Wednesday 6/22/2022 - Day 11 of 31 on our 2022 Canadian Maritime #2 Caravan with Yankee RV Tour

We departed Prince Edward Campground, which is located on the Humber River. It is a Kinsmen park. What are Kinsmen? Kin Canada is an all-Canadian service organization made up of dedicated member volunteers who serve their community’s greatest need through hosting and sponsoring events and community service projects. Founded on February 20, 1920 by Hal Rogers in Hamilton, Ontario, Kin Canada clubs have impacted countless communities in Canada and beyond our borders. Thousands of dedicated Kin continue to keep Founder Hal's vision of Serving the Community's Greatest Need alive. 

The Humber River is approximately 75 miles long, flowing through the Long Range Mountains, southeast then southwest, through Deer Lake, to the Bay of Islands at Corner Brook. It begins near Hampden, Newfoundland. James Cook first charted the Humber in the summer of 1767. It was named, as so many of eastern North America for its English counterpart the Humber. The Humber is rich in Atlantic Salmon, and was used as a waterway for European trappers and loggers. It continues to be considered one of the world's best recreational salmon fishing rivers.

On TCH #1, just a bit from the campground is Marble Mountain. Nestled at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, towering over the beautiful Humber Valley, it is renowned for the best skiing on Canada's east coast. With the highest vertical drop of any ski area in Atlantic Canada, you'll soar down 250 acres and 39 trails catering to all skill levels. At the summit of the mountain, take in the stunning, rugged panorama as you stand 1,700 feet above the banks of the Humber River. Located just five minutes away from Corner Brook, Canada's snowiest city, Marble Mountain Resort receives an average 16 feet of natural snowfall annually. Take in the stunning scenery with Marble Zip Tours and Aerial Park year round. Ride nine zip lines that traverse the Steady Brook Gorge and Falls – some span 2,000 feet and are 285 feet high.

We passed by the Deer Lake Hydroelectric Generating Station, operated by Deer Lake Power Company. The history of Deer Lake Power Company dates back to 1915 when an extensive survey of the Humber River hydroelectric and timber resources was begun. The original company, Newfoundland Power and Paper Company was granted, along with lands, the water power rights on the Humber River watershed by the Newfoundland Government in return for investment in the industrial development of Newfoundland and Labrador. The First World War interrupted the project. It was not until late 1922 that development of a pulp and paper mill at Corner Brook and, concurrently, a hydroelectric generating station at Deer Lake was started. The original plan was to locate both the paper mill and power plant at Deer Lake. This was changed at the eleventh hour to have the mill in Corner Brook at tidewater. This decision was based on engineering progress in the early 1920's making feasible transmission of power over the 30 miles separating the two sites. Coinciding with the construction of the generating station was the building of a diversion dam at the outlet of Grand Lake which flowed into Junction Brook and the Humber River. Called Main Dam, it is an Ambursen-type structure, 800 feet long containing almost 30,000 cubic yards of concrete. The Dam controls the water elevation of Grand Lake, the main reservoir, and its adjacent feeder lakes. The Grand Lake watershed covers an area of over 3,000 square miles while the reservoir covers 308 square miles. At full storage, Grand Lake is 80 miles long and 4 miles at its widest point. Depths are almost 1,000 feet and its shoreline ranges from sandy beaches to vertical cliffs towering 1,800 feet above normal lake level. 

We continued northeast on TCH #1. Into the community of Deer Lake. Western Newfoundland was an upland area in which vertical movements of crustal blocks along major fault zones led to the formation of two major basins in which accumulations of sediments occurred between 345 million and 280 million years ago. One of these basins extended from Deer Lake to Conche (the Deer Lake Basin) and the other extended from Stephenville to the Codroy Valley (the St. George's Bay Basin). These basins probably resembled the present-day Death Valley of California, surrounded by mountains and with great silty fans extending from the mountain scarps across a lowland with shallow lakes. Sedimentary rocks deposited in both basins are conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and shale, commonly containing fossils of fish, plants and trees. Thin coal seams and oil shales occur in the Deer Lake Basin, and evaporates, like gypsum, potash and salt, as well as coal and oil, occur in the St. George's Bay Basin.

Off TCH 1 onto Highway 430, the Viking Trail. The Viking Trail is the largest themed highway in Newfoundland and Labrador. Stretching all the way from the province's west coast to Southern Labrador, the Viking Trail is the only route to the popular UNESCO World Heritage sites at Gros Morne National Park of Canada and L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site of Canada. Newfoundland Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion. I can honestly say, I have never seen an Insectarium! It is 20 acres of land and nearly 8,000 square feet of indoor space. The attraction features thousands of live and mounted insects, arachnids and arthropods from around the world. There is a special section dedicated to the insects of Newfoundland and Labrador. I am not sure, if I want to see that many creepy crawling things!

We drove through, Gros Morne National Park, we will visit the park on our way back down.

There was a lot of up and down and up and down today, but the sights were amazing!

There are benefits to drive on slightly overcast days, you miss the sun shining into your windows and windshield, but your pictures are muted colors, but you see some unique low hanging clouds.

Skirting along the Bonnie Bay as we headed toward Port au Choix. The bay separates the Great Northern Peninsula from the rest of the island. It is a part of Gros Morne National Park. There are two sections: Inner Bonne Bay and Outer Bonne Bay. Inner Bonne Bay consists of two arms, one is south which has wooded coves and beach landings. Outer Bonne Bay consists of the entrance to the fjord of Bonne Bay. Bonne Bay was carved out approximately 10,000 years ago by two large glaciers in each one of the arms. The glaciers then came together in the middle part of the Bay and continued to push on out to the Ocean.

It is said that Jacques Cartier, the French explorer and navigator, anchored at nearby Cow Cove in 1534. At Shallow Bay you can roam the sandy beaches in search of a prized piece of gnarled driftwood, just one of the treasures from the sea that wash up along this coast. The beach's back shore dunes have been planted with dune grasses to help prevent erosion. Just behind the dunes you can explore the Old Mail Road Trail, where dappled sunlight, the soft chirps of birds and the nearly muffled sound of waves breaking on the other side of the dunes will entice you to linger.

Continue to the next stretch of coast, which includes the Portland Creek River. Portland Creek River was made famous by the late Lee Wulff, one of the foremost anglers of the mid-20th century. This part of the highway takes you through Portland Creek, Daniel's Harbour, Bellburns, River of Ponds, and Hawke's Bay. The Portland Creek area is filled with lakes, rivers and ponds that teem with salmon and trout. Fishermen from all over the world come to try their luck in these waterways. Keep an eye out for the herd of caribou in this area.

We saw this sign, but never any Caribou :(

We completed our caravan, for today, and arrived in Port au Choix.

Port au Choix is a tri-town area, which is comprised of Hawkes Bay, Port Saunders and Port au Choix. The name of Port au Choix is translated as Port of Choice because the fishermen had the choice of ports to land their fish. Port au Choix is known as “the Capital of the Shrimp fisheries.”

In Port au Choix, in 1967 while excavating a basement for a theater, workers found what is now Port au Choix National Historic Site by accident. They found a mass of bones, tools and weapons. The following year, archaeologists discovered three ancient cemeteries and scores of skeletons. By studying the artifacts and human remains, archaeologists have been able to determine the Maritime Archaic People, a group of hunters and gatherers who lived along the eastern seaboard from Maine to Labrador, occupied the site 3,200 to 3,700 years ago. Over thousands of years, many groups have moved into the Port au Choix area because of its marine resources. Cultural habits and technologies have come and gone, but dependence on the sea remains a way of life, and a bond that connects half a dozen cultures over more than 50 centuries.

Staying at Oceanside RV Park, where the sun meets the sea every evening and rocks you to sleep through the sounds of the waves hugging the shores. It is owned and operated by the United Towns Lion Club.

We had a unique afternoon at the French Bread Oven and Chaloupe. 

Fresh rolls are served up using a French bread oven in Port au Choix. 

