Gros Morne National Park by doing Bakers Brook Falls trail. This is a 10km out-and-back walk. I have to give Canada props. Look at Mike on the boardwalk in this photo. There was kilometer after kilometer of this boardwalk, protecting the bog environment below. Really no need for hiking poles but we didn't know that when we left.

Here I am at Bakers Brook Falls. As you can see the sun was very cooperative. It came out a few times for photos but then kept us sun-free on the hike in and out.

As you can see Bakers Brook Falls is a triple cascade. Very lovely to see it. Also there were not many people on this hike so we got to really enjoy the view.

See the key above and reality below...

As I look out at those distant mountains I get excited! That is where we will be hiking tomorrow. I worry about the cloud cover. If it keeps up or rains it will be a much more difficult hike. One thing we know already is that you can't use a map or compass in the fog. No line of sight means no navigation... how very late 1900's of us to need a map... As far as we know there is no cell service anywhere on the trail and I think you can see why.

This is Emily. She was the park ranger who ran our orientation to the Long Traverse. The photo is of her on the ferry we will all take tomorrow. Little did we know at the time she was going to do the hike with a co-worker and her co-worker's father.

Here is a bit from the orientation. The "When not to use it" reference is about our PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). These are provided at no cost by the Canadian Government. It costs about $10,000 per rescue because it is by helicopter. There has only been one this year and the people were only 20 m off the trail. They had been lost for days, and 10 minutes after they activated the beacon they saw other hikers. I kicked Mike under the table to say we better not be # 2. I would be so humiliated to think we couldn't navigate out and needed to be rescued. Now if I fall and break a leg that is one thing, but getting lost is humiliating.

So we went to do some hiking at the Lighthouse and ended up with a spectacularly funny story. Outside the Lighthouse they had signal flags so of course Mike and I translated it...

"F-A-R-F-A-R-I-N". Unsure of what it stood for, we went into the lighthouse museum to find out. The reason why I still don't know is a great story. I was reading one of the exhibits in the main living area when Biff, we'll call him that to make it easier, and his three female companions came in. They lounged in the window that looked out over the flagpole and the ocean. In comes the Park Ranger. She walks up to the group and asks if they had worked out what the flagpole said. They all stared at her like they had not even seen the flags. At this point Buff looked out the window and said, "Well the first one is a C." I open my mouth to correct him but then closed it, wondering if I was misremembering my International Flags. So I looked back out the window to check. One of Biff's companions says, "How do you know?" The Park Ranger and I both look at him speculating what his answer would be. He points out the window and states emphatically, "Well the first one is the flag of Canada and that starts with a 'C'. I don't know the other countries." My mouth dropped open... I expect him to laugh ... but he looks smugly satisfied. The girl giggles and hugs him. "I don't know them either" she says. At this point the Park Ranger recovers and tells them that they are International Signal Flags and that the Canadian flag does not count. She leaves the room and comes back with the kids activity book for the park which has a page with the flag alphabet in it.

Biff takes the book, looks at the page pictured above and hands it back to the Ranger. "Can't use this. It's in French and I don't know the French alphabet."

At this point I turn and practically run out of the lighthouse. To her credit the Ranger kept a straight face as she told them she'd help...

After the hilarity at the Lighthouse, Mike and I walked the Lookout Trail so that we could see all of Rocky Harbor. Once we got there we were disappointed that we were not at the correct time for sunset as it would have been lovely. There were even pique-nique (French translation) tables to eat at and free binoculars to see town with.

Not that I can feel too bad because we went back to our parking spot in Rocky Harbor and had this sunset over Gros Morne National Park.

(Jay, Mike, Me, Gram, Bruno and Otto)

In the morning we got up early to muster at the Gros Morne hike parking lot. Luckily we were able to all share a cab to get to the boat at Westernbrook Pond. We could not get on the 9:00 ferry like everyone else but we figured it was not too much time to wait for the 10:30 and it saved us a ton in cab fare. When we got to the ferry the cabbie took a photo of us together.

When we arrived at the ferry terminal we got lucky again as they had 2 slots open on the 9:00 am boat. This meant that we were able to make the trip with everyone else which made it so much more fun.

