Advertisement
Published: April 11th 2013
Edit Blog Post
on the table tops
day 1: a good start! We say it often: it is a small world. It truly is! Through my job in Nunavik, I had to contact someone who worked in the Torngat National Park, and after a 45 minute work-related discussion, we realized that we had met 14 years ago in Inuvik, NWT! Not only that, Angus had come to my dog yard to feed my dogs, and later in Whitehorse, I went with him to a store to buy a harness and a "backpack" for his dog and some metal snaps.
Angus then worked in Gros Morne National Park. I had already planned to go to Gros Morne in the summer, but Angus convinced me (very easily!) that Gros Morne was an amazing place to visit in the winter too. That's all it took to start the planning process, and thanks to Aeroplan, I managed to get there for the last few days of winter. Well, actually it was too late for the initial itinerary, we had to adapt as some areas had no more snow, and some lakes were opening up. Instead of a multi-day ski trip, we ended up doing many day trips and a short road trip to the northern tip
Nice turns
and you can't even see where I crashed (more than once)! of Newfoundland. But it didn't matter, Newfoundland is like a huge playground.
So we skied up to the table tops the first day, and I managed to get a sunburn. The landscape was fascinating, it really reminded me of the trip my colleagues and I did last year in the Arctic, in Pingualuit Park. The next day we put our skis on our backs, and hiked up Gros Morne, and skied down the other side where there was great snow still. We stopped for a nice lunch break: the snow was reflecting the heat, we were sheltered from the wind. Nice! That's my best definition of a spring holiday!
The next 2 days, the forecast wasn't great so we drove to l'Anse-aux-Meadows. We saw lots of caribou, almost drove into one as we were both looking at the bigger group to the right of the road!! We walked to the historical site where they built replicates of the Viking's huts, in some horrible weather: hail and wind. Only Sequoia, Angus' dog didn't seem to care. We also drove to many small communities, and finally stayed in a very nice cottage for the night. The next morning was gorgeous,
with fresh snow and a bright sun, it looked like a perfect Christmas morning!
We drove back, stopped for a short hike at Western Brook. The next day we went to the Annieopsquotch Mountains, a couple hours away from Gros Morne. Again, we were blessed with very good weather, although they forecasted a storm for later that day. It looked a lot like the northern landscapes Angus and I are used to, and we had a really pleasant day skiing again, stopping for tea and lunch, and enjoying the sun.
Then on my last full day, we snowshoed to Angus' brother-in-law's cabin up the hill, stayed for the night and snowshoed back the next morning, on time for me to catch my first flight (of 4) to get back home....
A very pleasant holiday so packed that it felt like I was gone for much longer than a week! A big thanks to Angus who made this trip so easy and fun! Certainly a part of the country that is not that well known and worth discovering!
Back in Kuujjuaq now, where the winter is not over yet!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.265s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 31; qc: 114; dbt: 0.1807s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb