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Once again the leaves have changed color, the wind is blowing them off in a hurry… fall is well on its way now and winter is lurking once again. BUT if you are a camper, don’t despair, after all there is nothing better than camping in a Helsport Dome, Pasvick, Varanger or Finnmark tent, all of which can accommodate a wood stove. These lavuu tents will keep you all cozy and warm! Be it fall or winter these tents are so easy to set up, add a stove setup and there is no need to feel cold or miserable camping in the winter.
Winter/Fall Camping
The Gstove is fantastic for this application, allowing one to cook all your meals with ease. Now with the oven and additional pipe cooking space, there is no shortage of cooking space! Make a lasagna, apple pie or quiche, these are all doable on the Gstove, no need to be a culinary expert! Add a couple reindeer skins for insulation under your sleeping bag and you are all set for a wonderful fall/winter camping experience!
Far too few people balk at the idea of winter camping for fear of the cold but really if you have the right gear it is an incredible experience. Try it this winter you may soon become addicted to the beauty and ease of winter camping!
5am we were woken up by construction however it was not raining so finally a dry pack up or relatively anyway!
Our last coffee…the snow peak percolator kept us happy throughout our trip!
We said our goodbyes to our wonderful friends and travel buds! Sandy and Barb you guys are awesome, this trip would not have been the same without you both, thank you for sharing in this great experience with us, a great friendship set in stone 😊
We drove about 4 plus hours to Grand Pre to pick up our four legged friends we had missed them so much, another 1.5 hrs to get home! No puke from either pup, so that was appreciated 😂
Herewith the stats of how well our rigs did! Ford F-150’s rocked on this adventure thank you Ford!
Peter and Trish’s rig
Sandy and Barb’s rig
Trailers took a beating the scout came out on top, our silver trailer did really well too but a few improvements are needed as well as a new safety sticker which was shredded by the gravel roads!
Nor’easter Expedition 2018 – the trans Labrador highway was an experience that we will always treasure! A vast gorgeous land, go before it becomes too tamed by mankind!!
Now the unpacking starts and after 800+kms on unbelievably rough dusty roads we need a serious clean out. There is dust in every nook and cranny, carnage to be repaired and gear to be aired out and sorted!
We will be planning another trip for next year… stay tuned
Thank you to all of you who followed along on our adventure!
We once again hosed down our vehicles and trailers that were coated in mud and grime! What a mess!
The Ferry from Baie Comeau to Matane finally left , better late than never! Our French travelling buddies just made it onto the ferry in time. These guys have pretty much been doing the same route day by day as we have been!
These boots were made for walking.. but time for a siesta!Sailor pals
French couple that seemed to be travelling the same route as us day by day!
From Matane we headed out towards New Brunswick. Beautiful forests, rivers and hills, fall is on the way, colours are starting to show on some trees. The rain refusing to release its grip on us!
Till next time Quebec hello New Brunswick…
Stopped in at Charlo for a bite to eat, got a cool tip from @fitz_55 who saw our rigs parked outside restaurant to go to the lookout spot downtown Charlo, so off we went! Thanks for the tip @fitz_55!
Wind was whipping but the rain had stopped for now although they grey clouds were still leering at us in disdain! Our trailer connection took a beating on the trans Labrador highway there must be a short in the connection, the truck keeps bleeping signals that the trailer is disconnected… but onward we push on to Kouchibouguac missing the isolation and vastness of Labrador. New Brunswick is beautiful but there is just something really special about Labrador.
Arriving at Kouchibouguac late afternoon to a wet start again, the name of the game is rain!
Setup camp, threw on some supper and made a fire, seaweed gin and tonic on the evening menu, we were ready for some serious R&R it had been an arduous day, rain continued to come down but we stood around the fire pit in our rain jackets steadfast and resilient enjoying our evening … the rain persisted the fire tried to burn, a skunk invaded our campsite and was way to friendly with our garbage.. the boys tried to refill little propane tanks I swear they are both bonkers! We eventually had had enough bedtime it was!
