NewfoundlandJune11_24_2023

[giantbrookie]

I don't think the photos or storyline from my trip to Newfoundland in 2023 will be as interesting and compelling as other posts, especially since I didn't do any fishing, but I figured I'd put a little post up simply because Newfoundland is such a different and somewhat quirky place.

My interest in Newfoundland is as a geologist and my recent seasons there (July 3-16, 2022 and June 11-24, 2023) have been as part of an international research collaboration. Among geologists, Newfoundland has long been iconic because its geology records the ancient plate tectonic history of the assembly of the Appalachians (and equivalent rocks on the other side of the Atlantic) better than perhaps any other region. As a part of this, one of the world's best examples of an onland fragment of oceanic crust and underlying mantle, the Bay of Islands ophiolites was first recognized back in the early 1970s has been one of those world localities that most students of geology hear about from very early in their education. In fact part of the Bay of Islands ophiolite is a major feature of Gros Morne National Park and there are many interpretive signs and the like highlighting the geology.

I first visited Newfoundland in late May 2017 on a field trip that was quite the adventure owing to the heavy snowfall during the first two days or so, the cancellation of some stops (because they were buried under snow), and the novelty for a Californian like me of seeing bays and estuaries choked with sea ice. I'd never seen sea ice in my life.

Owing to its location, Newfoundland was glaciated all the way down to sea level, so valleys are steep-sided and U-shaped down to the sea. The prolonged winters and heavy snow also result in landscape and vegetation in which the more "alpine" sort of scenery begins at an altitude of 2000' or less, so that the "high" areas (ie 2000' plus elevation) have a look not too different from the highest parts of the northern Sierra. From a field standpoint, the wet climate and the like promote thick growth of brush and trees and off trail hikes, that are necessary for a field geologist, nearly always features some fearsome bushwhacking. In contrast to some of our shin-abusing shrub species (such as manzanita) some of the most intractable brush in Newfoundland is in the form of really stunted conifers, either growing sort of as shrubs, or as small trees whose trunks are so close together as to be too close to squeeze between. It goes without saying that deadfalls are a royal pain.

Although, the Bay of Islands ophiolite has long been an iconic geologic locality, there are always new research questions. The subgroup of researchers I'm working with are interested what we think is the geologic record of the initiation of a subduction zone beneath the Bay of Islands ophiolite---the rocks of interest are called a "metamorphic sole". Whereas parts of the Bay of Islands ophiolite are easily accessible by hiking trails within Gros Morne National Park, most of our research targets are rather remote, so we would get flown by helicopter to our targets in the morning and get picked up in the afternoon. Weather in Newfoundland is volatile and unpredictable, so some days were "no fly" days in which it was not safe to fly, so we did standard hikes after driving to a starting point.

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The 2022 campaign was eye opening because it showed me that my gear wasn't really rugged enough, so I thoroughly updated my gear, except for my old favorite "death march boots", my aging Asolo TPS 520s, that ended up failing my first day in the field (sole delamination). After two attempts to Gorilla glue + duct tape my sole back on, I had to make an emergency purchase before going on another crazy canyon climb. I couldn't find an appropriately rugged men's boot that fit me, so I ended up buying these super heavy duty women's mountaineering boots (brand name I've never seen in USA: Han Wag, a German brand--I think the model name was "Alaskan Lady"). I'm not sure they're broken in yet, even after several days of very hard scrambling. Scientifically the fieldwork went well and my own sub-team did the most over-the-top hiking and scrambling including some class 3 stuff that really pushed my limits in terms of my nerves. Splintery/crumbly metamorphic class 3--probably the sketchiest class 3 I've done in about 20 years, maybe more.

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To top everything off, flights in and out of Deer Lake (the preferred airport for Bay of Islands operations) have always been a bit touch and go. In 2017 I was traveling from Kingston, Ontario, and whereas my Toronto-Deer Lake flight was fine, anything originating from Kingston was not and I was told at the Kingston airport that a flight to Toronto might not even happen on the day I needed it, let alone make it to Toronto in time, so I had to take a train to Toronto where I arrived in time to catch my Deer Lake flight. In 2022, Air Canada lost my luggage that had key field gear, such as my hiking boots and work pack; I had to borrow a colleague's extra boots and extra rucksack until my bags arrived 2(?) days late. This year my flight out went SFO-Montreal-Moncton-Deer Lake instead of the usual SFO-Toronto-Deer Lake and the Montreal-Moncton flight was so delayed I barely made the Deer Lake flight (had to more or less get personally guided from one plane to the other).

The trip home to SFO was probably my 2nd worst travel "day" (way more than a day) surpassed only by getting my passport stolen in Urumqi in 2011 (and being stuck in China for 11 days beyond the originally planned conclusion of my trip). This time I had planned to fly the usual Deer Lake to Toronto to SFO combo departing from Deer Lake in the early afternoon (ca 2 pm) on June 23 and arriving in SFO something like 9 pm (-4.5 hours of time zone change) with a 3 hr transfer time in Toronto (one needs this because customs in Toronto is a very long process). The June 23 flight to Toronto kept getting postponed, so they had to rebook me onto another Toronto-SFO flight that departed Toronto at 6 am-ish and arrived in SFO in the late morning of June 24. Then they cancelled the Deer Lake-Toronto flight and it looked like I wouldn't make Toronto in time for the 6 am SFO flight. Fortunately, they routed an empty plane to Deer Lake that took us to Toronto by about 1 am on June 24. The wait at the Deer Lake airport was particularly excruciating because the last restaurant/pub in the airport had last call about 8(?) pm, so I couldn't even kill the time with some pints (a very dire thing for a geologist). Nothing is open in the Toronto airport at that time so we were ushered outside of security and then had to wait until they reopened security at about 4 am (or something like that); that short circuited my plan of taking a nap at my departure gate. Fortunately the Toronto-SFO flight actually left on time and with my usual sleep management ("I can sleep on planes") on the Deer Lake-Toronto and the Toronto-SFO flights I arrived at SFO in the late morning more or less fully reset. After picking up my superheavy bag from baggage claim (stuffed with rock samples and 2lbs under the limit), Judy picked me up and we went straight to my favorite tap room in Hayward for celebratory pints. Then, having missed my workouts for the last 2 weeks or so, I headed to the gym with Dawn and Judy to pump some iron.

[windknot]

Thanks for sharing this report! Always fascinating seeing photos and learning about travel to wild places in other countries.

[Harlen]

HS! I reckon you are having yourself one hell of a life! Some of that Newfoundland landscape looks phenomenal John! We love the photo taken from the Heli. of that glacial lake land. Our VT friends have been proposing a Newfoundland trip for awhile now, and if the weather cooperates, it could be great! Your crew look like stalwart lads, and the class 3 slope looks like it must've called for all you guys had.
Congratulations on surviving and enjoying such an adventurous trip.... and you're getting paid for this?! That's too cool.

p.s. I've been stuck in Urumqi too-- and in '87 we called it the land of "Mayo."

[robertseeburger]

That waterfall picture is something special..what a landscape..
And that colorful rock with reference to class 3 looks very similar to the route to get into the chute on Middle Palisade..