Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Eastport, Newfoundland (Terra Nova National Park)

I thought about staying at one of the campgrounds in Terra Nova National park July 21 - 25, but decided to stay at the Shriners RV park in Eastport instead.  I did check out the Malady Head Campground in Terra Nova and I liked it.  Some of the sites have electricity and many sites would work well for my RV. 

My first stop while in Eastport was not to the national park, but rather the fishing village of Salvage.  I had been told by several people that this was a very neat town and they were not wrong.  They have some hiking trails, but due to weather and time in the area I did not do any of them.

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Above are fishing traps of all types, I should have asked one of the locals what each are for. 

My favorite trail in Terra Nova National Park was Ochre Hill.  I liked it because it had a mixture of environments, part marsh, part woods, some flat, some hills.  I only made it about halfway up to the lookout as it started to rain. 

As soon as I saw the plant below I knew it was some type of laurel.  I later learned it is Marsh Laurel (or Bog Laurel).   

nl_eastport_ochre_hill_marsh_laurelMore Pitcher Plants, sorry I really like this plant so you readers have seen it several times in my blogs.nl_eastport_ochre_hill_pitcher1nl_eastport_ochre_hill_pitcher2nl_eastport_ochre_hill_pitcher4Sundrops (or dewdrops??) another Carnivorous plant.  The second picture is a close-up with a bug that is caught.  These are maybe 2 inches tall, I later saw some that looked the same, but were 1 - 1/2 inch tall (due to very bad soil in Tablelands, Gros Morne).nl_eastport_ochre_hill_sundew1nl_eastport_ochre_hill_sundew2Unknown flower, but interesting --nl_eastport_ochre_hill_unknownflower

I also walked the Sandy Pond Trail and the Coastal Trail.  The Coastal Trail is the most popular trail in the park.  I am guessing because it’s trailhead is in the visitor center parking lot!

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I finally spotted a couple of Gray Jay.  I had been looking for one these last couple of months as it is one of the few Jays that are in the Sibley North America book that I have not seen.  I still need to see a Brown Jay (very rare as there are only a few pairs nesting in the US along the Rio Grande) and the Island scrub Jay (found on Santa Cruz island off southern California)nl_eastport_ochre_hill_grayjay

After Eastport, I changed my original plans of continuing west and headed back to an area I had visited previously. 

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