LABRADOR – SEARCHING FOR THE NORTHERN LIGHTS.
Day 128 – It’s September, really?! My how times flies. We got up this morning to clear skies, bright sunlight, and fairly high winds. The waves were crashing onshore, actually booming when they hit the land. Some Gannets were diving for their breakfast and we were watching from the RV. Rob saw a whale & headed outside with the camera. I watched from indoors. He or she was here for a couple of hours swimming around the areas where the birds were feeding, kind of languishing in the sun. We never saw it dive. It was probably a Minke Whale.
Minke Whale, Pinware River Provincial Park, Pinware, LB
Around 11 a.m., we left to drive to Red Bay, about 35 km north of us. We were trying to figure out what to do about this coming Tuesday. Someone had already reserved this campsite for that night & we’d have to move. Should we just move to another site in this campground, then move back to this site once they’d departed on Wednesday? Or should we move to a different area entirely, since we’d have to move anyway & just explore from that area instead? We really like this site. The winds are heavy here & there are trees & bushes to offer us some protection, AND it has this wonderful location by the Ocean. But staying here for our entire time in Labrador would mean longer drives in both directions when we go exploring. We decided to drive & scope out the only campground that we’ve been able to find north of us, to Red Bay.
Red Bay is one of the popular attractions of this area for tourists. I’d thought it’d be a pretty big town, but it wasn’t that big. There was a restaurant, though. That’s always in a towns’ favor. We couldn’t readily find the campground; usually they’re fairly obvious or there are signs. We’ve had no internet, so that couldn’t help. We stopped at the Interpretive Center to ask for directions & discovered a very interesting museum with wonderful exhibits. Since we weren’t visiting for that purpose, we didn’t want to pay the admission at this time, but come back again on the day we were actually spending time in Red Bay. The woman at the entrance was kind enough to answer our questions (and then some)!
We left there with the location of the so-called campground, Harbour View RV Parking, which was really four sites with hook-ups in a parking lot just off the main road (Route 510) at a convenience store & gas station. AND she offered us three locations where we could boondock if we chose to! (Boondocking is camping for free, with no services.) We looked at each of those opportunities: at a church (too exposed, parking lot small, it wouldn’t feel right camping for free at a church); at an overflow parking lot across from the restaurant (being close to a place to eat does have its advantages, ho ho, but this parking lot also housed the machinery they were using for current roadwork, no thanks, there was the potential for lots of noise); and across the beautiful bay at the parking lot for the walking trail up the mountain (worth checking out further). The homes in Red Bay were placed in several layers around the bay. On one side of the bay was an old shipwreck. Rocky cliffs surrounded the bay. We drove to the parking lot for the walking trail. It was on a dirt road high up on the cliff overlooking the harbour & bay. Really beautiful. Wonderfully nice location to stay for a couple of nights.
We figured we had found our solution. We’d leave on Tuesday when the other campers were arriving at site #19 at our current campground. We’d stay overlooking the bay for several nights while exploring the northern areas, until the end of the road beyond Port Hope Simpson. We’d also spend a day in Red Bay at the Parks Canada Red Bay National Historic Site & visit the Right Whale Exhibit Museum. North of Red Bay at Mary’s Harbour you can catch a ferry to the Battle Harbour National Historic District/Heritage Properties – that would be another day of exploring from Red Bay. The entire drive on Route 510 is called Labrador Coastal Drive. This is the only road in Western Labrador. Above the end of the road, places along the coast are reached only by boat or plane.
We had lunch in the car with the windows shut to avoid the bugs, outside of Red Bay, then headed back towards the RV, stopping for pictures at the beautiful Pinware River. As we passed the ranger station, Rob stopped to ask if they had Wi-Fi; they did, so we went to the signal location by the comfort station to try to get a weather report on the phone, and to check to see if there’d been any emergencies. When we finally got a weather report, we saw that this coming Thursday, really high winds were expected. That completely ruled out staying out in the open on the top of a cliff at Red Bay. Sigh. We did several searches for places we could park further north where the winds wouldn’t be as high. There was the phone number for one place in Port Hope Simpson near the end of the road. But we couldn’t get enough of a signal to call them. Rob went back to the park ranger and asked where the closest place would be where he might be able to get a cell signal. He was told to go north on Route 510, turn into the parking lot of the metal building and stand on one foot. He tried that. It didn’t work. Next choice was to drive south and try at the top of each hill. That worked. About 20 minutes later at the top of a hill we got a cell signal. We called the phone number and the man that answered said that he’d closed the park years ago. We asked if there was anywhere else & he said no, maybe someday.
After an entire afternoon of going around in circles, moving from one decision to another, we didn’t have a solution. We’ll wait for tomorrow’s weather forecast, now that we know we can get it via Wi-Fi at the comfort station. Sigh. We did, however, get the chance to view some of the scenery we missed due to the Pea Soup Fog. We got pictures from the Pinware River, the view from a hill of the cliffs of L’Anse au Loup, and pictures of local berries – we had thought we’d finally found the wonderful Partridgeberries growing wild in a field when we were in NF, but upon asking at the Dark Tickle Store about them, we found they were only Crackerberries, a tasteless berry that Newfies feel are good for nothing. Then growing wild in Labrador, we found the real deal, Partridgeberries, something we will really miss once we leave. (I know this is a L O N G story, but it’s written really for our own amusement when we are old & grey and reviewing all our trips, grin.)
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
We returned to the RV and went out to the screened tent. Soon it was too cold & too windy, so we came inside, had dinner, and waited for nightfall. The wind died down somewhat and the stars came out in the perfectly clear sky. When we’d had an internet signal briefly at the comfort station, we’d looked up the Aurora Borealis status. Evidently last night was amazing for those that had clear skies in the northern U.S. and Canada. Our sky here was full of clouds. We would supposedly have an opportunity again tonight when the magnetic storm will light up the sky. We waited. Rob periodically went outside to check out the sky. He got his camera ready, with tripod & special settings set up. It was getting colder out and there was some wind, not too much, but enough to make it feel even colder. Our RV windows are darkened; we weren’t sure how well we could see from inside. After several looks at the sky, Rob came in and said, “something is changing, I saw a long V-shaped light on the southern horizon & it stayed there”. I was not yet impressed, LOL. He said, “I’m setting up the chairs,” and went back outside. Soon he came back in and said “Now there are green streaks in the sky”. Okay, that was enough for me. We bundled up, grabbed throw blankets & wool hats, and went outside for our seats. The performance was beginning.
It was cold, really cold. The sky was amazing. The Milky Way was clearer, and milkier, than I’d ever seen it. So many stars. Being at this Park in the middle of nowhere was perfect as there was no other light to interfere with the sky. Once our eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness, the green streaks were visible. First there were four, then five. Almost like someone was finger painting with their five fingers in a pale green. It was exciting. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when the colors became more brilliant and move around in the sky. Rob tried to get a picture but there wasn’t enough light or color yet. About the time I was chilled to the bone & needing to go inside to warm up, the streaks disappeared. We waited some more. Nothing else happened. I went inside and warmed up. Rob stayed out until he was too cold. He did, however, get a picture of a shooting star. Awesome. As of 2 a.m. the color never came back. He joined me in bed. Tomorrow, when he was able to check the internet, he saw that it never became much in our area. Well, at least we didn’t sleep through the experience!
Meteorite, Pinware River Provincial Park, Pinware, LB
Milky Way, Pinware River Provincial Park, Pinware, LB
Stars, Pinware River Provincial Park, Pinware, LB