An car cruising the Viking Trail is really a time machine that transports its passengers to the beginnings of our planet, to ancient native burial grounds, 16th century Basque whalers, and the thousand year old Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site.
This tour can take from two to ten days depending on the time you have available. Travel through wooded valleys, over mountains, along a windswept coast, and ferry over to Labrador. Take your time, for time will tug you gently along the Trail, urging side trips to fjords and falls, sand dunes and fields of wildflowers.
The Viking Trail begins at the intersection of Route 1 and Route 430 near
Deer Lake. A short drive brings you to Wiltondale Pioneer Village, a
reconstruction of an early 20th century community that preserves the
flavour and the spirit of the first settlers of the area. The site
includes a house, a barn, a small school, a general store and a church.
There is also a craft shop and a tea room. The village is just outside
the southern boundary of Gros Morne National Park.
Perhaps the best way to put Gros Morne national Park into perspective is
to say that it is a World Heritage Site. That designation puts it on a
par with such natural wonders of the world as Australia's Great Barrier
Reef. With its fjords, mountains and spectacular ocean scenery, Gros
Morne offers unexcelled opportunities for outdoor activities and
sightseeing. Proceed along Route 430 through Wiltondale where both forks
of the road lead to the park. To the left, Route 431 takes you to Trout
River and the Tablelands, while Route 430 continues into the northern
section of the park.
On Route 431, Lomond River is one of five campgrounds in the park. It is situated in the East Arm of Bonne Bay. Anglers will find Atlantic salmon in this scheduled river and large schools of mackerel in the bay itself. There may also be a chance for you to jig a cod or two.
The next community along the road is Glenburnie, named after the Scot who first settled here. Continue on to the coastal settlement of Trout River. The magnificent views on this part of the coast and the startling geology of the nearby Tablelands make this a must-see part of the park. Trails explore the lunar-like landscape of the Tablelands and the ancient volcanic formations along the Green Gradens coast. Trout River Pond is nestled in a valley of stark contrasts. The internationally known geological features make exploration of this unique area a highlight of any vacation. For extra adventure and insight, there is a two hour (wheelchair accessible) boat tour on Trout River Pond and a hiking trail, both of which leave from the day use area. Trout River campground is available for those who wish to extend their stay.
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| Hiking Trail | Tablelands | Green Gardens |
| Photos from Brian Bursey's Exploring Newfoundland | ||
Plan some time for exploring Woody Point which once was the economic
capital of western Newfoundland. Now it is the picturesque home of
artists and photographers and you too can discover their wealth of
wonderful subject matter in this fishing village.
Make your way back to Route 430 and head north for Norris Point and Neddy Harbour, which are both named after Neddy Norris, one of the earliest pioneers of this region. Just ahead is South East Hill, one of the highest points of road elevation in Newfoundland, From the picnic spot at the crest of the hill you can see the forested rolling hills of the East Lomond Valley and the Long Range Mountains. As you descend the hill and continue along the bay, you will be following the same route as glaciers did thousands of years ago. Evidence of their presence is clearly visible.
Tourist information on the park's exciting natural and human history is available at the Visitor Centre just before you get to Rocky Harbour. Be sure to view the slide show for some great spots to visit, and ask about the excellent home cooked meals available in Rocky harbour as well as boat tours that are offered throughout the area. Near Rocky Harbour you will find the Gros Morne indoor swimming pool, which is open in the summer as is the adjacent 25-person hot tub.
A few kilometres away are the main campgrounds of Berry Hill near Gros Morne Mountain. There are 156 sites with toilet and shower facilities, and a playground for the children. Berry Hill is close to several of the park's hiking trails including the James Callaghan Trail that will take you to the peak of Gros Morne Mountain.
A challenging day's hike along this trail will reward the vigorous with an unsurpassed panorama of the entire park and surrounding coastal communities. Pack a lunch, water and warm clothes for the day and plan plenty of time to linger along the trail and the summit. Remember to take a camera. Because of the melting snow the trail is usually not open til the end of June.
