travel dates: July, 2023
Here we said goodbye to Nana and Grandpa and also learned that it gets actually, genuinely hot sometimes in Newfoundland. And it’s pretty much always humid, so it’s an unpleasant, wearying sort of hot.
Terra Nova is Newfoundland’s oldest national park. Out of two: it’s only competition is Gros Morne on the west coast. Honestly, Terra Nova has trouble rivaling its younger cousin when it comes to grandeur and jaw-droppingly gorgeous vistas and all that. It’s a quieter kind of lovely, with walks through the woods and all variety of water for paddling.
It’s also literally right on the Trans-Canada highway, which makes it a very easy stop, if, say, you’re making your way back west to the ferry in Port Aux Basques after seeing St. John’s or the Bonavista Peninsula.
We stayed for two nights in Newman Sound Campground, a big sprawling campground inside the national park. We really liked this campground–giant, very private sites and easy access to lots of stuff in the park. There are some full hook-up sites and a lot of electric-only sites, and very reasonable rates of around $40/night Canadian.
Here’s the dump station; I guess the fact that we stopped here is evidence that we had an electric-only site–I don’t remember anymore!
There are Otentiks available as well. I’ve never stayed in one of these (they have them at a number of Canadian national parks), but I want to because they’re very cute.
There’s a camp store where you can get snacks and ice cream. And a playground:
The campground was pretty full and bustling when we were there (in mid July), and we got the impression that is’s a very popular weekend destination for people who live in and around St. John’s. They have programs a few nights a week, including a slightly awkward sing along that we went to see:
Our first evening in the park, we drove over to hike the Southwest Arms Trail. At 4 km round trip, it seemed like a good, easy hike to do that wouldn’t take a lot of time.
So this is a pleasant walk through the woods, along a stream. I wouldn’t call it a must do, but it was a nice walk. We commented that if we were doing this hike at home it would be an awesome trail that we would go to over and over again…but by Newfoundland standards it was just okay.
Fergus enjoyed it:
And there were pretty wildflowers:
On our full day, we headed out from the campground to hike Terra Nova’s most popular trail, the Coastal Trail. This trail runs between Newman Sound Campground and the visitor centre and is 9.5 km round trip (so what? just under 6 miles?)…though you’ll add a little more to that total if you walk from your campsite to the trailhead like we did. The trail is listed on the park website as “easy with some moderate climbs,” which I think is accurate. It was a hot day when we did it, which made the moderate climbs more challenging, but everyone did fine with it and you get to break it up by spending some time at the visitor center in the middle.
It does a lot of winding in and out of the woods and along the coastline…just a nice, meandering kind of walk. Not the most spectacular trail we tackled in Newfoundland, but we enjoyed it.
There’s a little waterfall about halfway through:
And then the visitor centre! This is pretty nice, with exhibits about local wildlife, and a big touch tank:
Outside you can work on your knot tying:
August is ready for the hike back to the campground!
Abe’s shoe abruptly fell apart shortly into the return hike, which was too bad:
Eventually the whole bottom layer came loose, and he had to hike with just the thin inner layer and broken straps.
But we made it back! And thus ended our quick stop at Terra Nova. We had a good time and are glad we went, but it wasn’t our favorite place in Newfoundland. I suspect people who want to take advantage of opportunities to get out on the water in various ways would have a different experience (and probably want more time here).
Almost done with Newfoundland! Catch up on all the posts:
2023 Newfoundland Trip Posts
Visiting Newfoundland: Overview and General Thoughts
Grand Codroy RV Park and Codroy Valley
Water’s Edge RV Park in Gros Morne
Gros Morne National Park: South
Port Au Choix and the Great Northern Peninsula
Gros Morne National Park: North
Sanger Memorial RV Park/Grand Falls-Windsor
Fogo Island/Brimstone Head RV Park
Twillingate and Dildo Run Provincial Park
Pippy Park, St. John’s Campground Review
Four Days on the Bonavista Peninsula
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