For the last ten or so years, Bassan, Peter Tucker, Johnny Tucker and I have bounced around the idea of going to Peter's cabin in Glenwood for a few days of hunting and ATV riding. Year after year the plan never came to fruition as life always got in the way. Moose hunting would run all season long to fill someone's tags, we got too busy with work/gun club projects, an endless list of reasons/excuses.

This year Peter called (albeit last minute Monday & due to leave on Wednesday) and invited Bassan and I to join himself and Johnny on a Glenwood trip and we wholeheartedly agreed. He said to bring nothing other than clothes and bikes. So Wednesday afternoon Bassan and I did just that, although he didn't want to tow two ATV's and gear with his Tacoma. We loaded up my trusty Silverado 2500HD, threw Bassan's 1997 Foreman 400 and Project Foreman on his trailer and hit the highway westbound to central Newfoundland. It's an adventure just to get there, it's about 4.5 hours driving the last hour on a myriad of gravel roads driving deep into the country of Central Newfoundland.

Driving conditions were great today, it was cool outside but roads were clear and dry.

We arrived in Gander after dark and gassed up for the remaining back roads journey through the logging roads of Glenwood. It was much colder in Gander than we've experienced in town, they even had snow on the ground!

Truck was full when we left town, and I actually drove sensibly the entire drive to Gander!

Gravel roads were snow covered and in many areas very icy, it was quite a drive especially for my first ever trip in here. My BFG All Terrain KO2's got the job done and we arrived at the camp an hour or so later incident free.

Pete's camp is simply beautiful. Nestled in the woods surrounded by tall trees not far from the Southwest Gander River. This camp has been the base of operations for countless hunting trips of every sort and has even been host to Newfoundland outdoorsman celebrities including Gord Follett & Dwight Blackwood of Newfoundland Sportsman fame!

The camp was quite cold but quickly warmed up once we lit the woodstove. Wednesday evening was spent unloading our gear & supplies, un-winterizing the cabin and making supper. On the menu tonight was Peter's moose meat loaf with mashed potato.

Thursday morning was wet and snowy. Once the weather cleared I unloaded the bikes then disconnected and pulled Bassan's trailer out of the way. This would create more room for leaving the camp on ATVs during our stay.

With that complete we cooked up a hearty breakfast of poached eggs, Bacon and some of Peter's moose sausages.

After breakfast we suited up and headed out for a hunt. Bassan and Peter headed in the road on foot shotguns in hand looking for small game while Johnny and I did the same the opposite way heading up Southwest Hill. Temps were fairly mild, just above freezing which made for a sloppy slushy walk under overcast skies.

Johnny and I were unsuccessful in our hunt with no sign of grouse but seen quite a few rabbit tracks in the fresh fallen overnight snow.

Bassan had better luck seeing one grouse then successfully harvesting a dandy rabbit.

As skies continued to clear we headed back to the cabin to warm up, dry out, rest up and grab a snack.

After our mid-day break Peter and I headed out on the bikes for a second attempt at some game, Bassan went again on foot, while Johnny snoozed!

Pete headed down towards the river while I headed back up Southwest Hill. Using the bike I was able to cover a lot more ground, I followed that trail a long ways back towards more cabins where I turned around, headed back and explored every side trail I came across.

Coming on dark I was 3/4 the way back to camp when I spotted a covey of 8 grouse in a birch tree well back from the ATV path. They were silhouetted perfectly against the evening sky still within legal light, but winds were up blowing them around a lot. I fired three shots from my 20 gauge Browning BPS and successfully harvested one bird, not ideal but given the conditions one was better than none!

I got back to camp and found Pete had also bagged a grouse!

That evening our supper menu consisted of Bassan's famous Bacalao, which is a bake pot filled with pan fried potato, onion, salt fish, black olives and hardboiled eggs with some balsamic vinaigrette. Absolutely outstanding! That evening Pete introduced us to Deon Dicks DVD set "Huntin' on the Rock". Dicks is a professional guide operating on the West Coast of Newfoundland as well as in the Yukon. His videos are fantastic, you can check him out on YouTube by searching for Huntin' on the Rock.