We left Happy Valley Goose Bay after stocking up on fresh groceries and gas to look for a spot to camp for the night, we drove for quite sometime trying to find a somewhere, checked the Ioverlander app and drove to a potential spot. As we arrived there we came across a pow wow with many glares and stares in be-wonderment at what on earth we were doing there, so we hastily made a quick retreat!
It was starting to get late and we finally found a gravel pit to call home for the night!
The evening was beautiful our best yet I think the stars bright in a very dark sky!
The next morning, we woke up to ice on our rtt cover and yes you got it, it started to rain just as we started to pack up, another wet start to the day.
We headed out towards Churchill Falls another long drive with more vast untouched scenery however still no moose or caribou! Chatting, snacking, clicking shots, cut off from society was the order of the day, my new favourite snack ‘blue monkey coconut chips’
Arrived in Churchill Falls filled up with gas and had lunch at a community building which housed hotel school, gift shop, grocery store and a diner! In Churchill Falls you can only live there if you work there,so as soon as you retire you have to leave, one couple just retiring had lived there for 41 years and now have to move out of Churchill falls , pretty sad really to have to leave their home and friend after spending a good part of their lives there. Interesting place!
We were not able to see the power plant as we were there on a Sunday and everything was closed! After filling our bellies with bacon and eggs for lunch we left for Labrador City, we drove for a few hours again the scenery still amazing me and so indescribable.
Reaching Labrador city we tried to find Campground for the night to shower and do laundry but to no avail! So we went to the local community centre to shower! Yay clean hair!
Labrador city is a big mining town so very industrial with trains running round the clock, we decided to press on to find a camping spot.
We drove for sometime looking for a suitable area, left the province of Labrador and entered into Quebec, once more landing at a gravel pit for the night, unfortunately not much in the way of options!j
The air was cold it was about 5 degrees but wind chilll must have been about 2 degrees so we setup quickly made our dinner and sat around the fire pit trying to warm up with a bit of fireball, but the evening kept getting cooler so we headed to bed! The night was horrendous howling wind snow and rain pelting our tents, the trailer dancing to the gusts of wind, little to no sleep!
The morning couldn’t have come sooner and coffee was a godsend! Packed up in flurries and turned our noses towards the impact crater. Dust turned to mud and more mud! Trees and shrubbery dusted in snow. Absolutely beautiful but cold. We traveled on, the trees now bowed their heads to the first snowfall, the snow persisted as did the mud, the road snaked up around the hills as we headed higher, visibility decreased , the grey clouds hung low over the hills. finally we hit a paved but snowy road with a resounding ‘yahoo’ from Peter!. Perhaps we have lost all our faculties to be camping in this weather! Temperature 0 windchill much less 😊
Back on the dirt, mud is the name of the game! Stopped at the only gas stop we had seen since leaving Labrador city, note to anyone travelling through here fill up in Labrador city, at a $1.779 a litre a little pricey to say the least note the date 😊 a little update might be in order!
The impact Crater “An asteroid that hit the Earth 214 million years ago created the immense crater that is now Manicouagan reservoir.”
This crater it is so large it took us at least an hour and half to drive past it and no signs of info so perhaps it is too remote for any interest for tourists. Also looks as though they are desecrating the land for power lines soon all this untouched land will be carved by man
Trees, mountains, rain dirt and mud one stray little mouse hopping over the road other than that devoid of any seen life.
Manic 5 incredible dam!
Herewith a few dam facts for you 🤣
1.Daniel-Johnson dam, the highest multiple-arch-and-buttress dam in the world.
2.If you took all the concrete used to build Daniel-Johnson dam, you could make a sidewalk from the North Pole to the South.
As the wipers continued to work overtime and the clouds reached down to touch the pavement we pushed on through to Baie Comeau, the kilometres trickled by and it was very late when we arrived, with no signs for a dry evening, a soaking rain persisted and the thought of setting up a tent in the rain left us feeling uninspired.
We had been driving since 9 am and felt pretty travel weary, so decided to grab a motel in Baie Comeau for the night, have a decent shower, catch up on work emails since we hadn’t had service for ages, book the ferry and sort out our gear!