Western Brook Pond, which is currently a freshwater fjord, but was salt water in the past, is a prominently visited part of Gros Morne. The pond started out as a stream-cut valley, but in the last ice age glaciers carved the valley into a deep U-shaped trough. The basin is very deep, reaching a maximum depth of 165 meters. When the glaciers began to retreat they opened to the ocean, making it a saltwater fjord. Eventually the land rebounded, elevating the basin above sea level as we see it today. The glacial moraines act as a dam, trapping the freshwater inflow to form the pond.

Here you can see some more of the features in the pond. On the left you can see the remnants of the last major landslide in the pond.

There are so many cool geologic features here!! See if you can find the one that the boat operator pointed out to us here.

Looking back over where we came gives me the opportunity to talk more about the lake. The inflow of water to the pond is tiny! It takes fifteen years for the pond's water to completely replenish itself. Let's put this in perspective... it takes one of the Great Lakes less than a year! This is why pollution regulations are so strict. The bedrock of the cliffs and the area around the top of the pond is part of the Grenville basement. It is really old rock from the Precambrian era. The rock type is gneiss with igneous intrusions of black diabase.

When we got off the boat Emily took our send-off photo. It is amazing that we all made it because the boat does not stop at the dock. You just have to jump for it as the boat tries to idle steady. If you want to see us all jump it is on the you tube channel. Luckily we all made it and turned left into the woods to start our hike. This is the best marked part of the trail as it is used by hikers who stay at the first backcountry site at the rim of the fjord.

Only 2km in and I already know that I am going to love this hike! Look at Mike admiring the meadow pinned between towering cliff walls.

As you look at this photo, remember that I talked about the rock slide in the fjord... well here is a rock slide in the valley. Super glad that we were not here when any of these came down.

The backcountry can sometimes feel really small when you keep running into Gram and Bruno at all the best spots.

We ate lunch here and then moved on so that they could enjoy it alone. In the woods courtesy really matters, because there just are not that many people out here to help you if you need it.

A lot of what we hike on is Moose trails. They are crazy dexterous! I never would have thought that they could go up such vertical slopes but you see moose droppings even on a slope like the one I am standing on.

Here is the view that you get once you climb up the cliffs. It is thought-provoking to look back over the distance you have covered by boat and then by foot. You can actually hike along the left rim of the fjord. Perhaps next trip eh!

The land is so wet that you need to use tent pads, that's the wood planks you see above, in a lot of locations. This is Little Island Pond, our first night's camping spot.

As you can see from the panorama above, as well as the other photos, you should get the idea that there is nothing around us. What we didn't know was that we had chosen to hike on the night of a new moon! This meant that when we got up to look at the stars in the early AM, we saw the Milky Way at its zenith and there were so many shooting stars that you would run out of wishes long before stars. This is one night I will not soon forget.

When we decided to do this hike we expected many things, but not to increase our vocabulary. What would you call the plants in picture above? Noun tuckamore

A spruce tree bent and entangled by winds on the coastal shores of Newfoundland

You may call it bracken, or a thicket, or scrub brush, but to us this new word is a rallying cry of frustration to be uttered at the top of one's lungs while attempting something nearly impossible... In the words of Gram, "TUCKAMORE!!! 😲

Oh and it is everywhere...

But what is not everywhere is the path.

We see snippets of it here and there but generally we have to follow our good commonsense and climb to a vantage point to check if we are on track.

Sometimes we wish for there to be some sort of path to guide us. When you end up looking down at a fern-covered cliff that has Tuckamore on the top, you know you can't go forward, you know you can't go up, so you retreat and try another approach. This is the weakness of the map. There are times when the contour lines are deceiving and reality sets you straight when you get there.

Here is a panoramic view of where Mike was standing after we backtracked. If you look at the end of the cliff, there is a lovely waterfall.

Oh and snow at the end of July. If you want to see me get hit with a snowball, head over to the you tube channel.

Here are some shots of us setting camp for the night. If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of lakes, ponds, and bogs. It is super-wet all the time and it is impossible to stay dry. You can see us making use of the solar rays that are left. Also we had a Pink-Edged Sulphur, Colias interior, and a Forest Bumble Bee, Bombus sylvicola, come to check us out.

