Corner Brook to Raleigh: Man it's Windy

After arriving in Newfoundland in the early evening, we spend the next couple of hours heading to Stephenville to overnight. The next morning we head off to Port Au Port West and hike down the Gravels trail. This takes us along sea bluffs covered in wind-blown stunted trees. The shoreline is dotted with numerous coves with clear green water and hoodoo rock formations. At one point the wind is so strong we almost get blown over, but fortunately regain our footing before getting knocked down. On returning to the parking lot, we spot some fishing shacks across the bay, so we hike over to check them out. Once we got closer, we realize that they are abandoned, but we still manage to get some nice shots. Then it's off to Corner Brook for our next night's stop.

Had a rough night at the Walmart last night (Monday) with power outages and trucks running all night long to keep food frozen instead of delivering it. Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, a double tanker truck pulls in right next to us. By the time we go to bed, it's looking more like a truck stop than a Walmart, despite the sign that states "no overnight parking RV and Trucks" that we were told to ignore. It's one of the joys of staying at Walmart, but the price is still right.

Tuesday morning we are off to Gros Morne National Park. Newfoundland is very hilly, lots of rocks some spruce forests, lakes and bogs, and lots of POTHOLES! And I mean lots, there are so many they actually have signs that point out the really bad ones. Too bad they don't just repair them - makes driving here very interesting.

Our first stop of the day is at Woody Point - a quaint fishing village that is trying to attract tourists. After that it's off to the Tablelands and a nice hike. Here the mountains are all flat-topped, yellow and totally rocky. It's a nice easy hike past a waterfall along an old roadway. Our last stop of the day is to Broom Town Fishing Exhibit - a traditional fishing shed and house used up until the 1970's. Three brothers and their wives and children all lived in this three bedroom house with kitchen during the fishing season. They used three dory boats to haul their nets out to the sea and set up the cod trap they used to catch fish. The fish shack is filled with boats, nets on drying racks, lobster and crab traps, and the tools they used to keep everything working. All this was left behind just as they used it.

Woke up Wednesday morning to rain that got worse and worse forcing us to change our plans. We were going to stop at a few places on our way to Pistolet Provincial Park, but with the weather conditions we decided to just do it in one day. As the day progresses, the wind picks up, as well as the rain, with our wipers just barely able to keep up. It was a day of white-knuckle driving, but we arrived in one piece.

The staff at the campsite are very friendly with their accent and are a joy to speak with. We really enjoy the way they talk (not sure what they think of ours). After getting settled, we go looking for the moose that one of the attendants told us about. We run into Warren on our way and he actually walked with us to point out where he had spotted the moose. We did find it, but it was so far back in the woods you really couldn't get a good look at it.