Boondocking on a Runway and By a Waterfall and Greg Finds a Fault!

Sunday, August 11, 2013 and Monday, August 12, 2013

We left Blow Me Down Provincial Park on Sunday morning. The wind was still blowing hard, but the sun was out, and there were beautiful fluffy clouds scuttling across the perfectly blue sky. The wind was blowing so rapidly, that the cloud's shadows were racing down the road ahead of us as we tried to follow them. We drove across the bay to the town of Lark Harbor, whose claim to fame, besides the stunning scenery and the wind, is a replica of a Viking ship sitting in front of town hall. It was built for the movie Outlander with Jim Caviezel. 100 people from the area were used as extras.

Next we drove to Bottle Cove on the ocean side of the southern peninsula coming out from Humber Arm. The waves were crashing, and we were tempted to hike the headlands to see the pillow lava along the water, but we were having geologic and scenic overload and decided to get some miles under us instead.

Pillow Basalt headlands at Bottle Cove

Looking across Lark Harbor at our campsite

Back we drove to the Trans-Canada Highway south towards Port Aux Basque. Then we left it and drove towards the western coast to Stephenville. The old US Air Force base there has a reputation as a good boondocking spot, so we decided to stay there Sunday night.

Every business has several lines of work, but I thought you tried to avoid piercing your body when hunting

The base was founded in the 40's and abandoned in the 60's. The airport is still open, but we only heard one flight the whole time we were there. We boondocked with a half dozen other travelers, and another half dozen RV's that seemed to be parked for the season, with no one there. The old runway made a perfect, flat campsite, and we were along the ocean. We parked back up it a bit to try to avoid too much salt spray, since the wind was constant at 25-30 mph or so. After a quick walk out to the beach and back for some quick photos we returned to the rig to clean the salt spray off our glasses and stay in for the night! Our spot was next to a tee for the oceanside golf course, probably left from military days, and we were entertained by the golfers trying to hit the ball in the fierce winds!

The beach at Stephenville

Ready for Take Off

Two guys lost their balls 20 feet from the tee!

Sunset over the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Studying the Geology for the next stop

The next day we stowed, and searched out the dump and water spigot the town provided by the airport for the boondockers. I guess this is a way to get us to stay there and spend to help the local economy. We passed the Maryland Apartments on Maryland Avenue and traveled along Minnesota Avenue. The street names are mostly states, a remnant of the military base.



We also went looking for propane. We have an internal tank, not an exchangable one like you see on trailers or for gas grills, so we need to be able to pull up to a large tank to be filled up. No such luck in Stephenville. We were informed that the closest one was in Pasadena, 80 km back up the highway near Deer Lake, where we had gotten on the highway after our time in Gros Morne. Greg figured by Canadian diesel prices it would be a $45 round trip to go up and back. Hmmm...guess we were going to hold our breath and conserve until we get to Nova Scotia. The refrigerator and freezer, stovetop, furnace, and water heater, run on propane. We can do without all but the fridge. If that isn't powered we'll have to get ice and turn it into an icebox. Luckily there isn't much in it at the moment. So far, Tuesday mid-afternoon the fridge is still happy! Tomorrow during the ferry ride the propane has to be turned off anyway.



Back on the Trans-Canada we passed a dead moose on the side of the road and debated whether to count that in our moose totals. That made three live and one dead moose we had seen. A short time later as Greg was driving about 60 mph down a hill, a moose ran across the road from the other side, in front of a semi-truck and then in front of us. He hightailed it way down the hill and into the woods. Okay, four live moose and one dead one for our count! That was one lucky moose (and so were we!) not to get wiped out by either vehicle. Greg said he looked like “a moose on a mission”, it moved so fast!

The little brown dot is a fast receding moose - he was much bigger in front of our bumper

Next we drove through the area known as Wreckhouse. This area is infamous for its extreme winds, over 120 mph, due to the unique geography there that funnels the wind between the mountains. In the past the wind has blown the train off the tracks, and flipped trucks. The train, which no longer crosses Newfoundland, used to employ a man named McDougall who lived in that area and could “smell the wind” and warn the trains. Today truckers use their CB's. I was a bit nervous, since we were still having high winds, but they diminished some by the time we got to Wreckhouse. The highway department has put up a sign to warn trailers and RV's of the high winds, but, there is so much small print on the sign you can't read it before you pass it!

We exited off to check out the loop road through the Codroy Valley, known for it's wetlands and migratory birds. Beautiful scenery, but no waterfowl. Back on the highway again we discussed our options for the night. We could go to J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park, near Port Aux Basque, or look for a remote place to boondock. We drove to the park first for one more geologic hike before we leave Newfoundland. Along the beach and the old railroad alignment is a major fault that divides the ancient supercontinents of Laurentia and Gondwanda. The division between the two rock masses where the fault runs was very visible, and the scenery along the beach was beautiful in the sunshiny weather and brisk breeze.

Sandstone conglomerate smeared by fault shear

Mylonite - rock that is completely crushed by fault movement 

Paper thin foliation in Mylonite - Cape Ray Fault aligned with map

Close up of mylonite

Cape Ray Fault

The beach at Cheeseman Prov. Park

Day Use area at the beach. Cape Ray Fault beyond the dark basalt headland in the background.

We got back to the rig and decided to head out the Granite Coast route. Stopping in Port Aux Basque for fuel, we then started the drive east along the southern coast. This road didn't exist until the 80's and half dozen fishing villages were serviced by a ferry that used to run the entire width of the southern coast. We knew that the road dead-ended about 45 minutes down the road in Rose Blanche, which has the only granite lighthouse. We hoped to find a boondocking spot before then, but if not, the lighthouse sounded good.

Why do they call this the Granite Coast?

Town of Rose Blanche

The road wound up and down through barren rocky hills and ponds. The only time it went near the coastal cliffs was in the small villages, which were built among the rocky cliffs and provided no lookoffs for us to park on. We finally wound up at the end of a twisty, steep road at the lighthouse. No boondocking there. They had erected some shops, a stage and a B&B and charged to walk the path to see the lighthouse. It was on the other side of a rocky hill and we couldn't even glimpse it.



By now it was after 7 PM and we wanted to find a spot so that we wouldn't have to drive all the way back to the provincial park. Heading back out of the village we drove until we found a small parking lot for a trail to a waterfall that we could see from the road. There were no, “No Camping” signs, so we decided we found our spot! Tuesday night we'll be fenced up with bright lights all night, but Monday night, our last real night in Newfoundland, we listened to the sound of a waterfall through the open windows, looked at the moon reflecting on the sea, and watched the sun set and then the sun rise over the rocky barren hills and boggy ponds of southern Newfoundland.

Sunset and moonrise over our last boondocking site at Barachois Falls. Goodbye beautiful Newfoundland dusks!