For the last 10 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 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 I wholeheartedly agreed. He said to bring nothing other than clothes and bikes. So Wednesday afternoon Bassan and I did just that. Bassan didn't want to tow 2 ATV's and gear with his Tacoma so we loaded up my trusty Silverado 2500HD and hit the highway westbound to central Newfoundland. Its an adventure to get there, about 4.5 hours driving, the last hour on gravel roads going deep into the country of Central Newfoundland.

Driving conditions were ideal, 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 across the logging roads of Glenwood. It was much colder in Gander than we've experienced in town, and 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 such as Gord Follett & Dwight Blackwood of Newfoundland Sportsman fame!

Camp was quite cold but quickly warmed up after 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 to create more room for leaving the camp on ATV 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 snow.

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

As skies cleared 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 2nd attempt at some game, Bassan went again on foot, and 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, but winds were up blowing them around a lot. I fired 3 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 that Pete 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's Huntin' on the Rock. Dicks is a professional guide 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 across! It's wide and moderately deep, but the bottom changes after every rainstorm! We all got back to camp 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 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.

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 last 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 had the kettle on and some moose sausages cooking in short order.

Bassan broke out his new Kelly Kettle, after some setbacks and a little education 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 Sitka Hudson 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 cold snacks.

Saturday morning Pete was up at the crack of dawn and headed out for a quick ATV hunt and spotted 8 moose down by the river! Breakfast this morning consisted of fish puddings, homemade pork sausage, bacon, fried eggs and topped with leftover pasta from last evenings supper.

After breakfast we suited up, fuelled up the bikes and hit the trails once again. Today's destination was not as far as yesterday but had a lot of tighter trails as we headed to Hunt's Cove on the massive Gander Lake for a boil-up.

Skies were clear and temperatures quite chilly as we racked up mile after mile on Glenwood woods roads.

It was neat to see Mount Peyton way off in the distance, a truly remarkable landmark capped with fresh snow! This is the location of Sooley's misadventure in 2005 where he lost & destroyed his snowmobile over the backside of the mountain!

Hunt's Cove is on the backside of the mighty Gander Lake (with respect from the town of Gander). It's a beautiful spot and was a perfect destination for our cook-up.

Once again Peter and I had a fire roaring in no time flat, and today Bassan applied his fire making lesson from yesterday and had his Kelly Kettle steaming in record time!

Today's lunch menu included steeped tea, bologna and beans!

After lunch we hit the trails once again visiting some points of interest along the way back to camp.

Our first stop was at a dandy trapper cabin on the shores of beautiful Hunt's Pond.

Next we took a trail that parallel's the Southwest Gander River up to its delta at Gander Lake. Of course we stopped and had a chat here and there along the way.

As darkness fell we headed back towards camp logging a total of 70km on the bikes for today's adventure! Thankfully no risk of running short of fuel today!

Supper this evening was top shelf. A full jigs dinner with all the fixings, moose roast, and the two grouse Peter & I harvested. It was one heck of a feed!

After an exquisite meal we settled back with a couple cold snacks and finished off the collection of Huntin' on the Rock followed by Moose Mania!

Sunday was the last day of the Glenwood trip. Pete and Bassan got up early for a quick hunt while Johnny and I packed up some gear we were finished with for the trip. Breakfast this morning was basically anything leftover including bologna, moose sausages and fried eggs.

Frost overnight was heavy duty so everything was quite crisp!

We took our time packing up, loading up the trucks, bikes, getting Pete's bikes stored & winterized, cleaning the cabin and getting it re-winterized for the coming winter season.

We hit the road around noon, it was beautiful in central but forecasters predicted heavy rain by the time we would get back on the Avalon.

Few pics on the steel bridge crossing the Northwest Gander River.

It was a little warmer this afternoon, however the mid day sun really loosened up the gravel roads. My trusty Silverado was in quite a state, however as we ran into heavy rain near Whitbourne most of the mud was gone by the time we got home.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, my very first in the backwoods of Central Newfoundland but certainly won't be my last.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith