This past weekend Trent, Les and I did a 2 day trip in Paradise Sound, on the Burin Peninsula.
What a trip it was, perfect weather, perfect conditions, with lots of good food, beer and wildlife.
Monkstown, where we departed from, is about 160kms from Whitbourne. We loaded up three boats and all our gear into Trent's truck, and arrived at Monkstown at about 10:00am, and were ready to go about 11:00am. Just outside of Monkstown, a huge black bear crossed the road in front of us, but I had my camera packed away in the back :(
Loaded down with food, beer and paddling gear, we headed across the sound to get under the wind. The forecast was for NW winds 20km/h gusting to 40 km/hr, so we knew if we got on the western side we'd be sheltered by the hills and cliffs. The western side of the sound looked a lot more appealing anyways, and our planned campsite, in Darby Harbour was on that side as well. Crossing the sound we definitly felt a few of those "gusting to 40" breezes, and I would not have to paddle into that for any length of time.
We paddled about 19kms down the sound to Darby Harbour, and were dismayed to see 4 or 5 cabins in the prime camping locations, but there was a nice beach on the far side, out of view of the cabins, so we opted to camp there, the only issue was the lack of fresh water on the beach, but there was a brook just around the point, so we paddled there to fill up our water bottles. Trent spotted 2 caribou at this brook while he was filling the water bottles. Nice touch. The black flies were raging, so we had to get a fire going right away, burn a few green alders to get the smoke going for some relief from those buggers.
We ate like kings, ribs, steak, baked potato, stir fried veggies.......mmmm. And lots of cold beer to wash it down.
Up at 5am for the sunrise and a breakfast of bacon, toutons and scrambled eggs. We were on the water again by about 7:30am. The forecast was for winds SW 20km/h gusting to 40km/h, which was perfect for a fast surf back to the beach in Monkstown. What a great ride! We hardly had to paddle, just keep the kayaks pointed in the right direction and let the wind and the waves do the rest. I managed to hit a few good surf rides along the way.
We were back to Monkstown before dinner. The only hiccup we had was a flat tire just outside of Swift Current. A quick patch job, and we were back on the road again. We also spotted 2 caribou on the Burin highway.
Overall an amazing weekend.
What a trip it was, perfect weather, perfect conditions, with lots of good food, beer and wildlife.
Monkstown, where we departed from, is about 160kms from Whitbourne. We loaded up three boats and all our gear into Trent's truck, and arrived at Monkstown at about 10:00am, and were ready to go about 11:00am. Just outside of Monkstown, a huge black bear crossed the road in front of us, but I had my camera packed away in the back :(
Loaded down with food, beer and paddling gear, we headed across the sound to get under the wind. The forecast was for NW winds 20km/h gusting to 40 km/hr, so we knew if we got on the western side we'd be sheltered by the hills and cliffs. The western side of the sound looked a lot more appealing anyways, and our planned campsite, in Darby Harbour was on that side as well. Crossing the sound we definitly felt a few of those "gusting to 40" breezes, and I would not have to paddle into that for any length of time.
We paddled about 19kms down the sound to Darby Harbour, and were dismayed to see 4 or 5 cabins in the prime camping locations, but there was a nice beach on the far side, out of view of the cabins, so we opted to camp there, the only issue was the lack of fresh water on the beach, but there was a brook just around the point, so we paddled there to fill up our water bottles. Trent spotted 2 caribou at this brook while he was filling the water bottles. Nice touch. The black flies were raging, so we had to get a fire going right away, burn a few green alders to get the smoke going for some relief from those buggers.
We ate like kings, ribs, steak, baked potato, stir fried veggies.......mmmm. And lots of cold beer to wash it down.
Up at 5am for the sunrise and a breakfast of bacon, toutons and scrambled eggs. We were on the water again by about 7:30am. The forecast was for winds SW 20km/h gusting to 40km/h, which was perfect for a fast surf back to the beach in Monkstown. What a great ride! We hardly had to paddle, just keep the kayaks pointed in the right direction and let the wind and the waves do the rest. I managed to hit a few good surf rides along the way.
We were back to Monkstown before dinner. The only hiccup we had was a flat tire just outside of Swift Current. A quick patch job, and we were back on the road again. We also spotted 2 caribou on the Burin highway.
Overall an amazing weekend.
Loading up the boats
Departure beach, Monkstown
Lots of huge cliffs along the western side of Paradise Sound
Facing SW down the sound
What a day on the water!
Trent filling up our water bottles. There were lots of small streams along the way.
Another massive cliff
Les peeking out of a small cave
Trent passes by a cliff
Trent poking inside another small cave
We are almost to our campsite, Cheers!
Nice waterfall, complete with some lobster traps
Our campsite, Darby's Harbour
Ribs and veggies. mmmmm
Slow roasting sausages
Sunrise on Paradise Sound. Worth getting up at 5am for.
Fog and SW winds as soon as we hit the water. The fog lifted after an hour, but the winds got stronger as the day passed on. Some great surfing on the way back, it was a blast.
Les taking a nap during a lunch break on our way back. Les is new to kayaking, and this was his first overnight trip, so I think he was pretty beat out :-)
Back in Monkstown. What a trip!
2 comments:
Awesome stuff. This was one area we were thinking of for this years trip. Ribs are now coming with us after seeing em on your trip!
Try this for a cooking set up: two fires, side by side, with about 12 inches between. One for a cooking fire, one a regular fire. Two rocks and an old BBQ grill for your cooking surface. Push coals from the big fire under the cooking fire, that way there are no flames to burn the meat. Also, in between the fires, dig a small trench, bury some potatoes wrapped in tin foil, they will take about and hour, but they are the best baked potatoes you'll ever have!
Post a Comment