My friends and I had a week off to go on a back country camping trip—ten days to be exact. To some this seems like nothing, but to us working stiffs this seemed like a dream come true. Our original plan was to attend the New Brunswick Overland Challenge, but we were down a team member, so we were left searching for another plan.
Back in 2011 I travelled down the west coast of Newfoundland after completing the Trans Labrador Highway. I vividly recall thinking the scenery rivalled anything I had seen in central and eastern Canada and I made a mental note to come back.
After several emails and Facebook chats, I had a small group of four who decided Newfoundland would be a perfect place to get away from civilization, drive some off-road trails and experience some truly unique geography.
Back in 2011 I travelled down the west coast of Newfoundland after completing the Trans Labrador Highway. I vividly recall thinking the scenery rivalled anything I had seen in central and eastern Canada and I made a mental note to come back.
After several emails and Facebook chats, I had a small group of four who decided Newfoundland would be a perfect place to get away from civilization, drive some off-road trails and experience some truly unique geography.
There would be two trucks and four people going. Brian in his Toyota FJ Cruiser with his friend Nick as the co-pilot and myself in my GMC Canyon with Ian, a lifelong friend, would make up the crew. I have done a few trips with Brian in the past and felt comfortable with his vehicle’s capabilities and his ability to prepare for a trip of this nature. True, Newfoundland is simply a province in Canada and not Timbuktu, but being an island means access to vehicle parts would be slim so every precaution was taken with the time frame allowed to better the chances of not having issues.
Newfoundland is a very large island with approximately 480,000 people occupying 108,860 square kilometres (42,031 sq mi) of land. We knew we could not see it all, so we opted to take our time exploring the western shoreline from south to north. This is the more isolated side of the island and it is only a seven-hour ferry ride from the mainland instead of the 20 hours it takes to the eastern side of the island. Research was done, maps were consulted, and we settled on a few destinations and trails that we hoped to see.
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Brian left his home in Ohio a day ahead of us, so that we could rendezvous a few hours from the ferry in the province of Nova Scotia. There is no question it was a long drive, but somehow, we still made it to the ferry terminal an hour or so before sailing to check in. Sadly, when we booked the ferry there was no rooms available to rent. This meant our overnight sailing would be spent sitting in a chair. Also, Brian had some issues with the ferry staff due the amount of fuel he had on the outside of his truck. We solved the issue by filling our tanks and transferring some of his fuel to my roof rack. Ten minutes after being on the boat, Brian’s name was called on the intercom. Much to my surprise, he had put his name on a waiting list for a room. Jackpot! A room with four beds was ours, but unfortunately for my travelling companions, my heavy snoring meant I was the only one that got a good night’s sleep (sorry guys).
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As dawn broke, we watched the island known as “The Rock” emerge into view. It looked like a postcard, with the sun rising on a small fishing village of wood houses painted in bright colors. Our first stop? Well that would be the Tim Hortons of course! After consulting maps over a good cup of coffee we hit the road.
Table Mountains
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We would start our trip at the beginning of the Newfoundland T’Railway (T’Rail). This is an old rail line that crosses Newfoundland and is now used for recreational purposes. After a few miles along the T’Rail, we turned onto the highway and headed up another trail that would take us climbing to the top of the Table Mountains. We had fun bumping across loose gravel and baseball sized stones, navigating a couple of small ledges, and gearing down to four-wheel low when things became steep.
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Once at the top, I was struck by the incredible winds, it was so consistent despite the high speeds. We drank in the outstanding views of the island while our cameras clicked away to capture the vista. Our trip had only just begun!
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After cooking up a hearty breakfast to celebrate the view, more photos were taken. We then had a casualty. While moving my truck into a “poser” position at the edge of a cliff, a flat rock that I was driving across broke and ripped the sidewall of my tire in two. After making quick work of throwing my spare on, we could return down to the highway.
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Our plan was to take the T’Rail north, but not being comfortable on the rocky trail without a spare meant we first drove north on the highway to the town of Cornerbrook. There I could order a spare tire at a local Canadian Tire. I left my rim with the plan to pick it up on our return back down the island (the shop was going to be closed the next day anyway).
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It is worth noting that when I say highway I mean a seldom travelled two lane paved road with outstanding scenery. The mountains on one side rise up to nearly 2500 feet above sea level and for most of the drive there is ocean directly on the other side. I prefer gravel roads when travelling, but this paved road put a smile on all of our faces.
We hustled north out of Cornerbrook to drive through Gros Morne National Park where the scenery surrounded us with amazing mountains and far reaching vistas. On the far side of the park we found a small campground to setup in for the night. Part of our trip preparation included freezing food at home to take with us. We would dine on steaks, ribs, shrimp and many other delicacies during our travels. That evening we ate like kings and enjoyed a few beverages before packing it in for the night. With the first day in the bag, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
The next morning, I was the first awake, so I decided to have a shower, have a coffee and then crawl back into my tent for just a pinch more sleep. Unknown to me, there was some ominous weather moving into the area. What seemed like moments later, I was awoken by my friend Ian who was shaking my tent saying it was time to go. I had slept for hours and it was nearly noon, I guess the travel had taken its toll on me. As I was coming to, I noticed that my tent was full of water. The next thing I noticed was that it was raining very hard outside with gale force winds whipping up to a storm. Everyone else was packed. From the safety of the trucks they watched me run around in the down pour like a guy who has only just woke up and is trying to cope with breaking camp in a storm. It must have been comical for them, but for me, not so much.
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Heading north along the coast we stopped here and there to stretch and enjoy the ocean views. Brian and I are never one to pass up an unmaintained road, so a bit of exploring was inevitable.
