With the fog beginning to roll in, I am standing at the eastern-most point at Cape Spear Lighthouse. Of course we came here to do a geocache, so off we went down a path and literally under the lighthouse. In the distance, we heard a whale blow three times. Strategically located, it also was a gun emplacement during WW II for the US.
Traveling down the Avalon Peninsula starts to get a little sparse as far as settlements are concerned. Our only opportunity for a campsite was Chance Cove Provincial Park, described as having no campsites, but it's okay to stay in the parking lot. Gettting to it was another deal: 6.0 km toward the coast over a very bumpy gravel road - washboard comes to mind. We thought we might be the only ones here... wrong. Six travel trailers were permanently set up and a couple more arrived after we did. Just over a rocky dune, the sound of large pebbles being swept and tumbled by the waves was as calming as a rocking chair. Numerous trails ran through the pines and across a marsh; some with warnings to stay away from the edges: a fall would mean landing on the rocks below.
Chance? |
6 km of gravel road - adventure...
The next day we stopped at the Interpretative Center for Cape Race and Mistaken Point. They weren't open yet so we drove down 20 kms on yet another gravel road to Cape Race Lighthouse and Marconi Station. This station was the first to hear the Titanic distress signal. It's an incredible site; the rock ledges uplifted out of the depths of the ocean with rock that began in either Europe or Africa a gazillion million years ago when continents were floating around. We found our geocache here and left a little something from Indiana. Back at the Interpretative Center we learned that the guided tours were full for the day so we signed up for the next day. This site is in the process of becoming a World Heritage Site and as a part of that, locals must be involved in the project. So, manning the center are locals who seem so delighted that anyone comes to see the fossils at Mistaken Point. They will tell you that they knew that they were there, but never knew how significant they were. And the experience is one I will never forget. Besides that, they told us to just park across the street for the night.
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