Ah a night without wind and rain beating relentlessly on the fly suddenly sounded awfully appealing… we are back in civilization, way too many people 😊
Wind wind wind and more wind… this is the story of another windy day 🤣
Ferry crossing windy, bumpy and bashing noises that sounded as though were we hitting rocks haha but we ended up arriving safely and everyone kept their lunch down!
Labrador – yes, windy…
The drive was rainy and overcast and of course windy but absolutely stunning scenery!
So many lakes, rivers, hills and endless wilderness, a sight to behold!
First night in Labrador we found a gravel pit of sorts to camp at. Somewhere between St Lewis and Mary’s Harbour. We had wanted to camp at Mary’s but there were no sheltered spots to hide from the wind which was sill howling!
We made camp, cooked up some food and sat by the fire, the evening was cold and clear, the crescent moon and a shooting star which made for a stunning sky. The fire crackled and the flames danced in the fire pit enticing us with a little heat but the cold soon won and we headed off to our warm beds! We all slept well and were up early the next day the buddy heater has become one of our favourite pieces of gear, nothing quite like being able to wash get dressed and have your morning meeting in the comfort of a bit of heat!
We left camp at about 9 am and headed into St Lewis – Iceberg alley.
About 28km off the highway, on a long dusty road you finally enter the beautiful remote little town of St. Lewis.
We stopped to fill up and headed out to where were told was the most easterly point of mainland Canada! This turned into an epic off road adventure filled with mud, rocks roots, very steep grades and descents and a brilliant effort by the boys to get us turned around on a spot the size of a postage stamp!
A local chap stopped by to give us each a little homemade gift and told us about life in St Lewis, gorgeous place but so isolated.
We headed out once more, dust clouds ensued! Finally made it back to the 510 to find a spot for lunch by now our stomachs were seriously in need of food!
Scenery once again vast and really indescribably beautiful. Impossible to capture on photos and words cannot do it justice.
Lots of road construction, humanity putting its ‘civilized mark on everything once again, too bad to think that future generations will not get to experience this incredible untouched beauty!
Last pit stop before Cartwright to fuel up and more coffee of course
More dust…. Did I mention the dust…?!
The road to Cartwright was ….yes, that’s right dusty…
By the way the my new drone below…..😊
Untouched beauty no one in sight, pristine lakes no cottages or signs of human activity however still no moose sightings! Mind you who could blame them if I were a moose and had all this space I wouldn’t be seen either 🤣
Rolling into Cartwright at 4pm our mission was to find a place to setup for the night, everyone was tired, the sky was grey, it has been a long interesting day! Nothing in Cartwright so once again on the road back out did I mention the dust? We finally found a spot on side of the road to camp, we opened up the trailer and truck to a sea of talcum powder dust! The trailers marker lights, wires, safety sticker and paint stripped off to bare metal, our poor little silver trailer was put through the ringer today! The scout trailer did the best with a little paint stripped on the fenders damage was minimal compared to our trailer.
The night was warm but windy, a magical sunset made for a perfect evening. Later that night the rain just poured down we hunkered down in the annex room for our morning brew before we had a very wet pack up.
We left early for Happy Valley – Goose Bay hoping to spot some moose, and thanked our lucky stars for the rain which made travelling far more pleasant … Yay..no dust!
The road unpaved, potholes and washboards, clocking between 60-70km. Radio chatter once in a while between the two rigs, no cell service and our ritual daily selfies remind us of how far we are from civilization.
Still no moose only a few geese, tarmagon and grouse, a few vibrant yellow colors on the shrubbery the sign of fall on our doorstep. Inukshuk spottings once in a while, endless trees, lakes and rivers! Heavy clouds loomed in and around us threatening rain. Incredibly remote it makes one feel so small when surrounded by such an incredibly vast and untouched land.
About 140 kms before we got to Happy Valley Goose Bay we had to stop for a quick bathroom break only to discover that Sandy and Barbs rig had a blown out back window! 650kms of rough gravel roads, not surprising really… So out came the gorilla tape and a tarp to jimmy it up! Dust once more encapsulated our vehicles… as we tried to get to goose bay!
