Jun 11 L'Anse au Meadows & St Brendan's Stone

 

Leif

From the Icelandic Sagas, we learn of the Norse arrival in North America. The sagas are family oral histories which span hundreds of years and many generations. They were written down by Icelandic monks in the 13th and 14th centuries. Cross references in multiple sagas piece together a story. 

Bjami Herjolfssn along with Gutrid his wife are part of an Iceland to Greenland convey of boats when they are blown off course and away from their group. They spot distinct lands but do not land. The 3 places are mentioned as:

Helluland - Flat stone land

Markland - Forest land

Vinland - Meadows with grains and berries with forest land.

They manage to make it to Greenland and stay with Eirick the Red. Herjolfssn dies and his wife Gutrid marries Eirick's son Karlsafni, bother of Leif. Everyone has heard of this good land to the southwest. Leif decides to visit it. The year is dated by tree rings on a wooden tool found at the site at 1021 AD. Leif builds several longhouses, a forge and several other structures. They overwinter there and may have traveled some more exploring. Leif and his crew return to Greenland the following year.

A few years later the sagas tell us that Karlsafni and Gutrid request that Leif loan them the buildings he has at L'Anse au Meadows. They sail there with 65 people and stay for an undetermined amount of time. If they had intended to stay permanently is not known. For some reason they left and may have burned the buildings. 

Beginning in the 18th century there was all sorts of speculation as to where the Norse land called Vinland was. In the 1890s a Harvard professor was convinced the Norse had settled on the Charles River near Boston. The site turned out to be Native American but it had many folks convinced for some time. All this speculation prompted Norwegians, Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine to take a comprehensive approach. They decided to spend their retirement looking for Vinland by land and sea. Using the descriptions in the sagas they toured offshore by boat looking at landscapes. They also inquired on land about ancient building ruins. Their travels started in Rhode Island and worked up the coast. At the northern tip of Newfoundland they encountered a local, George Decker. When Decker learned what they were looking for, he immediately mentioned the "Indian mounds" locals referred to them as. In a meadow by a shallow bay, Decker cut hay. The hay grew better right around these mounds. When Heldge and Anne saw the mounds they immediately regonized them as the footprint of a Norse longhouse. The surrounding area looked to the couple as a perfect spot for the Norse to settle.

After some excavation certain artifacts with Iceland and Greenland origins began to surface. However, the world was slow to concide this was Vinland. With so many wild stories about Vikings in Minnesota and down the US seaboard, people needed some reassurance this was not another crackpot story. It took a while but it is generally accepted now. We still don't know where they traveled beyong Vinland. A butternut was found in the bog by the village. The nearest butternut now and then is in New Brunswick. 

The original site is nearby. What we saw is a recreated village with costumed interpretors demonstrating weaving, cooking, forging etc. 

The cove where the Norse landed.

As our bus was making the final approach to the tip of Newfoundland where the site is located, we passed St Brendans Motel. My fascination with early explorers was immediately alerted. Does this place have a connection to Saint Brendan? I asked Garfield, our  bus driver who is from nearby St Anthony, about St Brendan. He didn’t know who that was. So, I asked at the L’Anse au Meadows visitors center. After inquiring and passing through three people, I spoke with a very knowledgeable archeologist, Ragnar, apparently his real name. He told me there was a stone with a carving of what is thought to be gaelic writing and symbols in the Ogham alphabet. It is located up a hill on a trail between the motel and the Daily Catch Restaurant. I saw a photo of it but it is so difficult to make anything out. Ragnar says that someone, years ago, scraped the lichen off to see the carving better. By doing this, it is now impossible to date the carving using known methods. Had the lichen been present, it could have been dated and maybe this would be a different story. 

