25 August 2019, Sunday
Four days was not enough at Trout River Pond, but there is always next year. We pack up after making a Newfoundland breakfast of fish cakes with our leftover fish from last night’s dinner and some instant potatoes. After picking up extra groceries in Deer Lake and fueling up Vincent, we drive to Sir Richard Squires Provincial Park on the advice of one of the motorcyclists we met this past Wednesday. We find the park easily, driving an unpaved road part of the way along Route 422. Although unpaved, it is wide and not too potholed. No one is at the entrance kiosk so we drive to a parking area for the trail to the waterfall.
The park is named for Sir Richard Squires, Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1919-1923 and from 1928-1932. The park seems very nice. We might consider stopping here next summer. The path to the waterfall is short and easy. We watch for awhile but see no salmon jumping. As we return to Vincent a park warden stops by to ask if we are camping here. We tell him we just came to see the waterfall and look for salmon. He explains there can be many salmon jumping up the falls, especially in the first half of July, but in August it’s mostly just a few stragglers.
O and I hop back in Vincent and continue towards Green Point Campground. We stop in Rocky Harbour to pay for tomorrow’s Western Brook Pond tour, but payment is only accepted on the day of the tour, in case of weather cancellations I suppose. We eat an early dinner at a small family restaurant where we run into a couple from Rochester, NY for the second time since leaving the ferry. Despite its size geographically, Newfoundland really does seem like a small town.
Camp is quickly set up at Green Point. There are brand new washrooms, showers, and kitchen shelter facilities here. It’s very nice! After journalling and reading it’s time to drive to Cow Head for Theatre Newfoundland’s Neddy Norris Night. (Neddy Norris was one of the first settlers in this area.) The show this evening is comprised of traditional Newfoundland folk music, sung and played by four musicians who also perform recitations providing a bit of comic insight into Newfoundlanders’ view of life and its peoples’ interactions.