Storm damage

CBC.ca has a photo (photo credit Zachery1) of a house that saw damage from the high winds that whipped through late Saturday/early Sunday.  We saw this same scene when we drove to Woody Point (on Bonne Bay) which isn’t far from Rocky Harbour. 

If the people in this community are anything like those we met in our travels, I’m sure they will all come together to help the family affected by this unfortunate situation.

This is surfin’ weather

Very strong winds last night and heavy rains.  I think the worst of it went through around 2am…at least it seemed like it .  The hotel felt like it was rocking in the wind and I wondered if the glass window would hold up from those wind gusts. But it did and as you can see, we have power.

Online weather reports are definitely not reflecting the current wind conditions we’re seeing here.  It’s crazy windy this morning!!  But just checked airport schedules and flights out of Deer Lake are on time…so far. Great news!

If I were a crazy surfer chick looking for just one more Newfoundland adventure, braving the elements, chasing the perfect wave…this might have been a great way to end a vacation.  But, sitting in my pj’s with a hot cup of coffee , watching the waves crash on the rugged shoreline, while viewing some of the photos taken the past few days with my most awesome adventure partner…well, it doesn’t get much better than that!

Gettin’ a little breezy here

After spending the day driving up the coast (north to Port au Choix and back), we are really noticing the winds starting to pick up here in Rocky Harbour (Gros Morne).  Local weather stations are calling for the winds (thanks to Hurricane Earl) to get quite strong this evening coming up the west coast of Newfoundland.  From what we're hearing, wind gusts could be up to 100km/h.  Thankfully, we're no longer in a tent!

We met a wonderful group of women who were embarking on the Long Range Traverse the same day we started, but after leaving the boat dock at the end of Western Brook Pond, we did not see them again.  Like all of you, we were a little worried about these winds and hoping they were able to complete their hike today as they planned (they had planned 6 days of hiking).  About an hour ago, we decided to drive up to the finish point parking area to see if their car was still there - it was...and so were they.  They had just finished!  Whew!  Perfect timing in more ways than one.  Happy exhausted smiles!  A true sense of accomplishment.  It was a treat to have met them.

So, now to grab some dinner and and then settle in for a front-row (ocean view) seat to the evening's weather here in the harbour.

This was our view last night...

All is good.  We’ll check-in tomorrow.

We made it!

Wow...what an experience.  Will write more about it, but we are just unpacking our bags and 'drying things out'.  Got a little wet out there, but we were fine.  Thankfully, we had the right gear and were prepared for almost anything.  Of course, that meant our packs were a little heavier than we might have wanted, but when we needed it...it was a sigh of relief.

 

Fog held us up yesterday which is why there was one SPOT message that said that we were going to hold tight until things cleared up.  Mark suggested using that as an alternate message for the SPOT (we're allowed two pre-programmed messages)...and I'm glad he did.  At least you knew that if we weren't moving, that it was because of weather.

 

When it seemed like it was going to clear, we packed up quickly and got on our way.  Unfortunately, that was short-lived and we ended up navigating through very thick, heavy fog for the rest of the day.  Not an easy task with a compass and map.  We knew that, worst case...we would just set up a camp wherever we could find a dry patch and wait it out.  But, we made it to our last camp

 

The fog meant our view from atop Gros Morne Mtn wouldn't be good, but we decided to hike up anyway.  We finished today at 3:34pm local time (1-1/2 hrs ahead of EST) and went straight to the Warden's station to check-in.  Someone in the parking lot told us about 'Earl'...so...yes, very happy to hear that we got back before that hit. 

 

Thanks for all the comments!  It was very cool knowing that you were all watching out for us on this trek.  We had a blast!

 

Will download a few photos in the next few days.

 

Shower time!!!

 

 

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