Who was St Brendan? We’re pretty sure he was a real guy, born c. 484 to 577,  an Irish monastic saint and legendary Voyager. Also known as Brendan the Navigator, he is the patron saint of sailors, mariners, and whales. He is most famous for his epic 7-year Atlantic expedition to the "Isle of the Blessed", famously recorded in the 10th-century medieval text Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis. 

His voyage took him to the Orkneys, Hebrides, Faroe Island and probably Iceland. Some scholars speculate he made it to Newfoundland. The 10th century text of the voyage mentions “forges of fire from the earth” a possible reference to Iceland’s volcanoes. The sagas also mention that when the Norse first came to Iceland there were Irish monks living there. Archeological finds document structures and man made caves built prior to the 874 AD arrival of the Norse. The case for Newfoundland gets thinner. There is the rock with the odd drawings. There is another one on the east coast of Newfoundland. The 9th century text mentions St Brendan encountering whales, ice columns and a foggy land so big they roamed it 40 days and did not cover it. 

The Norse began raiding Ireland in 795 AD. Certainly, they would have learned from the Irish that St Brendan had sailed to lands west of there, like Iceland. Could that have prompted them to go looking for Iceland?

I guess I need to see this in person. It doesn't photograph well.

Jun 10 Point Amour Labrador

 

Built in 1857-8, Point Amour lighthouse is the tallest in Atlantic Canada. It is constructed of locally quarried limestine, painted white. The house attached was for the light keeper and family. 3 generations of Wyatts lived here for 85 years. The house now serves as a museum. The lighthouse guards the strait at its narrowest point. Ships are forced into a narrow 22 mile wide passage. That doesn't sound like much but when you only have wind/sail power and a storm is raging, rocks and icebergs get in the way.

This is the only photo of a moose I took during our trip. It was running for dear life alongside the bus. 

530 million year old calcite remains of sponglike sea creatures formed reefs in this odd shape. This would have occurred when the land here was part of a shallow tropical ocean. 

Jun 9 Red Bay and Labrador

 

The ferry crossing of the Straits between Newfoundland and Labrador was a couple hours. It featured icebergs. The Greenland glaciers calf huge chunks of ice. Initially they flow north until they drift into the influence of a southerly current. That dumps them into the North Atlantic heading south. They will have been floating about 2 years by the time they arrive off Newfoundland. Some make their way in the Strait. Most will veer off the east coast of Newfoundland forming what is known as Iceberg Alley. The Titanic sank April 15 1912 about 370 miles off the coast. The icebergs melt fairly quickly as they pass Newfoundland into warmer waters.

Once we had crossed by ferry, we were just over the border in Quebec. This was confusing timewise. At 10am in Quebec it is 11am in Labrador and 11:30am in Newfoundland. On our way to Red Bay, we crossed the Pinware River which tumbled past us in a torrent. Above a side stream enters the river.

There is goes toward the Strait.

Shortly after noon, we arrived in Red Bay and eventually to the Visitors Center. there we heard the story of the Basque fisherman who dominated this region from 1540 to about 1620. Initially, they came for the cod but the whales caught their eyes too. They came seasonally, about 15 ships and 600 men to spend the summer hunting whales and cod. Red Bay is a protected cove for the whaling/fishing operation. Right and Bowhead whales were hunted from small boats known as chalupas. From those boats they would harpoon the whale and eventually subdue it. Whales were processed primarily for the oil which was used by wealthy Europeans to fuel oil lamps. The whale's blubber was processed or rendered into oil, stored in barrels and shipped back to Europe in the fall. 

Red Bay is famous and a UNESCO world heritage site because of the underwater archeology of the former Basque fishing site. In 1565 a Spanish Basque whaling galleon sunk in bad weather as it began a voyage back to Europe laden with 1000 barrels of whale oil. That ship lay in the harbor unseen until 1978 when Parks Canada found it. It was remarkedly well preserved and has been a treasure trove of information and technologies of that time period. Several chapulas have also been discovered. One has been reassembled and is on display. 

