WHAT A DAY!
Day 43 – It was 42 degrees and sunny this morning when we got up. A great day for exploring, we departed the RV at 9:25 a.m. What all did we see today? Small villages, snow, rivers, trees, goats, flowers, tiny outport towns, lakes, moose #6, rough roads, helpful friendly people, ice pack in the distant sea, a fox, mountains, waterfalls, birds and icebergs. It was a good day.
There are a few roads leading to tiny towns off Route 420. We drove every road we found, both north & south of the campground. We headed south on Route 420 and visited several small villages. First, we went to Pollard’s Point. In 2019 we stayed for a couple of nights at a motel/RV park right on the water. We did some exploring then, too; but it was foggy and a different time of year. This time when we went to the end of the road, we got a clear picture of the Bay.
Then we continued south on Route 420 for many kilometers before turning off on a road leading to two towns, Hampden & The Beaches. On the way to the turn-off, Moose #6 made an appearance before dashing off into the woods. Shortly thereafter and too quick for us to get a picture, a beautiful fox crossed the road in front of us. The little towns of Hampden and The Beaches were both close to the water near the end of that road. Beyond, looking out to the White Bay, we saw our first Iceberg of this trip. It was very far away, yet we could see that it was a big one.
We turned around, drove back to the RV for a quick break, and then went back out, heading north towards the end of Route 420. Just beyond the campground is the outlet for the Main River. We can hear it roaring from the campsite as it pours into White Bay. We turned off at the sign for the town of Sop’s Arm. Another charming little town, we drove through, stopping for pictures. We were approached by an older couple in a pickup truck. They stopped and chatted for awhile, like Newfoundlanders do. They saw us taking a picture of the first iceberg from the closer viewpoint. I said seeing the iceberg was exciting; he said they don’t think twice about it; they were used to it around here. A very nice couple, they told us that there were more icebergs to be seen up at Jackson’s Arm at the end of the road. We said we were just heading up there. I asked him if they saw Whales in this Bay in the summer. He said, oh yes, and that wasn’t a big deal here either. We all laughed and went on our way after telling each other to have a nice day. As we continued on to the end of the road at Sop’s Arm, we were met by a group of Goats. The Goats in Newfoundland are quite friendly, too.
We went back to Route 420 and headed north to the end of the road at the picturesque, iceberg-filled, little village of Jackson’s Arm. As we approached the village and the Bay, we were amazed by the sight of many small icebergs, all in the little harbor. We stopped at the town dock to take pictures. An ATV arrived and an old, crusty, toothless fisherman, puffing away on a cigarette, approached and asked if we were taking the kayaks out. (It was 48 degrees, I don’t think so.) We could barely understand him; his Newfoundland accent was extremely thick. This is the gist of the conversation: He told a story about someone coming and picking up two tractor/trailer loads of icebergs out of Jackson’s Arm to use to make Iceberg Vodka and Iceberg Beer. But he cannot drink anymore because he has the “foken” (f**king) diabetes. He had two five-gallon buckets of dirt strapped to his ATV. The first thing, he starts telling a long story about how the dirt is for his mother’s flowers and he digs it up from the side of the road. And when he was doing that, he found a foken potato and it was this big, showing us several times how big the foken potato was. He talked about the potato for quite awhile. (Do you think he doesn’t see people he can talk to very often?) He told a story about when he worked at the fish plant, and on the weekend, he & his buddy drank two bottles of rum, two bottles of moonshine, and then went back to work. But he can’t foken do that anymore. He also told us not to take the kayaks out to the icebergs; you don’t get too close to them cuz icebergs flip over. And off he went with his dirt on the ATV.
We drove further into Jackson’s Arm, stopping to take more pictures from a small park at the end of the road. A man in a pickup truck stopped and he saw us with our cameras. He said, takin’ pictures of the icebergs? And we said, yes. And he said there was a road just before you enter town right across from the signs and if you take that road, you can see many more icebergs. Rob got more explicit directions from him, and after leaving the park, we drove to find the road he mentioned.
We made a turn onto a long, winding gravel road heading off into the mountains. It was the Hydro Access Road, and it was maintained better than the paved roads to the villages. It cut through the mountains and went beyond the end of Jackson’s Arm, traveling up and down the hills by many small and large waterfalls, by beautiful forests, streams, mounds of snow by the road, lakes, and some really incredible scenery, offering views of icebergs in the Bay and the Ocean beyond. At the mouth of White Bay, in the distance there was a line of white that showed the ice pack. Across the Bay from where we were, in the distance we could see the next peninsula (the one where La Scie is located. We’ll be going there in August.) And looking down at one point, there was a beautiful lake with the Ocean behind it. Awesome.
In addition, we discovered two tiny outport villages, seen from the road by looking downward to a small inlet from the Bay. Each little outport village, each one across from the other with the inlet between them, was only reachable by water and a very narrow, ATV-sized very rough, almost impassable road. These two outports were not on either map we had, but the cove they were in was called Frenchmans Cove.. Winters there must be brutal!
At a turnout, we stopped to take pictures of the many icebergs in Devil Cove. Beyond there was a sign warning of rocks falling, proceed at your own risk, so we finally turned around and headed back to Route 420 and the journey back to the RV. We were thankful for the nice man who told us about this “secret” road.
We got back to the campground at 3:45 p.m. There, it was still sunny and 52 degrees. Later we took a walk around the Park looking for birds and whatever else we could find. We are still the only ones camping here. The temperatures today ranged from 48 degrees to 65 degrees depending on whether we were by the water or in the mountains or inland. Everyone we talked to today said it was cold out. We thought this was normal for them.
About Icebergs: “Oftentimes during spring & summer, thousands of frozen giants drift past the shores in search of inlets, coves, and bays. Carved from ten-thousand-year-old glaciers, they come from Greenland in all shapes and sizes. You’ll find them making their way, entirely at their leisure, traveling down an ancient path called “Iceberg Alley”. Careful never to stay in one place too long, their presence creates an ever-changing landscape. Iceberg Alley is an area stretching from the coast of Labrador along the coast of the north and east coasts of Newfoundland. For updated locations of where to find icebergs: www.icebergfinder.com.” from the Newfoundland/Labrador Traveller’s Guide 2023