Newfoundland Travel Adventures

Newfoundland Adventure Guide

Barbara & Stillman Rogers

HUNTER PUBLISHING, INC.

[email protected]

www.hunterpublishing.com

© 2013 Hunter Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

This guide focuses on recreational activities. As all such activities contain elements of risk, the publisher, author, affiliated individuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for injury, harm, or illness that may occur to anyone through, or by use of, the information in this book. Every effort was made to insure the accuracy of information in this book, but the publisher and author do not assume and hereby disclaim, liability for loss or damage caused by errors, omissions, misleading information or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if such errors or omissions are the result of negligence, accident or any other cause.

Introduction

Geography & Terrain

History

Getting Around

Rental Cars

Driving in the Maritime Provinces

Exchange Rate & Taxes

Adventures

On Foot

On Wheels

On Water

On Snow

On Horseback

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences

Fauna & Flora

Wildlife

Insects

Sightseeing

Where To Stay & Eat

Prices

Local Foods

Information Sources

Newfoundland 

Introduction 

A Separate History 

Getting Around 

By Ferry 

By Air 

By Car 

Newfoundland's Parks 

Flora & Fauna 

Fishing 

Information Sources 

Tourism Info 

Recommended Reading 

The Avalon Peninsula 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Wheels 

On Water 

On Snow 

On Horseback 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Music 

Archaeological Digs 

Geological Wonders 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing 

St. John's 

Heart's Content 

Harbour Grace 

Brigus 

Placentia 

Where To Stay & Eat 

The St. John's Area 

Along the Baccalieu Trail 

The Southern Avalon 

Camping 

Bonavista & Terra Nova 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Wheels 

On Water 

On Snow 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Geological Wonders & Natural Areas 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing 

Trinity 

Bonavista 

Salvage 

Trinity East 

Where To Stay & Eat 

On the Bonavista Peninsula 

In the Terra Nova Area 

Camping 

The Burin Peninsula 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Wheels 

On Water 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Archaeological Sites 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing 

Grand Bank 

Burin 

Festivals & Events 

Where To Stay & Eat 

Camping 

Gander & The Kittiwake Coast 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Wheels 

On Water 

On Snow 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Archaeology 

Geology 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing 

Gander 

Wesleyville Area 

Fogo Island 

Twillingate Area 

Lewisporte 

Where To Stay & Eat 

Near TransCanada-1 

The Islands 

Camping 

The Exploits Valley & Baie Verte 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Water 

On Snow 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Natural Areas 

Archaeology 

Fauna & Flora 

Sightseeing 

Where To Stay & Eat 

Grand Falls-Windsor Area 

The Baie Verte Peninsula 

Camping 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Water 

Boat Tours & Ferries 

Fishing 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing 

Where To Stay & Eat 

Camping 

Geography & History

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Wheels 

On Water 

On Snow 

On Horseback 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Archaeology 

Geology 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing 

Around the Peninsula 

Across the Strait in Labrador 

Festivals & Events 

Near Gros Morne National Park 

Along the Viking Trail 

St. Anthony & Environs 

Harbour Deep 

In Labrador 

Camping 

Gros Morne National Park 

Southwest Newfoundland 

Geography & History 

Getting Around 

Information Sources 

Adventures 

On Foot 

On Wheels 

On Water 

On Snow 

Special Events 

On Horseback 

Cultural & Eco-Travel Experiences 

Geology 

Wildlife-Watching 

Sightseeing  

Festivals & Events 

Where To Stay & Eat 

Near Corner Brook 

St. George's Bay & South 

Camping 

Introduction

From the iceberg- and whale-filled waters of Newfoundland to the genteel historic streets of Fredericton is a land and coast filled with vast stretches of wilderness, herds of caribou, French country villages, miles of beaches, historical sites and reconstructions, and scenery ranging from sweeping river views and gently rolling farmlands to the most dramatic coastal cliffs and fjords on the continent. Dotted throughout are small cosmopolitan cities. Just as you think you know these four provinces, you discover another place, a new facet of their splendid diversity.

