Terra Nova and Beyond

From Elliston, we traveled to Terra Nova National Park and chose the Malady Campground for our campsite.  With the approaching Labor Day holiday, we tried to find the most remote camping site available to avoid noise from generators.  Thankfully, the loop we chose had only one other camper on it.

It was late in the afternoon and raining when we arrived, so we took the opportunity to take showers earlier than usual.  It rained off and on during the rest of the evening.

I put Roxanne’s food out for her supper.  Almost immediately, a red squirrel came into camp.  This photo shows him mooching a bit of kibble from Rox’s bowl.  What it doesn’t show is Roxanne who was less than five feet from the little stinker! 

I quickly put the lid on her bowl.  Within seconds, he was back again, ready to begin chewing on the cover!

Later a couple walked past us and offered a warning about the squirrels.  The lady said that they had been “terrorizing” their camp.  Evidently one or more ate a hole in their cooler.  They had returned from a walk to find several marauding their site.  Obviously, these squirrels were quite use to human handouts.  

Rain drove us into the camper early.  We had a short break the following morning and took the opportunity to walk the Malady trail.  We were delighted to see a huge owl fly across our path.  We arrived back at camp just before the rain began again.

We had originally planned to drive along the coast towards Twillingate with its occasional iceberg flows.  Skies continued to darken as we turned north, and the rain began in earnest. 

Traveling along a coastal highway covered in misty fog is little fun, so we determined to try to drive out of the rain by heading east towards Gros Morne National Park.  The rain continued, however.  It became what we call at home a “Texas gulley washer.” 

We were driving below the speed limit to compensate for the water on the road.  Most of the other drivers, however, rode our bumper until they were able to pass, sometimes even passing against the yellow line.  The speed that many of the Newfoundland drivers were going made us extremely nervous.  We decided to stop early, hoping to find an open campground in the Deer Lake community. 

Although it was Friday evening and the beginning of the long holiday weekend, we found a campsite at the Deer Lake Campground.  Because of the torrential rains, many holiday travelers had cancelled.  We set up camp in the rain and huddled inside the camper.

The campground sits right on Deer Lake.  Although it was gated, unfortunately, the campground staff did not control access to the campground.  In spite of the rain, almost all night long, cars drove down to the edge of the lake, just past our campsite. 

The people partied loudly.  They played their radios at full tilt.  They drove up and down in front of our campsite, sometimes spinning tires in the sand or racing each other.  It was unnerving… so much so that I locked the door to the camper for the very first time.  We broke camp early and were ever so grateful to leave this campground.