Trans-Labrador Highway

Central & Western Labrador

July 2000

(Page 5 of 5)

 

Trans-Labrador Highway

 
km306
km306 Here's the typical scenery along the way from Churchill Falls to Goose Bay.  Long, wide views, low hills, forest as far as the eye can see.  There have been numerous forest fires along this road.
 
km460
km460 Here the highway begins a long descent down from the central Labrador Plateau.  When you reach the bottom after many miles, the vegetation has changed remarkably.  Once again there are tall trees, and there are species other than black spruce.   I don't know how far the road descends, but the elevation change must be substantial.
   
km513 Here is a broad panoramic view looking east towards Goose Bay (which is still 47 km away).  To the far right the Churchill River is visible.

 
km 525
West of Goose Bay the Churchill River widens out considerably.  This picture was taken from the lookout just downstream from Muskrat Falls.
   
km 525
And here is Muskrat Falls.  The Churchill River surges over these rocks in a wild cascade of thundering water.  Absolutely awesome!!
   
 
Enjoy these falls while you can - they will be eradicated in a few years.  There is serious work underway to "develop" these falls as a hydro-electric project.

These magnificent falls and rapids will be silenced to satisfy our greedy appetite for wasting electricity.

Please take a moment to pause and think about all the myriad ways in which we throw away precious natural places like this so that we can over-light our cities and dwellings, and power needless "labour-saving" electrical devices.

   
km540

Towards Goose Bay there is a lot of sand.

The road here drops suddenly down and then steeply up across several river valleys.  No guardrails here, so be careful - it's sometimes a long way down.

 

 

   
 

Goose Bay is a major air force base where NATO countries play and train.  There are several signs along the TLH warning about low level jets flying at supersonic speeds.

At Goose Bay I stayed in a bed and breakfast place (mainly to get away from the blackflies), took a side trip to Northwest River to get to the true end of the road, and then turned around and came back - all the way back to Baie Comeau.  Then on to part 2 of my trip.

[PRIOR TO 2003:] From Goose Bay you can elect to take the ferry down to Lewisporte on the island of Newfoundland, if you don't want to drive back the same way, and if you can get on (best to reserve ahead).

NEW IN 2003: The ferry now travels to Cartwright, in Labrador. From there you drive south to Blanc Sablon, which is on the north shore of the Strait of Belle Isle. You would then take a ferry across the Strait to St. Barbe on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.

   
km182

One last picture on the Trans-Labrador Highway....

Here's a nice campsite and sunset on Ossokmanuan Lake on the way back.

I say "nice" meaning that there were no flies hovering around!  I was in the middle of a large area of gravel.

This is the only time that I camped outside on the entire trip where I was able to wash outdoors (because of the flies).  There was a nice breeze here, and I was a fair distance from the forest.

 

The material on this page is copyright © by the original author/artist/photographer. This website is created, maintained & copyright © by Walter Muma
Please respect this copyright and ask permission before using or saving any of the content of this page for any purpose

Thank you for visiting!