Lapland diapensia

The only flowers around this area are small, close to the ground plants. The wind makes sure they don't grove very tall. The azalea below was about 3 inches high. 

Alpine azalea 

Pinware River

The L'Anse Amour burial mound is the oldest known funeral monument in the New World. A 12 year old boy was excavated in a shallow grave, found face down. There were a number of tools and adornments found with him including a harpoon. Those artifacts are on display at The Rooms Museum in St Johns. The burial mound is dated to about 7500 years ago. 

Jun 8 Port au Choix

 

Port au Choix historic site tells the story of previous inhabitants of this area of Newfoundland. Heading back 5500 years BP the Maritime Archaic people made their way here from Labrador, crossing over 25 miles of water to settle. They occupied this spot for over 2000 years. Their primary resource was the Harp seal from which they made clothing, ate the meat and used most all parts for some purpose. Harp seals migrated through the area twice a year. Of the bones found in their middens, 92% were Harp seal.

 Some of their tools are on display in the visitor center including their harpoons. We saw a replica of a sophisticated design made only from chert, seal skin and wood. The chert came from about 50 miles away in today's Cow Head. They made soapstone bowls from materials found 150-200 miles away.

Above is the beach in Cow Head. Weathered rock here were deposited by glaciers. Mixed among these rocks were black stones of chert which looked out of place but were prized by the native people for tool and point making.

Scurvy grass was used for many ailments by the native people. Its high vitamin C content was important for sailors to stave off scurvy.

After the Maritime Archaic people vacated the area about 3200 years BP, the Groswater people began a seasonal occupation of this same spit of land. They were displaced after 900 years by the Dorset people who occupied the same spot permanently until about 1300 years BP. They may have been displayed by the Beothuk people who were here when Europeans came around the year 1540.

I think this is Orange sunburst lichen. The rocks along the water were covered like this one.

Everything grows close to ground here. The wind make sure of that. There are numerous spruce trees trying to make living here. In exposed areas, most of the Spruce is just a couple inches tall. It has been windy since we arrived and I'm told that it will be windier on the east side of the island.

Jun 7 Western Brook Pond in Gros Morne

 

The forecast is 47 degrees, over an inch of rain and windy. We have one of the highlights of the trip today, traveling by boat on Western Brook Pond. How could a boat tour on a pond called Western Brook be a highlight. It's a freshwater fjord with almost vertical rock walls 2000 plus feet high. Waterfalls tumble down the sides. It is a top tier attraction and I get to see it in the rain and try to get photos in the rain.

Just a short distance from St Paul, Newfoundland, along the highway known locally as the Viking Trail, is the trailhead for this tour. We park in the trailhead parking lot which is plenty big enough today but looks woefully undersized for the height of the tourist season. After parking, it is a 1.8 mile walk on a gravel road to get to the boat.

We walk in an out of Tuckamore forests which are also known as krummholz forests. They are typically Balsam fir and Black spruce trees which are stunted, twisted and almost laying down on their side from the strong coastal winds. Although most of this area is taiga, dense boreal forest, this area had what looks like tundra, vast areas where deep rooted vegetation like trees can't grow. 

One of those tuckamore trees

Interspersed were wetlands with blooming Marsh marigolds fully in bloom.

 

We are not quite completely soaked by the time we arrive at the boat dock. There are 3 boats here. We board the largest for our tour. This landlocked "pond" as they call it, is a couple of miles from a road. The two smaller boats were dragged across the wetlands on a sled to minimize damage. The large boat was airlifted by helicopter in pieces and reassembled on site.

All the inside seats are taken by the time we board so it is going to be a wet trip. I place myself in the very front of the ship outside. It turns out to be the least windy spot outside. I was able to remain there for about an hour. Finally, when someone asked a question, I found that I had difficulty forming words and realized I needed to warm up. I headed to a more sheltered place, still outside but warmer. There I remained.

