We have been operating nature tours to Newfoundland for almost twenty years and our past participants have always enjoyed them immensely. All of our Newfoundland land tours, with Quest naturalist Dave Milsom, are guaranteed Departure and are quickly filling up. If you are planning on enjoying the unique flora and fauna and rich human history of this rugged Atlantic province, we urge you to contact Pamela Berton to reserve your place on one of our June or July tours. You'll discover some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the world.

Itinerary
(Breakfast - B, Lunch - L, Dinner - D)

Day 1
Deer Lake / Gros Morne
Dave, and those participants joining from our “Newfoundland Central” tour, will rendezvous in Deer Lake with the others on this tour. We plan to have dinner together and an orientation meeting at which time Dave will review our plans for the week.

o/n Deer Lake Motel, Deer Lake (D)

Days 2 - 3
Gros Morne
We begin our tour with a drive to Gros Morne National Park. This park is recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage site for its exceptional beauty and unique geological features. Our first stop will be at the new Woody Point Visitor’s Centre, followed by a short hike and a picnic lunch at the base of the Tablelands if the weather permits. Then it’s on to the small community of Rocky Harbour, administrative centre of Gros Morne National Park, and our very comfortable motel on the shore of the bay. We hope to see Bald Eagles and Osprey soaring above us as we travel.

We plan on walking on some of the excellent trails that wind through the park, enjoying the steep valley slopes alive with lichens, mosses and Tuckamore trees. Moose, Woodland Caribou, and the giant Arctic Hare are found in the park, as are over thirty species of orchids. The park is also well known for its boreal birds, with nesting Rough-legged Hawks, White-crowned Sparrows, Common Redpolls, Grey-cheeked Thrush, and Winter Wrens.

We’ll remain in this part of the Great Northern Peninsula for a second day as we explore the tidal flats and marshes of St. Paul’s Bay. A large number and variety of birds and seals are attracted at low tide to feed. We’ll hike along the trail to Western Brook Pond finding several species of orchid en route.

o/n Gros Morne Cabins, Rocky Harbour (B, L, D)


Day 4
Blanc Sablon / Labrador
We’ll drive north to St. Barbe, where we’ll take a ferry across the Strait of Belle Isle to Blanc Sablon located close to the border of Quebec and Labrador. The coast of Labrador, 17.6 km across the Strait, is easily seen on a clear day. During the late spring and early summer, icebergs and floes, spawned from the glaciers in the high Arctic and Greenland, drift southwards along this part of the coast. The ferry trip takes about an hour-and-a-half, and will provide us with some good chances to see pelagic birds including Northern Fulmar, Greater, Sooty and perhaps Manx Shearwaters, as well as several cetacean species. We’ll then drive, with frequent stops at points of interest, to the scenic fishing out port of L’Anse au Clair in Labrador, which was founded by the French in the early 1700s.

o/n Northern Light Inn, L’Anse au Clair (B, L, D)

Day 5
Labrador Coast / Red Bay
We’ll spend the day exploring the bleak and barren coastline of the southern Labrador coast where the rocks are more representative of the Canadian Shield. We’ll be looking for some of the many flowering plants in the area, and also make sure we visit Red Bay, the site of one of the earliest industrial complexes in the New World - a Basque whaling station. The oldest ship found in Canadian waters, a Basque whaling galleon, was discovered here in 1978. This promises to be a delightful day.

o/n Northern Light Inn, L’Anse au Clair (B, L, D)

Day 6
Great Northern Peninsula
We continue our tour of the Viking Trail by returning to Blanc Sablon and the ferry ride back to Newfoundland. We’ll drive north to St. Anthony, the largest town on the Great Northern Peninsula, and the home of the Grenfell Mission, established by the International Grenfell Association to provide medical services to the scattered and isolated population of northern Newfoundland and Labrador. The drive will take us through rugged and scenic wilderness, often with good coastal vistas. We’ll always be on the lookout for anything of interest including icebergs, whales, lighthouses, and many relics of the French occupation.

o/n Viking Nest B&B, L’Anse aux Meadows (B, L, D)

Day 7
L'Anse aux Meadows
Today we’ll explore the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, a region of the island, which boasts some of the most barren yet superb scenery in all of Newfoundland. The highlight is a visit to the National Historic Site where the Vikings established the first European settlement in North America about 1000 years ago. The beautiful interpretive centre is complete with reconstructed Viking sod houses that will let us experience life as it must have been. The harbour often attracts large concentrations of gulls in mid-summer, so we’ll look them over carefully for any possible rarities. We also hope to visit the Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve a unique limestone peninsula, which protects a unique mixture of vegetation not found elsewhere in the province, including many rare and endangered plants called calciphiles. Willow Ptarmigan, along with seals, whales and icebergs are also possible here.

o/n Viking Nest B&B, L’Anse aux Meadows (B, L, D)

Day 8
Port au Choix
We’ll leave the Great Northern Peninsula after breakfast and work our way south towards Deer Lake, looking for moose in the barrens and whales along the shore. We’ll visit a very interesting historical site at Port au Choix where the remains, tools, and weapons of the Marine Archaic People, dating back to around 2400 BC, were discovered in 1967. Nearby, at Phillips Gardens, is another site that records the discovery of the remains of a Dorset Eskimo community. We’ll have our picnic lunch at Pointe Riche, a site unique for its rare fossil and wildflower species, including gentians and orchids.

o/n Deer Lake Motel, Deer Lake (B, L, D)

Day 9
Depart Deer Lake
No tour activities are scheduled for today in order for us to catch our flights home.(B)