Newfoundland Trip Summary

What a cool trip! And we don’t just mean the weather, which was cool! We made some wonderful memories in the easternmost province of Canada and along the way.

Our trip came on the heels of Bill and Carrie's trip to Iceland, which had some similarities: icebergs, puffins, rock formations, whales, waterfalls, and seafood.

Despite the similarities, Newfoundland offered new places to explore at a relaxed pace. We stopped briefly along the way in New Hampshire, Maine and New Brunswick and then spent some time in the northern part of Nova Scotia before taking the ferry to Newfoundland. Here’s our route.

Here’s just some of the things we saw.

Lighthouses...

Icebergs...

Birds...

Waterfalls…

Natural arches...

Jelly bean row houses...

Moose tracks!

We also saw plenty of moose poop, but didn’t see a Newfoundland moose until the very end of the trip.

We heard the history, learning about: early Paleo-Eskimo seal hunting, Norse explorations, John Cabot’s landing, British colonization, and the fishing economy that took a major blow in 1992 with the close of cod fishing.

The culture was and is connected to the sea. A painting called Maybe Tomorrow reminded us of the challenges.

We really had a great time. Glad we have the opportunity to explore.

Newfoundland to Massachusetts – Heading Home

We divided the trip back to Massachusetts into three days: the ferry from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, driving almost to the US border, and driving from the border to Andover, Massachusetts.

The 7-hour ferry takes pretty much all day as you need to arrive two hours ahead of time and it takes a while to get off the ship once the ferry docks. Here’s the view of the deck. 

We grabbed seats close to the stern-facing window and watched as we got farther and farther from Newfoundland. Once we got to Nova Scotia, we went to a campground we stayed at back in 2000 – just stopping for the night.

The next day we drove through northern Nova Scotia and most of New Brunswick, camping in a quiet wooded corner of a provincial park on the Bay of Fundy. We were both pretty tired, but mustered the energy to walk to the beach. 

We included one last brief site-seeing destination before crossing the border – Kingsbrae Garden in St Andrews, New Brunswick. We spent a pleasant hour there walking through their various gardens.

And wouldn’t you know it. The very last thing we see before leaving is… a BIG red Adirondack chair!

 

Newfoundland – Last Day

Corner Brook

We camped at Corner Brook – the third largest city in Newfoundland, situated at the end of the long Bay of Islands between the mountains. Since we had time before we had to checkout, we hit a couple trails.

The first was a short hike to Steady Brook Falls.

Sometimes we spot interesting things along the way.

Second we walked the pathways by Margaret Bowater Park, which skirt a stream and pond in the middle of the city. A beautiful day for a stroll on really nice city paths.

The Granite Coast

We headed back to the provincial park we first stayed at when we arrived in Newfoundland – close to the ferry. We didn’t have time to drive the coastal road beyond the ferry the last time we were here, but this time we did. It’s an interesting drive. Bill said, “The land has wrinkles.” Lots of twists and turns as the road goes through an almost tree-less granite landscape with frequent ponds, distant views of the Atlantic and occasional harbor towns. Along the way we stopped for a short boardwalk hike to Barachois Falls.

Wildflowers lined the path, including many pitcher plants and some lady slippers.

The road ends at the small fishing village of Rose Blanche where one can see the restored Rose Blanche Lighthouse. The lighthouse was in operation until the 1940s when it was abandoned. By the 1980s the granite building fell into ruins except for the tower which was supported by a stone spiral staircase. A major restoration effort culled through the rubble to rebuild the lighthouse with mostly the original granite blocks and opened in 1999.

You get nice coastal views from the lighthouse.

There is actually another town beyond Rose Blanche, but you can only get there by boat. That’s like many coastal communities used to be in Newfoundland.

After dinner we took a walk on the same beach we walked when we arrived. 

Tomorrow we leave Newfoundland…

Newfoundland – Bay of Islands

A brochure for this region says,

Come walk the trails of the south shore of the Outer Bay of Islands which many say are the best kept secret in Newfoundland.

This is another coastal region with islands and little harbor towns nestled in coves with scenic hiking trails. We explored four trails in the area.

Copper Mine Falls

We thought we’d give the short trail to Copper Mine Falls a try. Bill read a trail alert that said a portion of the trail got washed out last year, but a recent review made no reference to the washout. Maybe it’s okay now?

We ran into a couple as we started that confirmed the trail was washed out, but said, “There is a rope.” When we came upon the washout we could see what they were talking about. Someone had installed a makeshift guardrail and a rope to hold while traversing this slanted slippery slope. Barbara chickened out, but Bill negotiated his way to the falls.

Governor’s Stairway

When you get to the pebble beach at Blow Me Down Provincial Park it’s easy not to notice a hidden staircase tucked between the rock cliffs.

420 steps or so lead to viewing platforms.

No rock piles, but we did see this.

Bottle Cove

We’ve been on lots of trails, but never a trail that goes through a ship.

Captain James Cook charted the area in 1776 and referred to it as “Trail’s End” – the farthest point on this peninsula.

We loved the scenery here.

Cedar Cove

Last we took a two mile hike that brought us out at a remote cove. We were surprised that the trail was occasionally marked by sea trash (lobster buoys, plastic containers, a hard hat…). Should have gotten a picture, but we did get pictures of the cove.

Hard to believe, but this is our 250^th post! Thanks for reading our blog. :-)