If the climb up Gros Morne is a little too strenuous, you can walk one of the shorter trails in the area such as Berry Head Pond, Bakers' Brook Pond or Lobster Cove Head where there is a lighthouse that houses a display about the area's history and the lighthouse keeper's residence. During the summer, the cove below the lighthouse becomes a stage once a week for an evening campfire.
Route 430 will take you to the park's northern regions, along the elevated western coastal plain to the campgrounds at Green Point, a few kilometres south of the community of Sally's Cove. Nearby is one of the park's most breathtaking sights, the amazing Western Brook Gorge and steep sided Western Brook Pond.
Just off Route 430, a hiking trail will take you across the bogs and ridges of the coastal plain. It is an easy hike along a well groomed trail with boardwalk extensively used to traverse wet areas. At the end of the walk, a two hour boat tour will take you to the end of Western Brook Pond where the deep ravine-like sides rise to a spectacular plateau above this natural inland fjord. Here you will find scenic wilderness attractions rivalling those of Norway.
Just north of where Western Brook meets the sea is Broom Point. This was a summer fishing residence for many years, and today you can still meet the fishermen who work in the restored cabin and fish store.
Not far away is St. Paul's Inlet where harbour seals are a common sight sunning themselves along the rocky shore. this area, accessible only by boat, is also one of the best birding areas on the West Coast.
Continuing on Route 430, be sure to visit the Tete de Vache Museum at Cow Head. It is said that Jacques Cartier, the French explorer and navigator, anchored at nearby Cow Cove in 1534. Today's travellers can re-discover the scenic reaches of this part of the coastline. At Shallow Bay you can roam the sands in search of a prized piece of gnarled driftwood, just one of the treasures from the sea that wash up along this coast. Just behind the dunes you can explore the Old Mail Road Trail.
Campground facilities are located at Shallow Bay and you will find huge sand dunes covering the evergreen trees there. Between Shallow Bay and Port aux Choix, large fishing boats reap the bountiful harvest of shrimp in the cool waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
 Walrus Lithograph, 22"x30", 1989 |
| By: William Ritchie |
The next stretch of coast includes the Portland Creek River, a fishing area made famous by the late Lee Wulff, one of the foremost anglers of his day. This part of the road will take you through Portland Creek, Daniel's harbour, Bellburns, River of Ponds, Hawke's Bay and Port Saunders to the aboriginal burial site at Port aux Choix National Historic Site.
Workers found the site by accident in 1967 while they were excavating a basement for a theatre. They found a mass of bones tools and weapons. The following years archaeologists discovered three ancient cemeteries and scores of skeletons.
By studying the artifacts and human remains, they have been able to determine the Maritime Archaic People, a group of hunters and gatherers who lived along the eastern seaboard from Maine to Labrador, occupied the site 3,200 to 3,700 years ago.
At another site near Port aux Choix, Phillips Gardens, remains of a Dorset Eskimo community have been discovered. These very distinctive people moved into the region after the disappearance of the Maritime Archaic People and they learned to exploit the food rich marine environment. An interpretation centre located at Port aux Choix will tell you more of this fascinating story.
North again through such communities as Barr'd harbour and Blue Cove brings you to St. Barbe, where you can catch a ferry to Labrador.
On a clear day you can see 17.6 km across the Strait of Belle Isle, a
channel that funnels the icy Labrador current into the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. Southern Labrador has been the traditional home os the summer
fishermen who first travelled to the lucrative fishing grounds of
Newfoundland centuries ago. Today this coast is inhabited by the
descendants of those fishermen.
During the late spring and early summer icebergs and ice floes drift southward on the current to melt in the warmer waters of the gulf. These mountains of floating ice originate in the high Arctic and Greenland and offer some spectacular photo opportunities as they drift down the coast.
The ferry from St. Barbe lands at Blanc Sablon, Quebec. ferries that
serve the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec also stop here.
Take Route 510 along the 80 km stretch of paved roads that connect the
communities along the coast. The next community, L'Anse-au-Clair, was
founded by the French in the early 1700s. Its name means "Clear Water
Cove" and you will find lots of fresh, clear, cold waterways along the
way. While you are in this small outport, you can check out the local
craft store and take a walk along "Doctor's Path", where long ago Dr.