Much of the North America we know today began on this eastern seaboard. St. John's, Newfoundland, claims the continent's oldest main street, and in 1620 the Pilgrims stopped at a nearby fishing settlement to re-provision on their way to Plymouth. Historic sites are well-preserved and interpreted - the French Fortress of Louisbourg rivals any historic reconstruction in the world, and other villages interpret the lives of early Acadian, Scottish and English settlers.

Wherever you travel - New Brunswick's easygoing capital, along that province's Acadian coast to Caraquet, in lively British Halifax, among the Scottish towns of Cape Breton Island, cycling the Confederation Trail across Prince Edward Island, in the remote north of Newfoundland or in a tiny outport reached only by boat - you will be welcomed with genuine hospitality and warmth. It's an almost legendary characteristic of Newfoundland, Canada's youngest province, where a quest for directions may lead to an invitation to a cup of tea or a drink of screech, a fierce and fiery high-proof rum guaranteed to warm you to the toes of your woolly socks.

Geography & Terrain

Border disputes have never been an issue among the four Atlantic provinces, where water separates them all (except for a tiny umbilical cord that holds Nova Scotia to New Brunswick). Although firmly attached to the continent on the west, where it borders both Maine and Québec, New Brunswick has more coastal than land boundaries. In the three southern provinces, most of this coastline is bordered in beaches - miles of golden, red, gray and white sand. The waters of the Northumberland Strait are warm - New Brunswick has the warmest saltwater swimming north of Virginia - as are those off the beaches of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. What Newfoundland and Labrador lack in beaches (the water there is not warm), they more than make up in breathtaking coastal scenery.

Nova Scotia lies east and south of New Brunswick, with tiny Prince Edward Island off its northern shore, across the Northumberland Strait, which also separates it from New Brunswick. East and north of these lies Newfoundland, an island of many peninsulas, separated from Québec and Labrador on the on the mainland by the narrow Strait of Belle Isle. Its closest point to the other Atlantic provinces is Cape Breton Island, a five-hour ferry ride away. Cape Breton Island itself lies off the northeast end of Nova Scotia, attached to it since the 1950s by a causeway.

Coast of Newfoundland

The other most noticeable geographical features are the Bay of Fundy, which nearly separates Nova Scotia from the mainland, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which cuts Newfoundland off from Quebec. Seemingly cast adrift in this gulf, floating in the sea between PEI, Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland, are the lovely Iles de la Madeleine.

Through New Brunswick's north run the Appalachian Mountains, which surface again in western Newfoundland. The rest of the terrain is gently rolling and fairly low, except for the northern part of Cape Breton Island, where the highlands rise to low, but rugged mountains. Prince Edward Island is fairly flat, its hills gentle and covered with a patchwork of green fields and meadows. Although Iles de la Madeleine are not politically part of the four provinces known as Atlantic Canada, they certainly are geographically. The best way to get there, we think, is on the regularly scheduled ferry from Prince Edward Island.

Rolling hills typical of Prince Edward Island

History

Before the Europeans arrived, the Micmac people fished along the shores and hunted the inland forests of what is now New Brunswick. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain established the first European colony at Port Royal, now Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia. Calling it Acadia, the French spread settlements along the west shore of Nova Scotia. As Scots were settling in eastern Nova Scotia and claiming it for England, the French established a settlement on Cape Breton Island, at Louisbourg. The French had already claimed Prince Edward Island in 1523 but didn't settle it until 1663, calling it Ile St-Jean.

Early contacts between the Europeans and the Native Peoples were generally friendly. Europeans introduced more efficient tools, and natives taught the Europeans how to survive in their new environment, and traded them highly prized furs. But new settlers brought competition for land, as well as European diseases; the Native Peoples had no immunities to these, and complete villages were wiped out.

THE MICMACS

In Canada, Native Americans are officially called First Nations Peoples, but even they call themselves Indians. The spelling of the name of New Brunswick's Native Peoples has also changed over the years. Though traditionally spelled Micmac, a new spelling - Mi'qmaq - has been promoted in recent years as providing a closer approximation of the native pronunciation of the word. Local band members use either, and you'll see both spellings used in signs and literature. In this book we generally use the more common spelling of Micmac, unless the word is part of a proper name or title where it is spelled differently.

