Monday July 25, 2016 Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne Nat. Park, NL, Canada

A panoramic sunset at Rocky Harbour

Our plan had been to make a leisurely start at about 9 AM.  We only had a little over 200 miles to travel to the next park.  We heard the first engine start at 7 and then others.  Sleep was over.  I got up and brewed the coffee.  The rain had stopped during the evening but the morning was overcast.  We were hooked up and on the road by 8:15.  Only one unit and the tail gunners left the park after us.

We stopped at the first station that we passed and could see from the highway that they had a diesel pump.  I didn't fill the tanks because of the blow by on the sides I had experienced a couple of times.  I have put on a new cap but don't want the mess.  I put in 250 liters of diesel at the equivalent of $4.229 a gallon.  Newfoundland-Labrador have the highest fuel taxes in Canada.

You don't see many traffic jams in NL

We traveled almost the entire distance on Hwy. 430.  There was only one area where we had to stop for construction.  Over all the road isn't too bad, but in several places it needs a lot of work.  We had come this way going north, so we were seeing much of the same scenery only going in the opposite direction.  The sky had cleared and we either had small lakes on both sides or a cobalt blue sea on one side and heath on the other.  There were forested areas but the trees are stunted, probably from lack of topsoil and the cold weather.  It is a beautiful country and we enjoyed the drive. The only animal we saw on the way was a flattened fox.  I am surprised how few cattle and horses we see.  Probably for the same reason we see small trees.


We arrived at the RV park in Rocky Harbour in the early afternoon.  We had eaten lunch on the way.  The section of the park we are assigned to is little more than a flat gravel lot, but it has full hook ups.  We are in a pull through site.  Through at least the evening and morning the power was adequate for Gerri to do wash and have the electric water heater running.  The internet isn't what we would have liked but I was able to catch up on my computer chores.

 We teamed up with Moe and Pat and drove into the small town of Rocky Harbour.  There are a few restaurants and pubs, several B&Bs and Motel/Cabins and one strip mall.  I didn't see a population figure but it is probably several hundreds judging by the number of home scattered around.  We found one fish market.  Lobster went out of season and the mussels won't be in until tomorrow.

After looking around in town we drove to a light house that is part of the Gros Morne National Park that surrounds Rocky Harbour.   The light house is at Lobster Cove Head.  It was different from most in that the tower is cast iron.  We found one cache near the light house and I gathered information for an earthcache.

And this isn't even the Wild Rose Provence

Back downtown we stopped at a pavilion on the beach to look for a cache aptly named the Best Sunset in the West.  The pavilion had a table and some benches and of course faced west towards the ocean and setting sun.  Moe found the cache under the pavilion.  We decided to come back later to watch the sunset.  It isn't often you get to see a sunset over the ocean near the east coast.  Newfoundland is an island and we are looking west toward the mainland and Quebec Provence.


We had supper of left over soup.  After supper at about 10 till 9 we went to watch the sunset.  At the pavilion we could see that the sunset was going to be behind  Lobster Cove Head with a dock and some boats in the foreground.  We decided to go around to the point where the fish market was.  From there the sun would set into the ocean with only ocean and tide pools in the foreground.  Gerri had looked up the time for sunset.  But the sun didn't actually set until about 9:20.  We took a lot of pictures as the sunset.

Back at the RV park we visited for awhile with some others of the group around a portable fire pit.  It was getting chilly and onto 10 so we didn't stay out long.

We read for awhile and called it a night.

Tomorrow we are on our own until the wagon master dinner at 6.