July 20, 2008, St Anthony NL Historic Harbour Drive
Most of our destinations on today?s driving tourist day, were not in any of the guides, brochures or logs of fellow travelers. We spoke to our campground neighbors last evening who made the recommended route today. And what a day it was! To recap before I start, we saw one iceberg, one moose, 4 osprey (2 parents and 2 babies high in a nest) , the most northerly inhabited community in Newfoundland, several ancient rocky fossil filled ledges, rocky oceanfront and a light house in Harbour Cove dating back to some early date I can?t recall. We did not see any cell towers so had no phone service at all today which is a first for our entire Canadian travels. We are in a really really remote and beautiful section of the world.
We could see Labrador across the Straits of Bell Island today. The sky was a perfect clear blue for most of the day and that always enhances our spirits. We started out with a packed lunch ( of course) and headed out to Cape Norman to find Cooks Harbor, Wild Bight and Boat Harbor. These little villages have no more than a few hundred residents and we learned many of them spend the winter inland after the fishing season ends. The plants here are unique in that they must adapt to the shortest, coolest summer season found in NL, with the windiest and the wettest soil. Plants hunker down low to the ground and the few trees huddle together and stay low. Despite this, the locals find fertile grounds and till wonderful gardens along the road with potatoes and turnips as their main crop for their root cellars in the winters. I?ll show you some of the hundreds of woodpiles along the way. Wood is cut in winter and allowed to dry out in the summer. In the fall it is hauled closer to home for those cold winter days and wood burning stove.
Once out on Cooks Harbour on HWY 436 we photographed the lighthouse and crawled down the levels of rocks to view the hidden fossils in them. Terry found what he thought to be a fish and Russ found what he thought to be a worm. We had our picnic lunch in the car overlooking the sea due to the wind and the big black flies. Courtesy of a fly, (I think) I have a welt the size of a sand dollar on my arm and it itches like crazy but I do not complain as this rustic scenery is some of the best I?ve ever seen in the world. Oh wait did I tell you that yesterday? It just keeps getting better up here. While up at this vantage point Terry says, ? There?s an Iceberg.? I said, ?No I think it is a cruise ship.? Russ? powerful binoculars confirm it as an iceberg. This is our 7th sighting of a berg so far. It was way off on the horizon and not possible for a good photo but made us excited all the same.
We followed the bay back around to Cape Onion and Ships Cove. Cape Onion boasts of being the most northerly community, geographically on the Island of Newfoundland. In Ship Cove we saw the handicrafts of a local who has created an exquisite miniature village. We stopped the car at every angle to get a good vantage point of the fishing villages. At one point I holler, ?Moose at 10 o?clock!? Sure enough out on the meadow is a moose grazing. Terry can see through his powerful telephoto that he is a male with the early start of antlers. It?s a fuzzy photo blown up that many times but I saw him first! I had been practicing saying this location for miles and indeed days. Thank you to Fred Thomas for teaching me the directions. It worked.
In Raleigh we stopped so Russ and I could visit Taylor?s Crafts. This man carves beautiful things from soapstone, Talc, whale bone , moose bone, moose antlers and a variety of other stones. He has participated in the Olympic Carving events. His stuff is NOT the cheaply made in China tourist stuff. We shall think overnight about some of his creations. He was very good. I think his shop was the only business in Raleigh. There may have been a ?Supermarket, gas bar.?
Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve is along the way but we did not go in to the Pistolet Bay Provincial Park for a guided tour. The book says this place has some of the world?s most cherished and botanical wonders. Rare plants are found here nestled among the rugged stone, mossy mounds and low shrubbery. Lots of limestone here.
Terry is fixing photos and I am making ready for our trip into the library parking lot in St Anthony where we can send our email. From there we will attend a Viking feast. This will be covered in the journal tomorrow.