This has been one brutal stretch of road! So far we have travelled about 2500kms stopped in Happy Valley Goose Bay to fill up have a decent shower, do laundry and check email and messages and grab some fresh veggies for our dinners!
So we are either over tired or just so relaxed we don’t have a clue.. 🤣
We thought we were crossing on the ferry yesterday from St. Barbe so we headed to get organized, only to realize we were only leaving tomorrow… Bonus an extra night in Newfoundland, so off we drove up to St Anthony and stayed the night in Pistolet Campground, the wind was howling and the flames were dancing! The site opposite us had an ember blow into the base of a tree which started to catch alight! Thankfully parks people came and saved their bacon!
We setup the snow peak fire pit and table and enjoyed a perfect evening of red wine, Disarono and music what could be better than sharing this experience with two of our favourite peeps from North-Shore Overland, this adventure would not be the same without you guys!
Later that night or early morning the rain started to bucket down, but the tents held up well and we all stayed dry except when we had to pack up in the rain! Nothing fun about that, just one soggy mess!
We headed up to the L’ans Aux meadows for the morning saw the viking village and hiked around the area, stunning scenery and incredible history. How amazingly hardy those Vikings must have been to survive such extreme conditions in these shelters I sure as heck wouldn’t have liked to live like that. Just the thought of if it rained outside for two days, it would literally rain inside for three days oh no thanks!
After the Viking village we headed back to St Barb having stopped for lunch at a cute restaurant and had a delish carrot and ginger soup with beet and goat cheese salad what a treat!
We stayed at the rv park in St Barb, hardly a park more like a blob of gravel although convenient, not exactly pretty! We setup up camp to let everything dry out from night before and headed inside to eat! Boredom crept in so we decided to do a puzzle only 1000 pieces should be done by bedtime 🙂 not!
The wind howled endlessly, all night the annex and fly flapping away keeping us all awake, Needless to say daylight was welcomed as we escaped the wind, had our coffee and showers thank god we all feel slightly human again!
Now to the ferry to see what awaits us heaven knows it is going to be a wobbly ride…Gravol anyone?
Well let’s see where did we leave off.. we made it off the ferry, got some gas and stopped at the visitors centre to make our bulletproof coffee
Filled with our brain food we headed off towards marble mountain for a little zip lining fun! If you have never been make the time if you are in the area, it is well worth it! Stunning waterfall and beautiful scenery to zip across not to mention such fun!
We ended up spending the night at Trout River in Gros Morne which is simply stunning, driving through the tablelands, they could have filmed Jurassic park here! The scenery is so ancient looking you almost expect a dinosaur to appear!
The next morning was stunning! How lucky we are to be able to have the chance to explore like this!
Day 3 we headed off to western brook pond to see the fresh water fjord! Words are lost on the beauty of this magnificent landscape!
Unfortunately I was made to demonstrate my skill with spoons! Needless to say I will not make a good musician 😂
That night we made camp at Portland Creek, wind was howling all night but the temperature was mild. The next morning we caught up with laundry and showers before we left ahh the power of clean hair 🤣
Chaos ensues as we managed to get the vehicle packed with last min things. First thing we did was to get our precious rotties dropped of at the kennels, having dealt with dog puke on the way I was already feeling pretty gross not to mention we literally had to climb into the kennel to coax our 130lbs male soekie to co-operate! So now smelling of dog puke and gob, covered in rottie hair and lord knows what else we are free of responsibility for two weeks!
Finally we met up with northshore overland at a pub for a quick lunch,checked and re-sorted our gear a bit, before we headed out to Sydney!