Marcoux would search for herbs and medicinal plants to treat his patients
in the area.
Along the Forteau and Pinware Rivers during the months of July and August, trout and salmon anglers should be prepared to challenge their skills on the pools, rattles, steadies and falls. Trout fishermen venturing on the far reaches of the Forteau River, and indeed any of the excellent angling areas in Labrador, should bring a reliable insect repellant. A small provincial park at Pinware River is an ideal base for exploring the entire area. At nearby L'Anse-Amour, a site of national Historic Significance, archaeologists have uncovered an unusual maritime Archaic Indian burial site 7,500 years old. It is the oldest known aboriginal burial mound in North America.
Aboriginal people lived here as early as 9000 years ago when it was on
the edge of the retreating glaciers. A series of small campsites and
burial grounds are all that remains of these early relatives of
Paleo-Indian caribou hunters of eastern North America. These early
inhabitants of Southern Labrador later became fishermen and whale hunters
in the Strait of Belle Isle. The numerous kinds of fish and seabirds
along the coast also supported later bands of Eskimos and even
Newfoundland's Beothuk Indians who made their home here.
Just outside L'Anse Amour you will find the Point Amour lighthouse.
Later European peoples also came for the riches that could be found in
the sea. L'Anse-au Loup, Capstan Island and West St. Modeste are outports
whose ancestors first came here as "livyers" (I live here) from the
island of Newfoundland to permanently settle in what were first only
temporary summer fishing stations along the coast.
During the month of August, Forteau is the home of the annual southern Labrador "Bakeapple Festival." The event is named after the golden coloured berries, also known as cloudberries, that grow in abundance in this region. The three day festival has lots of berry picking, baking contests, traditional music, dance, song and storytelling. The distinctive crafts range from caribou skin mittens and rug work to tapestries, carvings and colourful embroidered clothing.
At the end of the route is Red Bay, the site of one of the earliest industrial complexes in the New World. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 16th century Basque whaling station and several shipwrecks from the same period, including the 300 tonne galleon San Juan which sank with a full cargo of whale oil in 1565. the Basque operation at Red Bay employed several hundred people each summer.
Archaeologists have uncovered an astounding number of tools and personal effects that confirm European habitation of this coast during the 16th and 17th centuries. They have also discovered an 18th century fur trading post nearby. Many of the artifacts are displayed in the Interpretation Centre.
Turning north from St. Barbe you are headed for L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, where the Vikings established the first European settlement in North America about 1,000 years ago. Bjarni Herjolfsson was blown off course on a voyage to Greenland from Iceland in 986 and reported seeing three new lands, believed to be Newfoundland, southern Labrador and northern Labrador. They were the first Europeans to see North America.
L'Anse aux Meadows is believed to be where Leif Eiriksson founded a colony around 1000 A.D. Eiriksson had grown up hearing Herjolfsson's story and decided to see for himself. With his thirty-five men they found their way to "Vinland" and stayed for a year before returning to Greenland. His brother Thorvald also came to the New World and settled in Lief's house but was killed by the natives.
Thorfinn Karlsefni led a later expedition and during the colonization the first European-North American was born, Snorri.
A Norwegian team in 1960, led by Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad discovered the site while searching for Vinland, the first Viking settlement in North America. Helge met a local fisherman, George Decker, who showed him what locals thought was an aboriginal camp. Excavation of the site later discovered the Viking settlement. During the 1920s, Newfoundland author W.A.Munn in his book "the Wineland Voyages" first suggested the L'Anse aux Meadows area might be the site of the Norse Saga's Vinland.
L'Anse aux Meadows was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. A recreation of sod houses lets the visitor experience life as it must have been, and an Interpretation Centre tells the story of the adventurers who came here years ago.
