Lee Gilbert escaped a landlocked life in the city to return to his birthplace on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, where he now pursues a quieter pace and his passion for paddling, writing and photography.
THE ROCK. Home to the most easterly shore in North America, isolated from the rest of the continent by frigid seas and a quirky, half-hour-ahead time zone all its own. Newfoundland is a place where one never knows what secrets the next cove holds, and a bastion for the childlike wonder those discoveries instill.
The waters around the Avalon are nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the same latitudes in the Pacific. The culprit is the Labrador Current, described by Newfoundland artist Christopher Pratt as “a relentless flood of molten ice, the bloodstream of our near sub-Arctic climate.” I’ve learned to embrace the unsettled weather. Briny bays where the sea has humbled me with four-meter waves and howling gales; tranquil open ocean and brilliant sunshine; the quiet of solo paddling in a thick fog.
I’ve come to expect the sublime: close encounters with icebergs and whales, hidden caves tucked behind waterfalls, bedding down in the same forgotten coves as two-millennia-old Paleo-Eskimo peoples. Between the quaint coastal villages lie some of the last vestiges of true freedom in a prodigiously encroaching civilized world.
TRIPS
If you have a half-day enjoy the sea stacks, arches and pristine pebble beaches of sheltered Aquaforte Harbour, paddling east from the community wharf in Aquaforte to where Spout River Falls tumbles into the ocean.
If you have a day and the forecast is calm, launch from Winterton and head 10 kilometers north to Hant’s Harbour along the uninhabited outer coast of Trinity Bay, gaping up at 460-foot cliffs.
If you have a weekend tour historic Conception Bay from the shipwrecks of Avondale to the archaeology site at Cupids. En route, explore towering lighthouses, dramatic headlands, quiet coves and a 19th-century copper mine.
If you have a week paddle from Hopeall to Sunnyside in Trinity Bay. Untouched coastline and wild beauty mingle with resettled towns and colorful fishing communities with equally colorful names, like Dildo and Spread Eagle.
STATS
POPULATION DENSITY
17 per square mile (outside St. John’s)
AVERAGE SUMMER HIGH
66°F (August)
WILDLIFE
Whale, porpoise, sea otter, seal, moose, caribou, fox, coyote, bald eagle, puffin and other seabirds.
CAMPSITES
Cobblestone, grass meadow, free-camping on any flat spot along the shore.
EXPOSURE
Easterlies draw 2,000 miles of fetch from Ireland. Also watch for gusting offshore katabatic winds.
DIVERSION
Build a traditional Newfoundland punt or dory at Winterton’s Wooden Boat Museum.
BEST EATS
Mussels, uni, sea trout, seasonal codfish caught at camp.
OUTFITTERS
The Outfitters—rentals and sales in St. John’s; day trips, multi-day tours, instruction in Bay Bulls; www.theoutfitters.nf.ca.
MUST-HAVE
Drysuit and good judgment
This article first appeared in the Summer 2014 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.