By the time arrived at the ferry terminal I was so tired of hearing Peter say ‘capture’ to his android. I think we need to abolish that word now and it is only the first day 🤣 not to mention I am beyond fascinated how on earth someone in their right mind would even come up with this … hmm perhaps I should not try and figure this one out 🤣
The ferry wait was a long and arduous wait, not much in the way of entertainment other than a stroll through cnd tire ha thrill of the day however we did find s few useful items for our trip, I know, as if we don’t already have enough packed! Next we grabbed a coffee in hopes we would stay awake, since we had all been up since crack of dawn, walked back to our vehicles in the line up and made our supper! Simply chicken salads and a couple wings but it did the trick! Finally after a bunch of failed selfies and having that’s stupid kids “baby shark doo doo ” song stuck in my head, simply overtired and ridiculous we finally got the green light to board!
We didn’t gave cabins so spent a long sleepless, in my case, night in a chair listening to a bunch of old men snoring 💤 yup, the envy was killing me, if only I could crash and snore like that 🤣
At last morning light appears and the mere thought of getting off this ferry changes my mood instantly into pure joy! It’s going to be a good day, a coffee pit stop is in order… so until tomorrow or when I have service, I bid you adieu to you and you and you 😊
Yes, the cap finally arrived for our F150 unfortunately no rails though, so now a mad panic to get rails from our friends at Rack attack! These are great guys, if you are in need of roof racks give them a shout, nothing but great customer service!
Rails are supposed to arrive Friday if ups runs smoothly! Talk about last minute we still need to install the solar panels on these racks 🤣
Then it’s the grocery run tomorrow, freezers and fridges will be packed friday evening and hopefully we will be ready to hit road Sat morning, dropping dogs off at the kennels and then on to meeting up with the rest of crew.
Sandy came and picked up the Scout trailer today, how wicked is this setup!
Kayaks and trailers are loaded!
Back is pretty packed 😀
Now to pick up some beef jerky and some coffee liqueur from ….
So now I am feeling totally exhausted but happy, I think this experience is going to be absolutely incredible and we will keep posting so you can follow along with us! For those of you that have done this trip and know of any ‘must sees’ please drop us a note, we would love to hear from you! Here’s to the weather we hope it stays fair 😊
Leer 100XL Custom Cap with Thule Tracks and Roof bars
65” Roof Top Basket
2@ Scepter 20 L Fuel Cans
Wild coast tent BigSky RTT w/annex
Wild coast tent 270 Awning
60 L Fridge/Freezer with custom slide out
2@Sun Force 100 watt solar panels w/ 30 amp charge controller and MC4 Connectors
2000 watt power inverter
800 amp deep cycle battery
Custom power bank w/ volt meter, 12 volt output, usb outputs and in-line circuit breakers.
Vehicle supported 12volt triple power block
Camp chef Explorer 2 burner stove
G Stove Heat n View with Pipe Oven
Eccotemp L5 Propane/12 Volt on-demand hot water heater
Zoic pop-up shower tent
Lightstorm LED Powerpoles
GCI Outdoor Master Cook Station
Mr Heater Porta-Buddy Heater
REI Camp Adjustable Roll Table
Primus Kamoto OpenFire Pit
Scout Trailer
Snomaster 42s fridge/freezer
100w Snomaster solar panel
Deep cycle battery
Led lights inside and out
Firefly Rtt
Ready to Roll!
These are just a few of our important gear items not forgetting food and clothing 😂
I will be doing a daily trip overview once we are on the way to keep you all posted on our trip. We will be leaving on Sat 8th September driving up to Sydney and taking the late ferry to Port Aux Basques and I will keep you posted on where we will head next.
The trailer is pretty much rigged out and ready to be loaded, we are using the outpost on this trip and a 270 awning. We usually only take sleeping bags but I think we will take a duvet as well this time since we have the space and it might get a little chilly at night in September. In the meantime we are sorting out gear and packing it all up and stacking it in the garage while waiting on our cap to arrive, time is short and it is supposed to be here by labour day so hold thumbs we need this cap!
Major thanks extended to Belliveau Motors who kindly sponsored us some garb for our trip! If you are looking for great service from a dealership you cannot go wrong with these guys! Huge shout out to Richard, he literally does it all from tree maintenance to executive decisions, you are the bomb, thank you! Eben thanks for going to so much effort in finding us the trucks we wanted and for answering all our questions! Follow them on FB
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Barb overlanding with her suitcase in tow 😂