In the early 1600s, France was well ahead of Britain in the struggle to control the new territory. Adventurous French fur traders, explorers and missionaries had advanced into much of the eastern half of the continent, and their colonial empire - New France - included most of what is now New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. By the early 1700s, the British controlled a number of areas, including Acadia, which France ceded to them in 1713 (although the French farmers remained on their land) and France kept Cape Breton Island.

Britain and France were, by 1750, rivals for colonial empires around the world: in India, the West Indies and North America. British colonies in Canada had grown faster than the French ones and had 30 times as many people. They provided stiff competition for New France's fur trade, and they brought armies and fleets from Europe. As skirmishes increased, the French made alliances with the Native peoples.

As the likelihood of war grew stronger, the British expelled the Acadian farmers who had remained in Nova Scotia after the French ceded it to Britain, fearing that they would side with the French and form the nucleus of an underground resistance. Many of these French settlers moved west into what is now New Brunswick; others fled to Louisiana.

In 1758 the English won a major battle against the French fort of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island. Gradually the French fell back and in 1759 they found themselves assailed on their major fronts. The decisive battle, which sealed the fate of New France forever, took place in Québec in 1759, where they were defeated.

The capture of Québec left Britain ruler of all of northern North America. To help recover the costs of the long war, the British government raised taxes on goods imported into the American colonies. The colonists rebelled, expecting the newly conquered French in the north to join them in revolution. But only a handful did; most fought shoulder-to-shoulder with their British former enemies. Staunch Royalists and devout Catholics, they had little use for the godless Republicans from the south. After the War of 1812, Britain and the young United States agreed on a border between the United States and the northernmost group of colonies, by then known as Canada.

One of the side effects of the American Revolution was an influx of English-speaking immigrants into Canada from the American colonies: about 50,000 Loyalists settled, mostly in Nova Scotia and along the almost empty shores of what is now New Brunswick. These immigrants joined the Acadian refugees from Nova Scotia to create a separate colony, refusing an invitation to join their French neighbors as part of Québec, forming New Brunswick.

Borders made trade difficult among the Canadian colonies and, in 1864, representatives of each met in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), to discuss confederation. In 1867, the British Parliament created a federal union of Canada. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick hesitated over whether to remain separate, join the United States, or merge with Canada, but finally voted to merge.

Effective June 1, 2009, US border-crossing officials have been requiring specific documentation for crossing into the US. Whereas formerly, birth certificates and drivers licenses were deemed adequate proof of citizenship, these are no longer accepted. All US citizens returning home should carry a valid US passport or passport card. Passport cards are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and became available in 2008, but they can only be used for land and sea crossings and cannot be used for air entries. Children under 16 may travel with a birth certificate. A parent traveling alone with a child should carry a notarized letter of permission to travel and cross borders with the child. Grandparents or other persons traveling with minors should have a notarized letter authorizing them to cross borders with the child. See http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc_2223.html.

Getting Around

Eastern Canada is an easy place to reach. Travelers from the northeastern United States can drive through Maine and into New Brunswick, or they can take the mile-saving ferries from either Portland or Bar Harbor (both in Maine) to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Many people like to take the ferry one way and drive along the Quoddy and Fundy shores on the other, forming a circle of diverse land and seascapes. Flying is a faster way to get here, with most flights routed through the hub at Halifax, from which you can fly to all the other major cities and areas. For information on getting to Iles de la Madeleine, see that chapter.

Rental Cars

Once in the Maritime Provinces (a designation which, you might be interested to know, includes the lower three, but not Newfoundland, which is part of the broader Atlantic Provinces group), you can move on to Charlottetown, Moncton, Saint John or Fredericton by air. Car rental is available at all airports, although you should reserve a car well in advance during busy July and August.

