Oh Canada! June 4th - Churchill Falls to Happy Valley - Goose Bay

Day 7 – Monday, June 4th  

After a night listening to the Jolly Fisherman, we fared better with our fellow travelers at breakfast the next morning.  Two men and a woman were having coffee when we walked in, and we had a nice chat with them.  They were surprised to see me wearing shorts and flip flops when they were dressed in high tech warm gear from head to toe.  But they were on BMW motorcycles, and I told them we had the luxury of being comfortably ensconced in our Highlander – climate controlled.

Though the weather at that time was pretty balmy, honestly – which was surprising for being smack dab in the middle of Labrador in early June.

We found out they were taking basically the same route we were.  The two men are pilots of private jets.  The woman, and wife of one of the men, is a writer and editor.  From the small world department, they had recently been in Manassas, which we learned when we told them we lived in northern Virginia.

THEY had seen moose and bear on the same road we were both traveling the day before.  We saw – a loon.  One bear they saw was the biggest they had ever seen – as big as Rhode Island is how one of them described him.  Maybe this will be our day to see some bigger wildlife.

Along the road I snapped this picture of a bridge railing.  We saw this message a few times across Labrador, and it let us know there was contention about who the rightful owners of the land are, and what the land use should  be.

We came closer to large wildlife along this stretch of road than we had thus far encountered – bear poop.  John was pretty sure it was bear poop by the presence of long hairs sticking out of it, which meant it was fairly certain to have come from a large predator.  Maybe we’ll see the real thing before the day is over….

See the long black hairs sticking up at the top of the, ahem, chunk?  And no, John wasn't really touching it.  

We did see three osprey nests.  They were all built on the tops of power lines.  Some fellows we met in Cartwright a couple of nights later, who work for the power company, Hydro (owned by Nalcor who owns Churchill Falls), told us they are required by law to relocate any raptor nests found on their poles.  And we were told, they have a pretty high success rate moving the nests without the adults abandoning it.  How about that?

Above and below are two of the three nests we saw today.

All in all it was another good – albeit dusty - day driving from Churchill Falls to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.  We continued to marvel at the magnitude of the landscape and the beauty of the myriad lakes, rivers and streams.  There was still snow in the shaded areas.

Here are some examples of what we saw on the road we traveled today.

Just one of the many rushing Salmon Rivers we crossed

If anyone can read this, I'd love to know what it says.

Above and below, this river was more roaring than rushing.  I wish you could have heard it.  Wonderful!

Just another beautiful unnamed Labrador lake.

Much of the road cuts showed this reddish rock.  Iron stained?  Not sure, but it was awfully pretty.

And the rivers just keep getting better and better.  This picture and the one below show the river as seen from each side of the bridge.

Again, you don't get the whole feel of the river unless you hear the sound the water makes rushing over the rocky bed.

So this cracked me up.  Warnings so dire they put it in four languages.  What do they want us to do if we encounter one?  Duck?

Nearing the end of our road for today.

Our hotel in Goose Bay was the Royal Inn and Suites and was quite nice.  The hotel had a washer and dryer available and we did a couple of loads after having been on the road for a week now.

We heard the most beautiful bird song outside the room!  Wish now that we had taken a camera recording of it so we could try to ID it when we got home.  Alas.

There aren’t many eateries in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, but after driving the strip a few times, we managed to find a place that was adequate, if not great. 

And so to bed.  Tomorrow – Cartwright – where we will stay for two nights and have a welcome day off the road.