June 6 – Trout River, Newfoundland

Ulrike Rodrigues, Team Voyageurs

A Magical Boat Trip Back In Time

Aboard the Lady Catherine II

Imagine you’ve boarded a boat that will take you under the sea, backwards in time, and into a magic land of elephant heads, moose woods, towering waterfalls and teachers who bake chocolate chip cookies.

Impossible? Not if you’ve joined Team Voyageurs and the teachers of Jakeman All Grade School aboard the Lady Catherine II captained by “Skipper” George Brake and ready to roll on a two-and-a-half hour journey across Trout River Pond!

Resting in a deep glaciated valley between the yellow-brown Tablelands (see yesterday’s update) and the 500′ cliffs of the Gregory Plateau, this inland fjord is fairly narrow but 15km long! Perhaps because of the golden colour of the peridotite Tablelands rock, the water is clean but brown like tea.

FACT SCRAP: A true fjord is a finger of water surrounded by steep cliff mountains and open to the sea. An inland fjord’s mouth has been closed in by sediment over time and the saltwater replaced by a freshwater source.

As the boat carefully manoeuvred through a shallow sand narrow, the teachers were laughing and snapping photos like a bunch of kids. (Teacher Tina pulled out a bin of cookies and – still feeling weak after my cold – I felt instantly better.)

Many of them had lived in Trout River for a long time, but they’d never had the opportunity to see for themselves the astounding contrast between the two sides of a valley which geologists, geomorphologists, students and tourists travel from across the world to see.

Geologists study soil but geomorphologists study plate tectonics; the theory that continents drift on the surface of the earth, banging into each other, breaking apart and occasionally pushing layers of oceanic soil up to the surface. Millions of years ago, natural forces pushed the red soil of the Tablelands upward past the surface of the sea.

By examining the rock, you are literally holding something that existed “a long, long time ago in a place far, far away…” (Star Wars fans, take note!) Newfoundland is the only place on earth where you can see this, which is why, as Jug said, it is a World Heritage Site.

So: you’re standing at the front of the boat with Rob, some fun teachers, and the jig music of Charlie Payne on the P.A. You know all about the golden rock on the left, but what about the towering, forested cliffs on the right? Captain Brake slows the boat and points out the shape of an elephant’s head on the basalt rock face (which also used to be under the earth’s surface, but does contain enough minerals to support plant life), then eagle-eyed Heidi spots the silhouette of a moose on the ridge.

Another moose crashes through a thicket not far away, and a cascade called “Mare’s Piss Falls” (seriously) splashes the front of the Lady Catherine. The imposing face of the cliffs becomes fortress-like and we’re told that the rock rises 500′ above the surface of the water and 100′ below it…a height taller than Toronto’s CN Tower.

Toward the end, I was so impressed by the tour that I climbed up to the Captain’s lookout and ended up narrating the info commentary over the boat P.A. myself! Docking at the pier, we thanked the Captain for the wonderful tour and piled into cars to make a return visit to Trout River’s Lion’s hall for a “Surf ‘n Turf” (lobster and steak) dinner.

While Principal/Mayor Pye grilled steaks, I joined students Richard and Hiesha for a quick climb up to Old Man Rock. The view of the village from this vantage point was like a postcard, and my guides offered lots of local tidbits about: dories (small handmade boats), wild strawberries, yellow hammers (a type of bird), and how you can break a toe if you jump off the bridge when it’s low tide.

Back at the Lion’s Hall, the Lionesses once again out did themselves by satiating Team Two’s incurable love of pie with FOUR homemade, lemon meringue pies (one for each team member – beat that Team One!) I’ll admit it: we stumbled away with big guts and bigger grins, and if the community heard groans from the departing motorhome, rest assured they were groans of pleasure.

SPECIAL THANKS to Captains George Brake and Alex Crocker and everyone who contributed to a fantastic two and a half hours on the Lady Catherine II. In addition, thanks for those healing cookies, Tina!

A GRATEFUL THANKS to Ivy Crocker who offered up the about-to-be-opened and beautifully restored heritage Blanchard House Bed and Breakfast in Woody Point so each member of Team 2 could sleep in their own bedrooms, with their own bathrooms, for two whole nights. For more information about these family-run services visit the Trout River community website.