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One of our stops led to a small cabin on the water. The fellow who owned it was very friendly and explained the history of the area to us. We also saw a dead whale on his beach, which may sound interesting, but really was a huge bunch of smelly rotting blubber.
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We had done some research, as mentioned, before the trip and one of our destinations was an old decommissioned road up the coast to an abandoned town called Big Brook Pond. This trail was an overlanders wet dream with a few creeks to cross as well as a river. Driving for hours right on the coast without any signs of civilization is a unique experience in this modern world.
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The town came into view immediately after crossing the river of the same name. We drove around the abandoned town and then further up the coast on an ATV trail that led us to a seaside shipwreck. It was a rusted-out boat and its scattered remains were the icing on the cake. The scenery and experience of the day blew my expectations of this trip out of the water.
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We setup camp beside a small cabin hoping it would shelter us from the winds. With the tents and camp set up we were just about to start cooking another great dinner when it started to rain. As the winds shifted a deluge began. We were bracing for the worst when Ian found a key to the cabin. Upon opening the door, we beheld a miracle; it was like a mirage in a vast desert. This small cabin had been renovated and was being used as a guest house. There was a sign-in book that showed people had been there the night before and a note asking people to leave the cabin cleaner than how they found it. We entered our names in the book with a note explaining we took shelter and left an email address asking the owners to get in touch with us. There were wine glasses, fresh towels, and other amenities available. We assumed it must be for hikers or mountain bikers, because it was too “pretty” inside to be for hunters or the ATV crowd. It was a peaceful sleep for us as the elements howled away outside through the night.
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During the morning, we continued up the ATV trail and did some more exploring. The sun was shining on a perfect day that would include crashing waves, off-road driving, outstanding scenery and eating amazing food…my idea of heaven. When the trail ended, we followed a gravel road back to civilisation and then a paved highway to a small campground in Pistolet Bay Provincial Park.
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While enjoying another glorious meal with drinks around a fire, we were joined by a moose who decided to walk through camp. It’s pretty cool to see one of these giants standing only 30 feet away!
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The next day we were tourists visiting L’Anse Meadows National Park to see and learn about the Vikings that settled there. Sorry Christopher Columbus, but you were not the first European to discover North America.
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We then drove to a town called Saint Anthony’s to spoil ourselves at a seafood restaurant. The setting was idyllic, perched on top of a cliff with a lighthouse and ocean view, and even couple of whales swimming past along the shore, so that we could enjoy watching them as they continually broke the surface. Unfortunately, the food in the restaurant was sub-par at best, which was surprising as the locals were in consensus that this was the best food in town. After our meal, we went back to the campsite for another peaceful night.
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After breaking camp, we travelled north to a small town called Raleigh where we breakfasted in the only place in town. When the owner saw our trucks, he directed us across the bay to a trail that lead to an area of moonscape scenery. He explained that last summer (2016) a polar bear came across the ice in the spring and spent the entire summer in a cave below the cliffs that the trail led to. The bear was feeding on a large whale that had washed up on shore. The owner runs ATV tours to this cave for tourists, so the 2016 season was a washout for him.
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The rest of the day brought rain, rain and more rain. It took the remainder of the afternoon to head back south to get my spare tire. We ended up setting up camp in Blow Me Down Park. Which is aptly named as the winds were wild here. Aside from my tent filling with rain again, it was a great night in a nice campground.
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I was beginning to realize that my tent is the worst tent every manufactured, and boy-o-boy I paid a price for buying this piece of junk. Sure, it sets up and takes down in under three seconds, but it has a mesh roof with no rain fly and it rained most nights on our trip! I was used to waking up wet and cold and my mornings and afternoons were spent drying the tent and sleeping bags in the truck. Here is a nugget of Overlanding advice…don’t buy your gear from Canadian Tire! Laugh it up, if it wasn’t me I would be laughing as well.
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With the new day, we were heading south along the T’Rail where some sections of the road were so darned tight that we were adding pin striping to the sides of our trucks. My side panels were beginning to look like art.
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Our trip had wound down to a close as we camped just outside of Port Aux Basques (the town with the ferry terminal) from where we could change our ferry reservations to day sailing instead of overnight sailing. Our ferry ride was beautiful during the day with great scenery. It was a treat for us land-locked guys to stand outside on the deck in the sun and smell the salt air. Brian was heading south to the US and I was heading west back to my home in Ottawa, so we said our goodbyes on the ferry. Ian and I then drove straight through for 17 hours to Ottawa and home with only one stop for McDonalds along the way. This was a fantastic trip with remarkable vistas. If you get the chance, do the drive.
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 | About the author... |
Photo credits apply to all four members of this band of merry men. When asked who took the photos for this article, we were told that they were all taking photographs and that they would exchange phones and cameras to do so. For more images from this group, see the album published online here.
 Ian Vaughn  Brian Workman |  Ted Johnson  Nick Euton |
When travelling overland roads and trails, ensure you have adequate supplies (in this case, a lot of frozen meats), do not travel alone, know your route (do your research and obtain GPS trail maps for the area), tread lightly and be prepared for unexpected road conditions.
To tread lightly means staying on trails, leaving things the way you found them and packing out what you pack in. If you are not sure what unexpected road conditions mean, then view the following video, which was taken along the trail travelled by this group.
To tread lightly means staying on trails, leaving things the way you found them and packing out what you pack in. If you are not sure what unexpected road conditions mean, then view the following video, which was taken along the trail travelled by this group.
To find more information about this route for your trip planning, have a look at our RESOURCES page.
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