Mealy Mountains, Labrador

[image source: NatureCanada.ca]

Mealy Mountains located in the southern portion of Labrador, is situated south of Lake Melville, north of Sandwich Bay and borders the Labrador Sea. The mountain range encompass over 26 thousand square kilometers of forests, tundra, wetlands, coastal barrens, lakes, beaches and bogs. A significant portion of the Mealy Mountains and surrounding areas has been designated as a potential National Park Reserve.

This large remote region contains many scenic areas, many of witch I was fortunate enough to get to see while surveying various areas of the soon to be National Park.

Along the east coast of the Mealy Mountains is a long 50 km stretch of beautiful sandy beaches known as the Wonderstrand, originally named by sea faring Vikings. Certainly would be a very popular site if it were located anywhere else. Came across an interesting blog about camping in the Wonderstrand area with lots of great photos.

This region houses an abundant amount of Canadian wildlife (Caribou, moose, black bears, bald eagles, fox etc.) that we came across quite often. The official bird of Labrador is the Grey Jay, little friendly birds that loved to perch upon our equipment and always seemed to show up when ever we were eating lunch.

There are not too many places established in the Mealy Mountains, a few small coastal communities (mostly evacuated areas that people have since migrated back to for seasonal use), lots of scattered cabins all along the coasts and a small fishing lodge at what was called Awesome Lake where I am sure there are some pretty big fish.

A helicopter certainly is the best means of transportation here although I am sure boats or skidoos in winter are also pretty good choices.