At the end of Forest road in this historic fishing community with thousands of years of indigenous culture and also a part of the French Shore, we visited a bread oven, chaloupe and we ventured in to enjoy history over a cup of tea, wildberry jam and those melt in your mouth rolls from ladies and men dressed in period costumes.

We enjoyed some music from Davey Jones too!

Our campground host told us, we had to see the Painted Rocks ... so, we did .... nothing that we expected!

There is a talented boat maker in this town too!

One significant site of Dorset Paleo-Eskimo remains are located on the Port au Choix peninsula in the region known as Phillip's Garden. This archaeological dig has been divided into three sites, Phillip's Garden, Phillip's Garden East, and Phillip's Garden West. 

The Phillip's Garden sites are regarded as the most important discoveries in the Port au Choix area since the remains of structures were preserved from rising sea levels. There have been discoveries of dwellings by Dorset Paleo-Eskimos dating back to approximately 2140 BP. The first excavation of Phillip's Garden was William Wintemberg of the National Museum of Canada in 1929. At this time he discovered numerous sites of Newfoundland's Great North Peninsula, including Port au Choix. Phillip's Garden was the largest site found during the survey. Phillip's Garden remained unexamined after its initial discovery by Wintemberg until 1949, when Elmer Harp Jr. began to excavate at Port au Choix and made many discoveries through the early 1960s. Harp, a distinguished archaeologist who specialized in the Arctic and Paleo-Eskimos, was the first to determine that some remains and artifacts discovered at Port au Choix were those of Paleo-Eskimos, not Indians.

Some of us drove to Pont Riche. The first lighthouse at Point Riche, formerly part of the French Shore, was completed by the Canadian government in 1871 to assist steamers transiting the Strait of Belle Isle on their voyages between the St. Lawrence and Europe. The buildings at the station, constructed simultaneous with the ones at Cape Norman. The Point Riche Lighthouse was destroyed by fire on August 15, 1890. As there was some difference of opinion among “nautical men” whether the lighthouse should be rebuilt, the opinions of the masters of vessels using the Strait of Belle Isle were solicited on the matter. When a majority was in favor of rebuilding the lighthouse at its former location, plans were drawn up and tenders invited for the work.

Daniel McDonald of Pictou, Nova Scotia submitted the lowest tender, at $1,750, and was accordingly awarded a contract for the new lighthouse. During the summer of 1892, McDonald built the present octagonal wooden lighthouse. Built on ground situated forty-four feet above the water, the lighthouse measured fifty-eight feet from base to vane and had a focal plane of ninety-three feet. The new light was placed in operation on October 20, 1892.

When plans were made to install a third-order Fresnel lens at Point Riche, it was deemed necessary to build concrete foundations to support a wooden framework that was carried up around the outside of the lighthouse. With this support structure in place, the old lantern platform was removed and the new one put in place. This work was done and the new 100,000 candlepower light commenced operation in 1908. The illuminant used in the Fresnel lens was petroleum vapour burned under an incandescent mantle. A new keeper’s building was also built in 1908, but it burned down in the 1998, leaving the foundation found near the lighthouse. Pointe Riche Lighthouse was declared a Recognized Federal Heritage Building in 1991.

There is another Dorset Site connected to Phillip's Garden by a trail. Port Aux Choix is a great place to explore the crossroads of 6,000 years of human history where the sea’s bounty drew Maritime Archaic, Dorset, Groswater and Beothuk people long before Europeans arrived. Discover the richness and rarities of vibrant cultures that lived off the land and from the sea, where seals on passing ice flows were hunted for food, shelter and clothing. Explore one of North America’s most fascinating archaeological finds, amid a rugged coastline of unique limestone barrens, forests and bays.

 

Sheryl and I had to put our feet in the water! The wind was cool, but the water was not too bad!

Some went to an optional dinner, others enjoyed a quiet dinner at the campground. Whichever the caravaneers enjoyed, we all enjoyed the awesome views of the Gulf of the St Lawrence. We had an evening road log review and little known facts about the caravaneers.