The Newfoundland Expedition, August, 2011

 

 Abigail's smiling because it is our first day of driving!

Ever since I was a kid, I have wanted to go north.   I know those stories about White Fang and To Build A Fire, by Jack London, or any of the Farley Mowatt books.   However, ever since 1989, I have run summer camps all summer, and never got up there.

Makin' dinner in Nova Scotia

This past August, I finally got my chance!  I chose Newfoundland, as it was as far as we could go while still driving, and it was new terrain and a new culture too.  I was accompanied by Nicole Bluh, Ben Gallagher, Abigail Liss and Japhy Czysz, and we packed our gear into my Xterra and headed north.    There is a funny story about getting my passport renewed, and all of our camping gear organized, etc, but I won't go into all that drama! Eventually, we were packed and we headed out.   My vehicle was packed to the roof and even the roof rack was loaded too.   We first went to Albany and picked up Japhy at the Albany bus station, and then went to the health food store to stock up on some bulk items, (along with some very strange cheeses that Japhy got and shared with us!)  

The Onion Roadrunner

We stopped at REI in Framingham a few hours later, for some last minute camping gear, and then headed towards New Hampshire and Maine.   The landscape began to change as we moved into more coniferous forests, but it was still summer and we were feeling good!       We camped by a river off of the main highway someplace near the border of New Brunswick that first night.  

On the Ferry, looking east

In the morning, we met up with Nicole, Max, Brigitte and Charles Meneveaux just before we crossed the border.   They were just returning from a road trip to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and we got all of the lowdown on bugs, moose and their adventures.   They gave us some of their maps marked with cool places to go, as well as some travel guides and other info they had gathered on their journeys.  It was really helpful, and we were even more excited after hearing some of their stories.

Sunrise on the Ferry!  (It's a huge boat!)

Port aux Basques, in it's natural habitat

Eventually, we said farewell, and got to the border.   Crossing into Canada took about an hour, and then we were in New Brunswick!   That's when we began to experience Canadian culture, in the different road speeds (kilometers) gas (litres) and food (Tim Horton's)!   New Brunswick was heavily forested with vast plateaus of conifers, including white pines, spruces, tamarack and hemlock.   We didn't see a lot of mountainous areas, but it was still a change from Maine and New England.   It just felt different, somehow.   We drove for many hours and then began descending out of the hills towards Nova Scotia.   We were still heading mostly east at this point, and the forest gave way slightly to fields and farmland amidst the woods.   Nova Scotia had more flat land and some good farms, but there was a ton of woods and forest still, too.   We stopped in the late afternoon someplace in the middle of that province, off of the main highway, along a small logging road, to make dinner and rest.   It was hot, and I slept for an hour or so while the crew made a bowl of refried beans, chili and black beans, which we made into nachos.   We even found a piece of wood that looked like a road runner and gave it an onion skin hat...   We had a lot of creative energy that needed a little outlet!

The Northernmost End of the Appalachian Mountains

We drove through occasional rain and kept heading northeast to Sydney, a town on the far eastern corner of the province, to catch the ferry to Newfoundland.   Our reservations were for 4:30 am, but we learned that we needed to be there two hours early for loading, so we ended up getting there around 11:00 pm.   We got in line and then tried to sleep for a few hours in the car, on the roof of the ferry building, even on the chairs in the lounge...  Eventually, we drove onto the boat, which was huge, by the way, and headed up to the passenger decks.   The ferry ride was six to seven hours long, depending on wind, currents and other conditions, and I tried to sleep as much as I could.   Abigail had slept during the afternoon drive so she was awake for the sunrise on the top deck, and eventually we all met up in the cafe/lounge to get our first glimpse of 'the Rock' as they call Newfoundland in the Canadian Maritimes.

The fog and light rain had begun when the ferry was about a half hour from the town of Port aux Basques, and the buildings we saw clinging to the rugged coastline were small and trim, with lots of trucks and boats and other fishing type equipment around many of them.   It reminded me of some of the working towns in New York and New England, with an emphasis on practicality and function.   The surprising thing that stood out was the lack of glitz, slick advertising and opulent buildings flaunting wealth and design.   The Mall was a long, plain, one story building with a flat roof that housed stores whose names we didn't recognize, and a large parking lot with mini-vans and trucks.   The differences in culture and values showed in many small and larger ways all throughout our visit up the western coast.

Alder thickets

Outside of the city, we left almost every sign of human habitation within a few kilometers, passing just a few roads and houses right off the TransCanada Highway.   The landscape was instantly dominated by looming mountains, intense green thickets of alder, tamarack and spruce (called tuckermoor  or simply 'tuck' by the locals).   We jumped out of the car off the side of the highway and tried to clamber through the brush to get to a good viewpoint of the mountains, only to be thwarted by water, rough stones hidden in the sticks and branches that clung to our clothes, as if holding us back.   Only Ben made it to some rocks high above the road, while the rest of us studied fireweed and the many plants blooming everywhere and taking pictures.
                         (To Be Continued...)