Great Northern Peninsula: One Month on Foot (Preview)
Great Northern Peninsula – some clips from our recent expedition. Documentary coming to the YouTube channel in 2022: https://www.youtube.com/c/JustinBarbournlexplorer More info: Summer of 2021 I explored Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula with Saku. A one-month unsupported backpacking adventure. It’s a vast, untamed area of mountainous wilderness that we travelled 215km through. We were surrounded by plentiful wildlife (Moose, Caribou, Black Bear, Geese, Ducks, Ptarmigan, Grouse, Fish etc.) and striking rugged mysterious peaceful landscapes but not a single human did we see or hear. It was another challenging adventure for the books. #lifeisbetteroutdoors Safe adventures, Justin
Photos & Field Notes from 2021 Great Northern Peninsula Expedition
Photos & field notes from this summer’s Great Northern Peninsula expedition: Mode of travel: backpacking Total days: 27 Total campsites: 16 Total km as crow flies between start & endpoint: 72 Total km on ground: 215 Extra km scouting: 15 Total outfit weight to begin (no resupplies, tough terrain): Me: 98lbs Saku: 22lbs Consecutive days w/o seeing humans: 24 Moose: 25 Caribou: 3 Black Bear: 2 Geese: 24 Ducks: 71 (variety of species) Ptarmigan/Partridge: 31 Spruce Grouse: 27 Brook trout caught/eaten: 46 Birds of prey: 6 Beaver sign: 3 signs but no sightings Lowest elevation: sea level Highest elevation: 1800 feet Crossings of rivers & larger brooks: 4 Days with rain: 14 Highest single rainfall: 60-70mm (Post-Tropical storm Elsa) Highest wind gust: 70km/h Hottest temperature: 26°C Coldest temperature: 7°C Furthest distance from civilization as crow flies: 35km Pairs of underwear sacrificed: 2 Total weight loss me: 12.5lbs Total weight loss…
The Woods Workout Before and After
WARNING: Photo may disturb some viewers…Always a good laugh to look in the mirror after a long trip. I’ve had longer hauls and more drastic physical changes, but this is what 4 hard weeks in wilderness can do to a person. 189lbs-176.5lbs. Elliott Merrick summed it up best in his book ‘True North’ after months living with trappers: “Who can describe the feelings of such a moment, the sensation of leanness, a flat stomach and a body that one is glad to own, stripped to the essentials, filled, despite fatigue, with latent strength that is rising through legs and torso and arms like a pleasant vapor.” This is not malnourishment or illness. This is richness and health. #lifeisbetteroutdoors
Post Expedition Update: 4 Week Great Northern Peninsula Backpacking
Up on the high country – Soufletts River, NL. “After 4 weeks on foot and unsupported, we will emerge from the Great Northern Peninsula interior. It has a reputation for being the most rugged wilderness on the island and lived up to its name. I say this from experience. We have worked with it day after day, in all its summer moods. A Post-Tropical storm, drenching rains, driving winds, scorching sun, cool sub-arctic evenings, ripping thunder & flashing lightning. I paint it real. As time constraints and various difficulties bear down, we have to reach the faraway coast, where the only civilization dwells. I modify the original route and head due west over tall rocky ridges, down through jungles of sharp tuckamore, across squishy saturated marshes and along a pleasant grassy meadow that sways beside a trickling mountain creek. Prime moose habitat. We’ve seen many and constantly search out their…