Two Stops Heading Back South

If you don’t take the ferry to Labrador, the only way back from the north end of the Western Peninsula of Newfoundland is back down the road you came in on. So yesterday we drove back down.

On the way up we’d seen signs for two places that intrigued me. I looked up the information and we decided to stop at both on the return journey.

Our first stop was Flower’s Cove. There a short trail led to a group of thrombolites along the shore. The trail crossed Marjorie bridge. Built by the father and grandfather of Marjorie Myers in the early 1900’s, this bridge was the only way into the community on land. It was used by horses and carts, by dog teams and by Bombardier snowmobiles running up the coast, as well as locals on foot.

The thrombolites were pretty interesting. They are called living rocks, although these are 650 million years old and the bacteria and algae that accumulated the minerals to make these forms are long since dead.

There were a lot of them and they were big. That’s Bud standing among them.

I looked up more information on thrombolites. The sign said there is only one other place in which they grow, a place in Western Australia. That may be true of remnants this size, but I found there are about 13 places where they exist. One place where they are currently alive is Green Lake, east of Syracuse, NY. The information I found has these as much smaller and underwater. I’m not sure you could see them if you visited Green Lake State Park, but the park sounds worth a visit anyway.

The second stop we made was at Arches Provincial Park. This was a small park right along the coast. There was just room in the parking lot to leave the truck and trailer. By now the skies had cleared and the three stone arches waves have carved on the shore stood out against the blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.