Day 24: Trout River to Grand Falls-Windsor

Posted byweegtravelPosted in2024, Canada 2024, Newfoundland

This is a travel day as we now try to catch up with our original reservations in Terra Nova National Park tomorrow.

It was raining, again, this morning. It was a simple up and out, back tracking out of Gros Morne to Deer Lake and the TransCanada  Highway east.

It’s beautiful no matter what the weather.

Not a lot to report or comment on. We arrived in Grand Falls-Windsor just after noon hour. This is the only major community on our route today. We were able to find a decent grocery store.

Finding a place for lunch was another story. This is a long weekend here in Canada. July 1st (tomorrow) is Canada Day. Not a lot open except fast food chains and most of the workforce is off on holiday. We found a restaurant finally, with an odd menu, woefully understaffed.

Lunch over, we decided to visit the Salmonid Interpretation Center here. There is a fish ladder on the local hydroelectric dam on the Exploits River (the longest river system in Newfoundland) that  allows the Salmon to travel both up and down the river into the Atlantic.

The hydro electric dam at Grand Falls on the Exploits River. When the Salmon return to the river from the Atlantic Ocean, they are diverted to the flow seen here and not into waters of the dam.

Salmon swimming upstream from the river to the ocean are lured into the Salmon ladder.
The opening screen to the 10 minute video explaining the history of the Salmon ladder system.

The Exploits River is the longest and largest river on the island of Newfoundland that today boosts a healthy wild Atlantic salmon population. Located on this mighty river at the “Grand Falls” is one of the most impressive salmon enhancement projects in North America whose story is revealed at the Salmonid Interpretation Centre.  It was built to allow the salmon to be able to easily jump upstream. This allowed a much greater distribution of the salmon, as they were previously inhibited by the huge falls. The exhibit has a grate above the “salmon ladder” that allows you to watch them jump from one ladder to the next. It also has an underwater viewing tank, for an up close view of these awesome fish.

This is not an aquarium. This is a viewing window of the Salmon in the ladder system.
Same viewing area from outside. There is a gate here that is only opened 3 times a day. This allows for both viewing and counting of the fish in the ladder.

It is VERY windy here. Our campsite is somewhat protected fortunately. We have a zoom call set up with a family member later this afternoon. I had no trouble deciding which way to aim the Starlink. I just lined it up with all the other Starlinks in the campground! I’ve never seen so many of them.