Roaming North America in a 17 foot camper - Newfoundland

Wednesday, July 18th

We left the Gros Morne area and headed to La Manche Provincial Park, which is about 30 miles south of St. John's. It was about an 8 hour drive. We try and not drive that far in a day but Cynthia's cousin was vacationing near there so we decided to skip some places and then just back track later. The next day we went to Cape Spear, which is the easternmost point in North America. You can see on right side of the photo the fog that is starting to roll in.
Cape Spear 01-min.JPG

During WWII there was a bunker built and two ex-US 10 inch guns installed to protect the harbor of St. John's
Cape Spear 02-min.JPG
Cape Spear 03-min.JPG

The weather deteriorated fairly quickly so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. The fog that rolled in prevented me from getting a good shot of the lighthouse that is there.
Cape Spear 04-min.JPG
 
Thursday, July 19th

The weather on the southeastern part of Newfoundland wasn't that great while we were there. There was lots of fog and rain. We met up with Cynthia's cousin and went to Ferryland to try and see if the weather would cooperate so that we could hike out to the lighthouse. The scenery was great.
Cape Spear 05 Ferryland-min.JPG

But as you can see the fog started to roll in again.
Cape Spear 08-min.JPG

Cape Spear 09-min.JPG

We didn't make it all the way to the lighthouse before it started to rain so we turned around and headed back to the car. It was still a very enjoyable walk with some great views of the islands and of Ferryland Harbor.

Cape Spear 10-min.JPG
 

762X39

Explorer
After you got off the asphalt is it necessary to have a 4x4 vehicle for the dirt sections. We are planning on doing this trip next year, we where supposed to do it this year but unfortunately things got in the way. We will be driveing a 1 ton dually 2 wheel drive towing a 24' tow hauler, do you recommend doing this road with this setup? Thx for posting.
I did this trip in a Dodge Caravan in 2017 in a snow storm from Baie Como to Happy Valley Goose Bay. Maybe in a pickup truck you might need 4WD but I found the Caravan to be very sure footed in the gravel from Manic 5 onward.
20170406_073027.jpg20170406_122411.jpg
 

762X39

Explorer
Just before the second Dam (Manik 5, I think), there is a fuel stop, Motel and Restaurant that is only 250km or so from Baie Como. It is worth the stop and they had some great t-shirts.
20170406_081444.jpg
 

Umnak

Adventurer
thanks for the write up and the pictures. Labrador and Newfoundland are magical places and need a lot of time to explore. It's nice to see it from your perspective.
 

Roaddude

Long time off-grid vanlife adventurist
Very cool write-up and reporting on your adventure up there.

I've been pondering doing a similar trip, starting in Maine and going up through NB and NS, then over to Newfoundland/Labrador and back down through Quebec, doing parts of the Trans-Taiga and James Bay Road if I can and time/weather allows. Just putting together thoughts and planning at this point.

I've read reports that you can't take propane on the ferries, or at least those that cross to another province? Was that a problem for you at all, and if so, did you just have to leave tanks behind and get new ones once off the ferry? I usually carry two 20lb tanks for cooking, on-demand water heater, and fire ring.

Enjoyed your report and images and the input of others immensely. Very helpful.
 

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