The adventure has started!
We have arrived in Canada and started our Pan-American adventure! From the easternmost point of Canada (not intentionally, but puffins...) we drove 63 hours west to reach the Rocky Mountains. We followed the trans-Canada highway for around 6000 kilometers and crossed 5 time-zones. It really feels that the adventure has begun and we will take you along on it!
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What's in this update?
- The incredible puffin cliffs of Newfoundland
- The mouse that fell out of our dashboard
- Crossing Canada; an adventure in itself
- What's next?
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The incredible puffin cliffs of Newfoundland
After picking up our car in Halifax, we realized that this would be the last time on the Atlantic coast for the next two years. So we decided last minute to visit the puffins of Newfoundland; a detour of no less than 42 hours. When we arrived we quickly realized that photographing puffins in Canada is much more difficult than what we are used to in Europe, but when the conditions are right it really doesn't get any better! We've had it all on those cliffs: storm, fog, rain, sun. Newfoundland really showed everything it was capable of!
Having a 4x4 immediately paid off as we followed a rocky path close to the cliffs where we camped for a few nights. From here we only had a short walk to the puffins, which meant we could wait for the right weather from the comfort of our camper and decide when it was a good time to photograph them.
Of course, these Canadian Atlantic puffins look similar to the European ones, but we found one interesting difference: Canadian puffins take off together, while in Europe they show a more solitary behavior. We couldn't find any information about this behavior online, but if you have any ideas, don't hesitate to let us know!
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The mouse that fell out of our dashboard
Wild camping in the woods sometimes gives you an eerie feeling. Especially when it is dark and there are bears or other predators nearby. While it has many benefits (we see a lot of foxes at night), we learned last week that we need to worry a bit more about our little furry friends. While we were driving along a bumpy forest road, a mouse fell from the dashboard of our car. He managed to get back into the dashboard, which was far from ideal. Luckily, after hours of trying, we managed to catch him and release him into the forest!
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Crossing Canada; an adventure in itself
Long and straight roads, huge trucks and RV’s, squirrels everywhere and thousands of lakes (and mosquitoes). Since Canada is the second largest country in the world, crossing from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains is an adventure in itself.
We saw bald eagles and puffins in Newfoundland, beavers in the lakes of Quebec, moose in the swamps and forests of Ontario and several species of squirrels and chipmunks, some of which regularly visited our car to test their luck.
Since our focus was on completing the ride, we didn't had much time to explore the local wildlife. This will certainly change as we head into the Rockies, which will be our next destination!
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What's next?
We will explore the National Parks of Banff, Yoho and Jasper before heading further West towards the Pacific Ocean. In the next update we will tell you all about our experiences in the Rockies and hopefully our first encounter with bears!
