NEWFOUNDLAND – ST. ANTHONY EXPLORATORY TRIP SOUTH.
Day 32 – It rained last night and was 34 degrees this morning & very foggy. The wind made it all the more frigid out. Around 10 a.m. we left to go to St. Anthony where we could get a cell phone signal. We had business to take care of. Rob managed to get ahold of someone at the Provincial Parks Service, and he got an update on the opening schedule for the Park we want to stay at, Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, north of here. Due to the snow still on the ground, it will be opening later than schedule, now maybe June 7 or later. Since we won’t be able to move to Pistolet Bay soon, we’ll be going south today to check out two parks below us. Maybe one of them will be open and some place we’d want to stay at until Pistolet Bay opens.
Before we reached St. Anthony, we took the turn off for a road that led to Goose Cove. This turned out to be a really lovely fishing community on a very pretty cove. We didn’t take pictures of the cove or village because the fog was so thick, but we did take pictures of two Caribou standing in someone’s front yard, munching away. Rob got out of the car with his camera and approached with caution. He didn’t want to scare them or disturb them. They were not the least bit concerned about the car or Rob. I guess they get lots of people gawking at them and they’re used to people. We’ll be going back to Goose Cove again when the weather and the visibility are better. After we made the phone calls in St. Anthony, we again drove to the Lighthouse to look for whales & icebergs. We concluded that the fog was so dense that the only whale we’d see was a beached whale – glad that was not the case.
We drove back to the RV and had an early lunch, then headed south, driving about an hour through heavy forests before we reached the first campground at Main Brook. It was closed & attempts to reach the owners were unsuccessful. Continuing south, on several occasions, we encountered more Caribou. They are very interesting. Neither one of us had seen Caribou before. They are much lighter in color than we expected, more creamy colored than brown like deer, elk, and moose. They are large and really didn’t seem to be afraid of us. They have large, dark eyes. Their antlers were covered with an extremely soft-looking velvet and their fur or hide, whatever you want to call it, was thick, probably due to the cold. Today’s numbers: 0 Moose, 13 Caribou. We saw these Caribou when we were driving south, except for the two in Goose Cove. They call this area “the Moose Capital of the World”; I think they made a mistake because it should be the Caribou Capital of the World.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
There were turn-offs to various coves and fishing towns which we did not take, figuring we could check them out in more detail next time when the weather was better. We did stop to take the dirt road near Roddickton to see the Underground Salmon Pools. The underlying rock in this area is sandstone. The rivers can easily cut channels and caves into the sandstone causing the river to run underground in some places. The spawning salmon travel through these caves & this road we took was supposed to lead to a viewing point. About two-thirds in, the road became impassable due to snow. We turned around and went back, vowing to come back here again, also.
Oh well, we’ll see the undergrpound salmon pools later in the year! near Roddickton, NF
A bit further south we stopped at the Green Moose Interpretive Center to get information on the final campground, Armistice Park. Quite the displays inside! We enjoyed looking around and reading about the history of the area, fishing & logging, and the French settlements. We talked to the Town Clerk about the Park. Although not officially opened for business, she said we could take a look to see if we wanted to camp there. She wasn’t sure if water was available yet, said she would have someone check, and told us how to get there, and also where to go to get water & a dumping station. This is a Town Park, different from an RV Park. The water & dump station were located at a different place for the town to use. We found Armistice Park after getting a little lost and seeing much of the towns, Roddickton & Bide Arm. There were only 11 campsites, off a road that seemed to be rarely used, with pathways leading to several decent-looking trails, and high up overlooking Chimney Bay with lots of trees surrounding the bay side of the Park. Eight campsites offered 15-20 AMP electric hook-ups. This means for us that we’d have to be careful not to use too many appliances simultaneously or we would trip the breaker. We drove to the fishing town to find the dump station & water supply. It was only about 10 minutes away. So this campground looked do-able and only $20 per night to stay in the middle of the Moose Capital/Caribou Capital of the World. We checked back with the Town Clerk & she said that yes, indeed the water was up & running. We told her we’d be back to set up camp on Thursday. Rob stopped near Roddickton to see if he had a cell phone signal so he could call to check on his mom. We did, and while he was talking to her, I took a few pictures of the surrounding mountains.
Roddickton, NF
Roddickton, NF
Roddickton, NF
Another hour and a half later, we got back to the RV. Long day of driving but it was pretty & we saw the Caribou. The high today was 44 degrees, windy, cold, and foggy. The remote area south of here where we’ll be going to camp on Thursday has very few stores & facilities. Tomorrow we’ll stay around St. Anthony, do laundry and grocery shopping, and stay home with the girls for a change. It’s supposed to rain (and maybe snow) anyway.