My plan was to originally spend four days in Labrador. The first was going to be at a B&B that was one of the first hospitals in the Province. I was then going to spend the remainder of my time at Pinware River Provincial Park. This was all changed by the horrible weather that has been hammering Labrador since January. First, the Provincial Park delayed thier opening date, so now I was in the B&B for two days before the park opened. Then the temperature dropped and the gale force winds started blowing from the north, across Labrador, the Strait of Belle Isle and most of Newfoundland for days. I lost two of those days sitting at the ferry landing at ST. Barbe! But ultimately, the ferry did finally sail and I did finally arrive in Labrador late yesterday . . . in the drizzle and wind!! LOL
I woke up this morning thinking I would jump out of bed, throw on my clothes and head out to the east to explore this new land. Then I heard the wind, whistling past the windows. Not a good sound!! When I peeked out through the curtins and shade, the sky was black on the horizon, not grey or a hazy white, but charcoal black! My heart sank to my feet. When I went to sleep in the early hours of morning, the last weather report out of Gander, Newfoundland was that the weather in Labrador was supposed to be clearing up and possibly warming. LIES!! LOL
Yet the most amazing part was the cold. Not only had it not warmed, it had fallen. Overnight the temperature was 3 degrees celsius, around 36 to 38 Fahrenheit, but with the wind, the chill factor was -6 to -8 Celcius, or 18 to 20 degrees fahrenheit!! I was supposed to be in Pinware River Provincial Park, sleeping in my rooftop tent had I been on my original schedule!! I would have frozen.
This was Labrador this morning on my way to visit Pinware River Provincial Park. I wanted to go see the Park and let them know I would not be camping there. The young woman at the Park gate just laughed and told me that almost all of the scheduled campers had cancelled due to the cold weather and snow.This is the Pinware Valley. The Pinware River, a very major river in Labrador, enters and runs to the Atlantic on the left. The Trout River (more like a large brook) joins the Pinware River from the right. If you look closely, you can almost see the sandbar that juts out into the rivers on the right . . . this is where Pinware River Provincial Park is located.
This was supposed to be my campsite!! It had a really great view of the river and beach . . . and I am certain that in nice weather it was gorgeous. It does not look very useable right now unless I did a bit of shoveling!!
The beach was truly beautiful. The sand is a pink color from the sandstone shoals that extand out under the water here. I know the sand looks dark and brown in this picture, but it is just wet from the rain and drizzle. Once you step onto the beach, and break through the crust, it is a light pink!! At high tide, the ocean comes almost all the way to the edge of the grassy drop to the beach.A short walk down the beach brought me to the mouth of the Pinware and Trout Rivers.The tide was out so there were numerous sandbars, all crowded with seagulls that weren’t flying much because of the wind.The beach was covered in different colors of seaweeds and kelps, sea urchin skeletons of various sizes, mussel and clam shells and an array of different drift woods.The tall grass and Juniper Bushes were sheltering a new forest denizen. Snowshoe Hares! This one gave me a definately odd look when I tried getting it to pose! It is slowly shedding the white winter coat for the normal brown and grey summer coat.This hare, I think, actually wanted to be photographed! LOLLabrador is a very rugged and pretty country after you get out of the villages and into the mountains. As you can see, there is a lot of snow, it was just snowing here two days ago. The locals are worried that the summer is going to now be very short, some believing taht most of this snow may not melt and be here for the start of winter.Red Bay, Labrador. The Basque Whaling Center was located here over 400 years ago, and the village is now a UNESCO Heritage Sitefor the historic Basque ruins that still exist here from the whaling operations. The Whaling Museum is very fascinating to visit and in good weather there is a water-taxi that takes you over to the island in the bay, Saddle Island, where some of the old ruins can be found.Bridges here are steel with wood road beds. I believe that it is not only for weight considerations, but the roadbed would not be as effected by the expansion and contraction of the structure with the temperature changes caused by the shifting seasons. This is the Pinware River Bridge. . . . and this is the Pinware River, swollen now by the snow runoff from inland Labrador as well as the recent rains.L’Anse au Amore Lighthouse. The second tallest lighthouse on thes west coast of the Strait of Belle Isle. The light house is over 120 years old, with limestone malls at the base over six feet thick. The same family served as lighthouse keepers for 87 of the 120 years. The white stuff on the beach by the cliff is not sand . . . that is all snow!!The lighthouse is still operational and is the only such structure I have seen in recent years that has not been shifted to a newer LED light system. This one still uses a system of incandecent bulbs. When I asked the tour guide why the light had not been upgraded, she said that the people of Labrador responsible for the light wanted it to stay as it was, and since so many other lights had been changed to LED systems, there was an abundance of extra bulbs for this light! Seemed reasonable to me!!
Labrador is a beautiful province, wild and rugged, but it is changing fast. The year of 2022 for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador is now called the year to “Come Home” . . . now that the covid-19 restrictions are falling . . . and so many of the people have been forced to stay away, there friends and families are calling them home! I am glad that I made this journey and I will have many, many, wonderful memories of Labrador.
Tomorrow . . . god willing and the winds stay below 39 mph . . . I will board the ferry for the return to Newfoundland. Once there, I make the run north to Pistolet Bay Provincial Park, close to the 1000 AD Viking settlement. Who knows . . . there were reports of two Polar Bears hanging out around St. Anthony’s, not too far south from the park. It would be great to see icebergs, moose, caribou, puffins AND polar bears!! I wonder if bear spray works on them like it supposedly works on black bears?? Hmmmm . . . .
What the Walrus said . . . 