![[St. Anthony: Archive Photograph]](/archives/stanthony/va-14-230.jpg)
St. Anthony, is the largest town on the Northern Peninsula. This is the
home of the Grenfell Mission established by the International Grenfell
Association to provide medical services to the scattered and isolated
population on the coast of Labrador. This Mission was founded by Dr.
Wilfred Grenfell, who first served on the Labrador coast in 1892 and spent
the rest of his life raising funds for hospitals, nursing stations and
children's homes. Grenfell Handicrafts provide training and a marketing
service for beautiful, hand-embroidered parkas and other unique products
that can be purchased. A visit to this craft centre is a must for anybody
visiting St. Anthony.
On the return trip , branch off Route 430 onto Route 436 and then along an unpaved stretch of road to Pistolet Bay Provincial Park at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula. The nearby lakes and pons over great canoeing and the park has hot showers and laundry facilities at the comfort station.
On Route 430, you head west across the top of the peninsula to visit the Watt's Point Ecological Reserve. Rare and endangered plants like calciphiles and other unique vegetation that you won't find anywhere else on the island.
Deadmans Cove is a little further on, and is one of the many Newfoundland outports where people have learned to overcome the many obstacles to make a living from the sea. The crush of spring ice would destroy their wharves, so the livyers devised an innovative system to dismantle the wharves each fall and rebuild them the following year after the ice had gone.
![[Image of Artwork]](icey.jpg) Iceberg Oil on Canvas, 1992 |
| By: Sidney Butt |
The next community, Anchor Point, is the oldest English settlement on the French shore, dating from 1750. Its cemetery is therefore the oldest too. The local merchant family, the Genges, spent more than a century fending off French attempts to oust them from the area until the French fishing rights ended in 1904. Try some of the local shellfish delicacies while you watch the icebergs sail by.
![[Englee: Archive Photograph]](/archives/englee/va-14-138a.jpg)
Near Plum Point, partially paved Route 432 branches off to bring you to
the east side of the peninsula and the small communities of Roddickton,
Conche, and Englee surrounded by incredible wilderness. The river
systems and large ponds are great places to canoe and there are many very
isolated areas that you will be truly away from it all. You can fish for
feisty Atlantic salmon in the scheduled rivers and tackle record-sized
fish in any numbers of great trout pools.
These roads will take you across country and through an other-world landscape of glacial boulders,rocky bays and eerily flat sea-level terrain. There are extraordinary limestone barrens and caves and quarries at Roddickton.
Back on Route 430, you'll visit communities that were once part of the French Shore. In Plum Point, Darby's Island and Brig Bay you will find many relics of the French occupation. Old buildings, grave sites, tombstones and traditions are all that remain of the former French culture. A little further on is the Three Nile Lake Provincial Park where you can rest and have a picnic before you reach Bartletts harbour.
Another reminder form the days gone by are the place names that you will find. Castors River, from the French word for beaver, is just one that has survived. Anglers will enjoy the salmon fishing in this area.
South of Port aux Choix are Port Saunders and Hawke's Bay. This area is attractive to sportsmen with many lakes and two salmon rivers= East River and Torrent River. At Hawke's Bay the Information Centre offers guided walks across three kilometres of boardwalk known as the Hogan Trail. This takes to a salmon ladder on the Torrent River, when the salmon are migrating you can see them jumping up the ladder to the area where they will spawn.
Further south is the River of Ponds Provincial Park, located on a scheduled salmon river. It is ideal place for a meal or an overnight stay. River of Ponds has a number of upstream pools carrying trout up to 3.3 pounds.
As you continue south you will be back in Gros Morne National Park. The Visitor Centre has displays, movies and videos on the park. During the summer park attendants will offer suggestions and provide answers about Gros Morne.
Just south of the national park is a provincial park called Sir Richard Squires Memorial where you can see salmon attempting again and again to jump the falls to reach their spawning grounds.
Cormack is named after the Newfoundland explorer and was settled by World War II veterans with previous farming experience and were willing to relocate. They were given 20 hectares of land a six room bungalow and money to get started. Today their children are growing the sweetest vegetables and strawberries anywhere.
To Scenic Tours: Western Region
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