Off the beaten track - this summer to Labrador

Although I have been to the island of Newfoundland many times, I was feeling that I couldn't honestly say I've been to our province of Newfoundland and Labrador because I hadn't been to Labrador - so that was the destination for my travels this summer.

In a nutshell, I flew into Labrador West, which is the two, and only in western Labrador, communities of Labrador City and Wabush, then I travelled across the Trans-Labrador Highway to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.  Once there I explored both the north Labrador coast and Nunatsiavut (on a working freighter) and then the south Labrador coast.

My travels were excellent!  I met some wonderful people and saw some stunningly beautiful scenery. Definitely off the beaten track - but a little gem of a spot in Canada, well worth visiting.

My travels started with a flight to Wabush that involved Toronto to Montreal, to Sept-Iles, and then finally on to Wabush.

Leaving Toronto on an early morning flight

A grey and rainy day in Montreal which was fine as I literally had no more time then to RUN from one gate to another and nearly didn't make my connecting flight

 Grey and cloudy in Montreal

Over the St. Lawrence

And on to Sept-Iles

Again, not much time in Sept-Iles, really just enough time for a quick photo of a couple of water bombers at the airport there, then it was time to change planes again - this one much smaller (a Dash 8) for the trip up to Wabush.

Things aren't quite as 'strict' about no access to the cockpit on these smaller planes

And from there is was north - to Labrador West

Labrador City has a population of approximately 9000 with the nearby community of Wabush having a population of just under 2000.  Together the twin-towns are known as Labrador West.  The land that would come to be the communities of Wabush and Labrador City was first explored by AP Low in 1896 and in the 1930s, ore deposits were more thoroughly examined.  In 1960, as then Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Joey Smallwood, said about Labrador's resources: "it is our chance to stand on our own feet, to do something ourselves".  In the 1960s, Labrador City was founded to accommodate employees of the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), and iron ore mining continues to be the primary industry in the town.

The Carol Project at Labrador City was the first mining development in the region.  Labrador City began as the temporary worker camp in 1960 which followed a master plan designed by the IOC.  Camp-style housing was later replaced with single-family homes as the campsite became a community.

In 1962, a mining camp at Wabush Lake laid the foundation of what would later become the Town of Wabush.

Within an industrial environment and camp origins, both towns have proven their unique sense of place, an asset for retaining residents and developing a multi-generational population.  In the early 1980s, the privately-owned company towns of Labrador City and Wabush became municipalities, each with its respective elected official officials, administrators, governance and tax schemes.

Today Labrador West is known across Canada as the Iron Ore Capital of Canada.

You have to know you're travelling somewhere scarcely populated when this is the phone book for ALL of Labrador, white and yellow pages!!