QUEBEC ~ TRANS-LABRADOR ~ NEWFOUNDLAND 50 Day Tour - June 1 to July 20, 2014PART
1: QUEBEC 389
and
TRANS-LABRADOR
HIGHWAY
For those who seek the road not traveled, here is an adventure to your liking. Completed only in spring 2010, the overland route from Quebec City to Labrador City traverses wilderness known only to a few. Past visitors to the Trans Labrador Highway when asked why they did it, most commonly answer, "For the adventure of driving through one of the last frontiers in North America; it is on our bucket list as the ultimate road trip." We’ll rendezvous in northern Vermont, cross into Canada, and camp near a mountain in southern Quebec where we can find the elusive Bicknell’s Thrush as it sings at dawn, atop a peak from which distant New Hampshire can be seen on a clear day. Then we head to charming Quebec City where we will enjoy a walking tour led by a local guide. Tracing Quebec City's history from 1608, we will visit Quebec Citadel, Chateau Frontenac, Quebec fortifications, Basilica Notre-Dame, Old Port, and Place Royale. In Beauport we can get our adrenal pumping as we walk a suspension bridge over Montmorency Falls as water plunges 275 ft. down the highest waterfall in Quebec. Next stop is Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area whose bulrush marshes are so critically important that the area was recognized as a Wetland of International Significance under the Ramsar Convention. Snow Geese use it as a primary migration stop and we will be on site at an excellent time to see colorful warblers on their way north to nesting sites.
Named Grands-Jardins (great gardens) because of the carpets of ground lichen and exceptional Arctic vegetation, we will camp at this national park and enjoy hiking a few of its many trails. At another national park, Parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay, we'll take a whale-watching cruise on the St. Lawrence River where the possibilities of sightings include Blue Whale, Humpback Whale, Sperm Whale, and the famous Beluga. We’ll follow the north shore of the St. Lawrence’s Seaway before arriving at Baie Comeau, the start of Quebec 389.
Heading north, we first traverse tall forests and diminutive mountains, then leave wooded terrain and cross through the taiga of short Black Spruce, lichens, and mosses. En route are the Manic dams, the huge Manicougan Reservoir, Groulx Mountains, Mount Wright iron mine, and many small lakes with deserted sandy beaches. The Groulx Mountains, which include the highest summits of Quebec, are some of the oldest rock formations of the world and are virtually untouched taiga. A prime attraction is the SILENCE of wilderness. We'll even camp in a ghost town, a mining village that existed from 1960 to 1985. During our tour of Manic-2 we can stand beneath the alternator of a 400-ton generating unit and feel its immense power as it spins at 120 revolutions per minute. Manicouagan Reservoir was formed when an asteroid hit the earth. Here we will view the largest multiple-arch-and-buttress dam in the world, bridging the Manicouagan Valley and providing the forces for the Manic-5 Generating Station. Have you ever seen a building nearly a mile long and 15 stories high? In Fermont we will see an amazing multifunctional building, 164-ft. high and 0.8-mi. long, that was designed as an arrow and serves as a windbreak to protect the town.
Leaving Quebec Province, we soon reach the largest city en route, Labrador City, with a population of 7367 (in 2011). Here we will tour one of Canada's largest iron ore mines. Churchill Falls, named after Winston Churchill, once was a dramatic 245-ft. waterfall dropping from a sheer cliff into MacLean Canyon, but because so few people lived in the area there was little objection to its diversion, reducing it to a trickle. Instead, the river powers Churchill Falls Generating Station, the third largest hydroelectric generating capacity in North America. We will tour this station, which drops some 900 ft. underground to access the corridor to the transformer gallery. We continue east from Labrador City on the Trans-Labrador Highway, the two highways together comprising 500 miles of well-maintained gravel road, with easy curves and gentle hills for the most part. (With the addition of coastal Labrador gravel roads, the total for the Quebec-Labrador tour is approximately 908 gravel miles and 789 paved miles).
Descending from the central Labrador plateau, we reenter tall trees and continue to Goose Bay and then take the most recent addition to the highway: Goose Bay to Cartwright on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. So few visitors have traveled this road, who knows what bird species we will find, although the extinct Labrador Duck will not be one of them. But, rest assured, our on-board naturalist will help you locate and identify the birds and mammals - and many of the colorful spring flowers - native to the area. Happy Valley - Goose Bay played an important role in WW II when it served as a United States Air Force base known as Goose AFB. While staying in Happy Valley - Goose Bay we will have time to visit several museums where we can learn the history of Labrador, the land, and its people. Nearby is North West River, founded by the Inuit and Innu 6000 years ago and first visited by Europeans in 1743. Now it features the best beach on the east coast of Canada.
Some of the most beautiful coastal areas of southeastern Labrador are at Cartwright, a community in a sheltered harbor and established in 1775. Just to the north of Cartwright is a stretch of sand known to the Vikings as the Wonderstrands. We will be visiting at a time of year when icebergs are visible, if not here, than along our many other stops following the Atlantic coast of Labrador. Along Labrador's coast, we will be visiting many small, remote, traditional fishing communities. Port Hope Simpson is unusual in that it is also a logging town where many residents make pottery wares that are great souvenirs. Mary's Harbour was a salmon fishery already in the 1780s and now, since the cod moratorium, it depends on the crab industry. The harbor surrounds beautiful St. Mary's River and a short hike up the river is spectacular White Water Falls. Medical pioneer Sir Wilfred Grenfell, depicted on an early Newfoundland postage stamp, serviced aboriginal peoples and settlers in these coastal villages starting in the late 1890s and later its hospital and boarding school was located in Mary's Harbor. When we continue our tour to Newfoundland island, you will learn much more about Grenfell's fascinating history at a museum in St. Anthony.
We will continue our trip along Labrador's coast, visiting Red Bay National Historic Site, Pinware River Provincial Park, L'Anse Amour Burial National Historic Site, and Point Amour Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site which features Atlantic Canada's tallest lighthouse. In addition to their historic value, these coastal sites are also great places to watch seabirds. After exploring this more populated area of Labrador and its small fishing villages, we cross the Strait of Belle Isle from Blanc Sablon to Newfoundland. Note, although we will be camping most nights with electricity, water, and dumps, some nights in the most remote stretches of QC-389 and the Trans-Labrador highway will be dry camping without facilities. Part 1 of Quebec-Labrador-Newfoundland Tour includes:
ITINERARY (subject to change)
Continue with Part 2: NewfoundlandThis web site is designed by Bert Frenz.
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From
Mary's Harbour we embark on an truly memorable day trip to Battle Island
via the MV Iceberg Hunter. After a 1-1/4-hr. narrated cruise in
coastal waters, we join in a guided walking tour at Battle Harbour
National Historic District, a picturesque site that preserves the
history of 19th and 20th century Labrador fishery. Interestingly,
Arctic Foxes inhabit the island.