The vertical walls were stunning. There was still snow melting and tumbling down as waterfalls. We saw a hanging valley which was likely carved while the pond still was a glacier. We saw a rockslide which occurred July 28 2016 while a tour boat was nearby. The rocks did not cause huge waves but the sound was deafening. 

Fresh water and very old rock

Upper center is a formation called the Tinman.

We turned around at this waterfall to return to base. The waterfall has lots of spray and is called Pissing Mare Falls.

Jun 6 Tableland at Gros Morne

 

The Tablelands are where the Earth's  mantle was pushed up to the surface by the convergence of  tectonic plates. It is here at Gros Morne that the tectonic plates collided half a billion years ago and where a portion of the ocean crust was forced upward. The portion of the ocean floor contained part of the Earth's upper mantle. That has happened in very few other places on Earth with Gros Morne being the best example. Earth's exposed mantle here is mainly peridotite which contains several heavy metals and iron making it toxic to plants. A lecture at the visitor center given by Ranger Chris. She gave a wonderful PowerPoint lecture before we headed to the Tablelands to see the Earth's mantle first hand. 

Chris shows us the topography of Gros Morne

Forget me Nots were blooming today

We had some time prior to heading to the Tablelands, so I hiked in the area of the visitors center to get a few views. We are on the west coast of Newfoundland right where the Gulf of St Lawrence becomes the Strait of St Lawrence. Although, many people here call it the ocean. Glaciers carved inlets, some of which became fjords. After the 2-3 mile thick ice sheet melted and the land rose up when the weight of the ice was no longer compressing it. So, some of these fjords became landlocked creating landlocked fjords of fresh water. We were told that when this happened some saltwater fish were separated from the ocean developing new freshwater species. Right where we were in Bonne Bay, we were told they had their own species of Cod in the salt water inlet. 

I walked to a nearby cemetery where it appears everyone who ever died here was buried. The older section is being overtaken by Alder which is seemingly everywhere.

The Province flower - Pitcher plant

Finally, we are at the Tablelands. Here the peridotite is mostly barren rock. The orange color is due to the iron oxidizing. It looks like the Mars rover would be right at home here.

Through a process called hydrothermal metamorphism peridotite transforms to soapstone as seen here. 

A few plants are able to make a living here. Moss campion is one. We saw several clumps of it.

Alpine chickweed 

Serpentine sandwort

Wait! Did I not write that peridotite is toxic to plants. How did these get there? Above, Chris is explaining that eventually really hardy plants like lichen will begin growing on the rock. Then another hardy plant, moss will grow. In this case Grey wool moss. It looks like dirty wool. Chris is standing next to a rock almost completely covered in Grey wool  moss. It turned green when she poured some water on it, reviving it. Over time, perhaps over a long period it exists by itself until a seed from somewhere is blown onto it or dropped by a critter. The seed gets snagged in the moss and then you begin to have a few hardy alpine plants eking out a living here. It takes a long time for this to happen. The peridotite has been here since the plates collided about 470 to 400 million years ago. And glaciations have occurred here since then, the last ending about 15,000 years ago. So, it has been a while yet it is still almost completely void of plants.

There is a trail which used to be a gravel road here. That trail has many invasive plants growing on its border making it a green ribbon through the barren Tablelands. When the road was built, gravel was put down and vehicles drove it and later we hike it. We inadvertently carry seeds and spores which get deposited along the road. That leads me to think that everywhere we have built paths and roads, we have provided the means to introduce a lot of plants that wouldn't be there otherwise. 

Departing the Tablelands, we head to downtown Bonne Bay to await a water taxi. There are about a dozen commercial buildings here. The largest being a fish/shellfish processing plant. nOh, and there is this cute lighthouse right downtown.

From the water taxi

The blue and white boat is our ride to Norris Point from here. It is about a 30 minute ride across the inlet. From there, we head up the coast to the community of Cow Head where we will spend a couple nights.