DAY 25 Tilting to Fogo

Check out all the sea urchins/round things

June 13, 2013
Having a smaller (24 feet ) motorhome definitely is a plus here in Fogo and has been elsewhere as well.  We travel and go where we want to go and have no problem turning around.  Pulling a trailer or having a tow vehicle for this particular trip would not have been the way to go at all especially on the smaller roads.  Longer vehicles or  tow combinations would have a harder time finding overnight spots…especially scenic ones (and level).  The roads in Newfoundland are built up from the surrounding terrain (anywhere from a couple of feet to maybe ten feet)…so you cannot just pull off anywhere from that standpoint.  There are many lakes and boggy terrain







Young Caribou

Twins!

 

Woke up to a bit of






cloudiness and 44 degrees outside.

 

Beautiful harbor you only get to see if you hike turpin's trail





Old boat skeleton



Off we went to do the Turpin’s Trail.  We guestimated that it was about 3 – 4 miles and we did the coastal part first.  Awesome views, windy and cold (but not too cold)…about 55 degrees outside.  From Sandy Cover we passed seal cove and the trail winded around to face the Labrador Sea.  The trail was pretty much easy to follow with a few questionable spots (lack of signage or cairns).



This the broken bridge they forgot to note on the entry sign



Joe Batt's Arm and the new hotel

 

On the way I spied two youngish caribou coming towards us.  David took pictures.  Very picturesque back in there…a nice cove.  A bit later we spied another caribou.  This one was alone.

 



The Long House front view/artist studio on Fogo

 


Side view of The Long House/Fogo...note humans for scale

We get about 2/3 of the way around and are going through a small forest when we hit a sign:  Trail Closed.  Well thank you for telling us that now!  It was closed because the old bridge forging a healthy stream was pretty much just a pile of lumber.  There was no way we could really cross it (too wide).  We didn’t really want to go all the way back.  We eyed for options. “oh, we can just go up to that ridge and we can see where we have to come out”.  Off we went…UP!  Mostly on what we are pretty sure was game trails, through some wet boggy or fen areas where we had to choose our footing wisely or get a shoe full of water. 

hiking the trail near the Long House

 We made it high enough on the ridge to realize that there was an upper lake and more wet areas that we weren’t going to be able to cross.  Okay, back down and past where the little forest is and try there.  At this point, I was for just going back the way we came but agreed to let David find a path through the Fen/Bog.  We could SEE the trail just getting to it was difficult.  He found one so off we went slowly picking our way on the highest ground we could find or rock.  I emerged with dry feet…David not quite so lucky!  We arrived at the trail where would have been if we had use of the bridge.  The hike was completed in maybe 45 minutes more.  LUNCHTIME.  We were gone about 3.5 hours. 





Long House...such a work of art in itself

We then drove to Joe Batt’s Arm to see the Long House/Artist Studio. We walked further than the house to have a look around…maybe two miles.  The Long House was a pretty amazing modern design.  I could work there for three months!  We chatted briefly with the lucky artist-in-residence.   

 

The Tower..artists studio



The Tower...another view

Next we stopped at the bakery which was now open…picked up some whole grain bread and some baked goodies.  The salesperson/baker told us how to get to the next artist-in-residence house which was just down the road (where to park).  This one was called The Tower, I think.  We ran into two of the men who built the houses when we arrived on the boardwalk; they were removing some of the scaffolding.  There accents were pretty thick and between the two of us we got most of what they said.  They had also worked on the new hotel (see pictures) that just opened (very high end hotel).  The hotel is booked through July and August and is furnished using quilts by local women, rocking chairs by local woodworkers.  If you want you can buy one of each and take it home.  Nightly prices start at over $1,000 so it is out of my budget for now.

 

The Tower...not yet road view

Stopped at the Community Access Program for internet and checked emails.  Community Access programs are internet access places and are in most communities...we have taken full advantage of them...sitting outside parked in our motorhome.

 

                                                                                  Final stop was back to Fogo town to find a place to park for the night.  Since the gate was not closed for the Brimstone Park and Campground, we drove in and just parked in a flat spot.  We had tried to contact them the a couple of days before and there was no answer (or answering machine)…so we assumed they were not open.  We were there yesterday and not much was happening.  Short story…a van drove up and we got asked to pay the $15 or $20 (depending on what kind of site we wanted).  We declined as we didn’t need anything from them…just a parking spot for the night.  In the end, we moved to a spot up on the hill just before town.  It is a trailhead for a hike we did yesterday.
We spent a quiet night there.