This is a look at our view for night two. It is truly a backcounty site as it is not labeled as a camp area. We got lucky to find a dry patch of Spagnum with a large rock to act as a windbreak. The only downside was that there are a million mosquitoes and the night was cloudy so no stars on our last night.

There are also tons of streams that you need to rock-hop over. I wish that I had a video of us doing it because it is a lot more challenging with backpacks on. There was one large leap of faith on this crossing that I was not sure I was going to make with the 25 lbs on my back but I did and we traveled all the streams on the hike without serious incident.

Take a deep breath here... no way to get lost now...

This view is the big payoff. You can see Gros Morne Mountain on the left, it's bald, Ten Mile pond in the middle and the vertical cliffs of 10 Mile Pond on the right. This is a view that you can't get when you do the 10km day hike of Gros Morne Mountain. You will get to see pictures of the day hike to the summit next, as the Long Traverse ends with summiting this peak.

Just take a look at this...

This photo, and the last one, which is a close up of one section about 1/2 way down, are hard to describe if you were not there. This part of the hike was 200x harder and scarier than anything that had come before it. When we went over the edge of the cliff at the top we were feeling good. We could see the "trail" ahead of us and it was fairly clear which way people go. Then we hit picture # 1. This cliff was about 8ft long and smooth. You had to grab onto plants and lower yourself down into the squishy bog mud below. The hardest scramble that I have ever done without ropes!! Then reality hits... We are only 3% down the hill, with no way back up if we need it. Obviously we made the climb eventually but we were shocked that it was not covered in the briefing and we worried about Gram and Bruno whose packs were nearly double ours in size and weight. There was one cliff that was so tall and wet that I couldn't make it so I had to crawl in the tuckamore and use it to help me get down 2 smaller inclines. Remember these are not trees in dirt, they are trees in 3 inches of dirt clinging to bedrock... You pray they hold.

After the long hike we embraced how easy it was to summit Gros Morne Mountain. Almost as good as an escalator!

Nearly a 360° view of the top. Love looking back at where we came from.

Here we are at the summit! You can see how rocky it is. Now you know why it is called a bald and why it is so easy to pick it out from the other mountains in the area.

The way down the front of Gros Morne Mountain is a 3km rock scramble. You can see how steep it is here.

Then it is a 4km walk through the woods to the campervan... I took this photo from the place where we could see Gram and Bruno standing at the bridge looking up at Gros Morne. They had safely traversed the cliff hike. Yet there was no way for them to be ahead of us... later we found out that they said F*** it after getting into the valley safely. So if you did not believe me about how tough the hike is, you should. It was crazy hard!!!

Ok there is no way around it; everything we had worn on the hike was wet, filthy and it reeked! It was 100% laundry day even though it was the worst laundromat ever and we had to finish all the drying in the van. Then we headed north up to the Northern Peninsula and the Norse history.

The first place that we stopped on the way was at this triple sea arch. If you stand in front of it you can truly hear the power of the sea slowly eroding it.

Here in St. Andrews there are a lot of cool small town things to see and do. This is a park that pays tribute to the aerial forest firefighters.

People in Newfoundland are really proud of where they come from. One man wanted to share how much he loved it so he put a message in a bottle, waited for a favorable tide and threw it out to sea. 544 days later it was found by a beachcomber in France. He threw it from the white X that you can see on the rocks in this photo.

Near that white X from the previous photo, we took a walk along the ocean and saw our first whales of the trip. Humpbacks and Minky whales along with a dolphin. Very cool.