CAR RENTALS: When renting cars in Canada, don't forget to check the Canadian companies of Tilden (800/CAR-RENT in US or 800/387-4747 in Canada) and Rent A Wreck (800/327-9093 US or 800/327-0116 in Canada), whose rates and policies are traveler-friendly. They have locations in both provinces.

Driving in the Maritime Provinces

You can drive from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island, thanks to the whopping new Confederation Bridge that was completed in 1997. To make a tidy circular route from New Brunwick to PEI and back, you can use the bridge one way and the ferry from Wood Islands to Caribou, Nova Scotia, on the other.

Rules of the road are pretty much the same in Atlantic Canada as they are in the United States, with international road symbols used in most places. Distances on road signs and maps are shown in kilometers, and if you rent a car there, its odometer and speedometer will be also be in kilometers. (It's a bit startling to look down and realize you're tooling along at a cool 100.) When people tell you how far something is, they may use miles, even though metric is the official measure.

The fastest conversion, if to-the-inch accuracy is not crucial, is two kilometers to a mile, plus a little. To translate longer distances, drop the last digit and multiply the rest by six. For example, change 100km to 10; 10x6=60 miles. We've used miles (because that's what our odometer measures in) and have given metric conversions only when the exact distance is crucial to your finding the right unmarked turn-off.

Exchange Rate & Taxes

We have the proverbial good news and bad news about money. The good news is very good indeed, for people from the United States traveling in Canada. The American dollar has historically been worth more than the Canadian dollar, but recent currency fluctuations made their value equal for a time. As we write, $1 Canadian is worth about $.80 US, but the difference in value is often eaten up by the Value Added (VAT) taxes on purchases of goods and services. Recently, the rate has often been even more favorable to Americans.

Before you start planning how to spend all that extra money, hear the bad news. Federal and Provincial sales taxes in Canada, although they vary by province, are horrendous. A Value-Added Tax (the most regressive form of taxation ever dreamed up by a greedy government) eats up much of the exchange advantage, levying additional fees on everything, even postage stamps and parking tickets. Although there are ways to get some of it back - usually only on major purchases of actual goods, not services - these are awkward and return only a portion. To make matters worse, unless you leave Canada at a point with an instant rebate facility, the refund will arrive by Canadian check, which most banks charge you as much as $20 to process. (A friend of ours actually lost money trying to recover her taxes, since the refunds came in two checks - one from the Federal government and one from the province.)

Adventures

In the last decade or so the definition of adventure travel has moved from life-threatening to life-enriching. In this book, you'll find adventures of all sorts, none of them life-threatening unless you undertake them unprepared, ill-equipped or in a reckless manner. While Atlantic Canada has cliffs nearly a half-mile high that you could fall off the face of, we give our readers credit for recognizing such places as dangerous and not leaning over the edge.

Some suggestions may be helpful, however, especially if you've never tried a particular activity before, and we include them. Many of you will skip over them and get right on to the adventures. If you are already an experienced paddler, for example, you won't need our suggestions on taking your first strokes.

We hope this book will tempt you to try an adventure or an activity or a sport you've never done before. It needn't be rappelling, dogsledding, rafting the tidal bore, or paddling about in the ocean like an Inuit. It might be watching chimney swifts return home in the evening in a great cyclone-shaped whirl. Or it might be seeing your first puffin up close and personal. It could be riding on a sailboat in Passamaquoddy Bay, or going for a sleigh ride along the Miramichi, or watching salmon jump a falls, or learning to walk on snowshoes with a Micmac teacher. It might even be trying your hand - or eye - at spotting one of the local takes on Nessie, reputed to live here in at least two lakes.

Several types of adventures either require that you be able to read a topographical map or would be a lot easier or more interesting with one in hand. They are quite easy to read, and we suggest you study one - perhaps of an area you are already familiar with, such as your own neighborhood - before you need to use one in the woods.

READING A TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP

Each line represents a specific elevation, and wherever that line runs, the elevation will be the same. When the lines are close together it means the land rises (and falls) steeply. When they are widely spaced the land is nearly level. The interval between those levels varies with each map, and is written in the map key. When you see a lot of roughly concentric lines that form a group of sloppy circles, this usually indicates a mountain