July 7, 2024 – Port au Choix and Pistolet Bay Provincial Park - West Coast of Newfoundland



We left Gros Morne National Park on Sunday morning and drove north along the west coast of the Great Northern Peninsula.  The coast is beautiful and we had some great views along the way.  We stopped at Port au Choix National Historic Site.  For the past 5,500 years this has been a crossroads for various indigenous and European cultures.  We stopped at the Visitor Center where we decided to hike on the Phillips Garden Trail.  Just outside the Visitor Center we saw this caribou in the distance.  This was the first wild caribou we have ever seen so we were really excited.




The Phillips Garden Trail was beautiful and took us to the site of two large settlements, one dating between 500 and 100 BC and the other between AD 100 and 600.  In both cases the well-preserved remains of tools, weapons and discarded food bones have given archaeologists a new appreciation of the material and intellectual cultures of these people.





There were not any visible signs of the settlements, but the scenery and ocean views were great.






More of the beautiful Wild Iris we have found on our hikes in Newfoundland.  We enjoyed our short hike and learning about this historical site, but we need to continue to our next camp site.







We took a short detour through the town of Port au Choix when we took a wrong turn.  It was a very picturesque town, and we were soon on the right road.





We are staying at Pistolet Bay Provincial Park on the northern end of the Great Northern Peninsula.  This is another very nice provincial park.  There are no hookups so we have to conserve our water but there is a small laundry by the washrooms.  This evening was spent doing laundry.






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