L'Anse aux Meadows National Park or in French L'Anse-aux-Méduses, which translates to Jellyfish Cove, is an archaeological site in the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. It was discovered in 1960, and is still the only verified Norse settlement in North America. There are not many artifacts from this site as it was dismantled and burned when the Norse left. The word Viking is often used interchangeably with the word Norse but that is incorrect. There were many people at the Newfoundland settlement. They were all Norse, but not all Vikings. The word is derived from the word vik, which translates to fjord. So a Viking is, "a person from the fjord". People, mostly men, went Viking or travelling to develop skills and deepen personality traits. Vikings made the sea their home and worked as explorers, traders, pirates, slavers, mercenaries..... Motivated by the need for fehu (wealth) and with a desire to avoid dying in one's bed, they wandered the globe. This sculpture shows the first meeting of the Norse settlers and the native North Americans. This relationship was, as far as we can tell, peaceful. It is a poignant meeting because it is the first time that the peoples of the earth, who all started in Africa, met again having finally circumnavigated and populated all the land in between. They met around the year 1,000 CE, over 30,000 years later!

There are no Norse buildings left on site as they were razed when the Norse abandoned the site in favor of ones in Vineland to the south. There are two rows of buildings that have been recreated to look like what the settlement may have been like in the year 1100 CE.

If you want to hear the Lute played and see the room in more detail head over to our YouTube page.

Oh and here is me playing dress-up!

This is an amazing display showing how bowls are made Norse-style. The guy said that it takes a ton of practice to get good, and even then it is one bowl a day!! If you want to see him work see You Tube .

VICTORY!! The little spider in our rear view mirror is very camera-shy but today a horse fly got caught and he was so busy moving his meal he did not hide. He's been with us since Pennsylvania!!

You see the land in the background? Labrador.... sadly we will have to view it from here and save it for a future trip :(

These may look like rock pillows but they are Thrombolites. I am super excited because they are super rare and I have seen their sisters in Shark Bay Australia. You literally owe your life to thrombolites because they are ancient forms of microbial communities that photosynthesize the oxygen we now breathe. They are accretionary structures that form in shallow water and are full of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria. They are now only found in a few places in the world. These structures are hundreds of millions of years old. Thank you, fossilized microorganisms. I am super fond of breathing.

The barren Tablelands tower over a more southern part of Gros Morne National Park. It looks more like the southwestern United States than the traditional geeen Newfoundland landscape. This outcrop shows you what the earth's mantel is made of and is an ultramafic rock known as peridotite. It was forced up from the Earth's depths during plate collisions in the area millions of years ago. It is also one of the places on earth that helped scientists to firm up the theory of plate tectonics. Unfortunately the walk here is underwhelming and Mike refused to go marauding overland to climb up... party pooper...

Mike and I have been chasing the possibility of icebergs since we took the ferry over and finally our patience paid off. We saw one in Crow Bay near the town of Twillingate. We also went to the Auk winery to taste wine made from local berries. This winery doesn't make any grape-based wines so it was very interesting. We also had Cod tongue. If cod could talk, they would ask you why anyone would want to eat them. The tongue of the Atlantic cod is not a tongue, as they have none, but a gelatinous bit of flesh from the fish's throat. Everyone knows that I have a food rule that says I can't say I don't like something if I have not eaten it three times different ways... Cod tongue is an acquired taste, and other than deep fried it seems not to be served any other way. But it is a Newfoundland specialty so of course I ordered it.

After the excitement of the iceberg, new wine, and cod tongue, we were so happy to find a place to bed down and watch the sun set.

Oh and to write because we are way behind on the journals!!

When we arrived at Terra Nova National Park the visitors' center held two amazing surprises. The first was free showers! I can't tell you how happy I was to get to take a shower even if it was the pushbutton type that never gives you quite enough time in the water. The second was a really cool aquarium area that housed local species. Mike and I are holding a Giant Sea Starfish.

When we talked with one of the rangers at the park she told us that there was a beached whale about 50 minutes from the park. Mike was interested so we set off to see it. We drove out to the town of Salvage and were surprised that we could not find the whale. We asked a local who gave us directions and told us about local hiking trails. You can see the harbor in the town above.

On part of the hiking loop we ran across this abandoned cemetery. I have always loved cemeteries so I braved the endless overgrown rose bushes to take a look.

This is a 35ft beached Fin Whale. It was really sad to see such a beautiful animal just dead in the sand, being stared at as tourists ate their lunch.

Hi again to Terra Nova. Now we are going to explore the park and do a little hiking before the rain sets in.