Early the next morning Pete and I headed out for a quick hunt on bikes again while Bassan went on foot. I headed back up Southwest Hill hoping to spot that covey of birds from last evening.

The sunrise this morning was outstanding in this crisp subzero air! I also found fresh moose tracks leading from the river and partway up the hill before they veered off into the old cutovers.

I had no luck in locating the covey or any other small game, so I crossed over Winter Brook and rode out as far as the Southwest Gander for a look.

Prior to the steel bridge, you'd have to drive across this vast expanse of river to get into camp! It's wide and moderately deep, but the bottom changes after every  major storm! We all got back to camp about the same time and enjoyed a dandy breakfast of fish puddings, moose sausages and poached eggs.

After breakfast we gassed up the bikes, suited up in warm clothes for our first big ATV rip of the trip.

Peter has been coming to Glenwood for decades and knows the myriad of woods roads & bike paths like the back of his hand! I've done a lot of riding & orienteering, but I still found Pete's knowledge of this area truly remarkable. Especially given this country is generally flat and devoid of tall landmarks like I am used to on the East Coast.

Our ride today would take us deep in country first crossing the Southwest Gander with our next destination being Caribou Lake.

Bassan was riding his '97 Honda Foreman 400, Johnny the camp's Honda Fourtrax 300, Pete his new Honda Foreman 520, and of course I rounded out the group on Project Foreman, my built '98 Honda Foreman 450s.

I decided to carry extra gas as my bike often burns a little more than other stock Honda's. With my UNI air filter, 2" snorkel and MBRB exhaust, I have the needle set all the way up in my carburetor to enrich the mixture as much as possible without re-jetting. In cold fall weather it's right on point.

In these freezing temperatures I was super appreciative of my new Sitka Hudson hunting suit. I started wearing it this past moose hunting season with a pair of same pattern Sitka Grinder pants (which are only water resistant and non-insulated) as they were out of stock of the Hudson bib's. Thankfully Outdoor Pros received their order just before this trip so I picked up the bib's which are fully waterproof and insulated like the jacket. This suit was perfect for this adventure with temps near -5ºC plus wind-chill from riding ATV's, I never once felt cold. 

Caribou Lake in the background.

We continued on travelling generally Southbound making great time on wonderful woods roads crossing the Southwest Gander once again.

After that crossing we turned and headed generally West and crossed another branch of the Southwest Gander. From here our trip would take us towards NL Route 360 aka the Bay d'Espoir Highway before turning and circling back North-North East towards camp.

Just after the river crossing we decided to stop and have a cook-up as we were approximately half way through our adventure. It was early afternoon so we knew we would be riding after dark.

Pete and I got a fire going and put the kettle on and got some moose sausages cooking in short order.

Bassan broke out his new Kelly Kettle, after some setbacks and a little education in fire starting we had him boiling water like a pro!

After lunch we packed up and hit the trails once again with Pete leading the way. We ran into some snow flurries which was no problem for my new suit and goggle equipped Motocross style helmet. It's important to have gear that is comfortable and warm for the conditions you may find yourself in when enjoying the outdoors. There is nothing worse than being cold and miserable.

The sun set and temperatures dropped even further shortly thereafter. Accessories such as Heat Demon heated grips and a quality light bar like Bassan and I both have installed on our bikes are a game changer for these conditions!

It was after 6pm before we got back to camp with 110 awesome kilometres logged on the bikes. I ran the last hour of our ride with my fuel tank switched to reserve but finished the trip without having to refuel from my jerry can. It was darn close! On the supper menu this evening was Bassan's famous home made moose pasta sauce. Peter, Johnny and I fancied ours up by adding Heinz Ketchup much to Bassan's utter dismay! LoL

It wasn't a late night for this crew this evening, but we did enjoy another episode of Huntin' on the Rock and a couple of cold snacks.

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