Right at the visitors' center in Terra Nova there was a nice loop trail. It took you along the shore, ended at one of the loveliest back country sites I have ever seen, and returned through the woods. Mike and I wished we could have stayed at the campsite but we only had daypacks with us.

Next we headed to the town of Bonavista. We had expected to just spend an afternoon but were surprised how much there was to do in town. We went to the Lighthouse north of town to see Puffins and whales. We then saw the John Cabot memorial. He was a Venetian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England was the first European exploration of the mainland of North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the 11th century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, as Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been cited. Next we went to see the Ryan Historic Site.

This conversation will give you an idea how the people here feel about Atlantic Cod and the Cod industry.

On the Ryan premises Cod fishing was king. James Ryan Ltd. was established in the Bayley's Cove section of Bonavista in 1857 where it operated a pub as well as a retail store. On this property you learn all about the Atlantic Cod salting industry and about how the ban on Atlantic Cod fishing really devastated these coastal communities.

Here is a shot of the Atlantic Ocean as it pounds the shore at the Dungon Provincial Park. For a video of this head over to You Tube.

It is also public grazing land so you can see horses, ponies and cows here all summer.

Oh there are also sea caves here! You can see them from the land now because the top collapsed into the ocean several years ago leaving the hole with the ocean rushing in and out.

This meal may not seem like a lot, but I have been starved for fresh produce. It is a bit crazy-expensive here. So in honor of the occasion we thought that we might try to put up the table and have a proper meal, play a game and just enjoy the evening campervan style! P.S. it is off-cut salmon bites that are amazing, with salad that goes for $8 a box. Got to love living on an island!

Oh Elliston You are one of my fondest memories in Canada.

We got to the Puffin (properly pronounced pOOfin) viewing island at 6:30 am. Early tourist gets to catch them on the near island!! I had a ball watching them waddle, fly and fight for territory. They truly are sea parrot.

After Elliston we stayed in some small town off the highway and saw this sign... It is amazingly funny once you have driven the roads here because they put this sign in random spots on the road. Trust me there are potholes on ALL the roads, even the highway. Warning people is like rubbing it in. Oh and this photo brought more laughs from Newfoundlanders than any other that I took.

Next it is off to St. John. Here is shot of the harbor. We had Lunch at Mill St. brewery and then headed to this vantage point to see Signal Hill.

Little did we know there would be a military production that explained Newfoundland's role in wars from the American Revolution to WW II.

Signal Hill fort is not the original fortification but an upgraded replacement that is meant to denote the important history of the area as to defense and Transatlantic communications. Construction on Cabot Tower, which you see in the picture, began in 1897 and commemorated Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee as well as the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's landfall in 1497. Also on 12 December 1901, the first transatlantic wireless transmission was received here by Guglielmo Marconi. The transmission, in Morse code, originated from Cornwall in the UK.

Here are some of the reconstructed fortifications at Signal Hill. See how narrow the channel is here. Makes it easy to protect. Now look at the spit of land that is way out there; you will see a picture of us there soon.

I have included this picture because I think that it really shows how important this fortification was to the surrounding area. Every day at noon they fired a gun and people used it to tell time by. If they were 3 minutes late, the fisherman, who used the gun to know when to turn around, would be 45 minutes late to port.

St. John's is by far the largest city in Newfoundland and I find it fascinating that 5 minutes from downtown you can still see the fishing boats.

Here is us at the easternmost point in North America. Remember it from the photo above at Signal Hill.

Just in case you wondered, there was a sign that told you about the other extreme cardinal points in Canada. FYI, I do not volunteer to drive to the Northernmost point!!

Welcome to St. Mary's Ecological reserve, home to 70,000 nesting seabirds. Don't worry about finding them...just follow your nose.

This reserve is home to one of Newfoundland's largest seabird colonies. The estimates say that the site is home to 24,000 northern gannets, 20,000 black-legged kittiwakes, 20,000 common murres, and 2,000 thick-billed murres. There are also razorbills and black guillemot. The ocean waters off the reserve also provide winter habitat for harlequin ducks, common eiders, scoters, and long-tailed ducks. If you can take your eyes off the birds we also saw Humpback whales here too.