Deer Lake

You've got to be strong.

My final stop before flying home from Deer Lake, the unofficial capital of western Newfoundland, was in a place we now know as Cormac, but which was once known as the Humber Valley Settlement, an historic post-World War II agricultural community established in 1946 to give returning war veterans a fresh start and revive the island's farming industry.

Here today, B&B owners Laurie Lee and Mark LeDrew, with Mi'kmaq and French heritage respectively, not only offer beds, but stories from the hardy past residents who tried to carve a life out in this sometimes unforgiving environment.

Following on the tradition of their ancestors, they practice regenerative agriculture, attempting to be as self-sufficient as possible, as Laura Lee explains.

A seven and a half kilometre return hike, it offers a proper climb uphill to the mountains of the same name, which offer huge views across the Gulf of St Lawrence.

This is the perfect mountain meets ocean hike of Newfoundland.

In fourth place, for something super easy but knock your socks off stunning, go to the Sir Richard Squire's Memorial Provincial Park near Deer Lake.

There's various short walks to follow, but the best is the Big Falls Trail, which in just 100 metres will see you reaching the Humber River, where you can watch the salmon leap upstream between June and August each year.

All right.

Before we close up shop for the weekend, just to make you aware of something, particularly if you're in the Deer Lake area.

The Holstein Farm, Southside of Deer Lake in St. Jude's, Newfoundland, the public is advised of military training exercises that will be happening there in the Holstein Farm.

September 19th and 20th, so tomorrow and Sunday, you might hear some small arms, blank ammunition being used.

You might observe some rubber inflated boats operating on or around the south side of Deer Lake.

You might observe some training or activity around the south side of the farm.

These activities are part of a scheduled military training exercise.

And that will be involving the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

I know media from all over are there, as well as other places, not to mention Gander.

The hundreds, maybe even thousands, I don't know, but I'd say certainly hundreds, you know, there may be others we don't even know of, but who quietly came here to reflect on those events, if they were here and happened to be here, stranded like others, not to mention, you know, just this time planned, as I mentioned earlier, thank goodness, and who would have thought, you know? that somehow in the midst of all the shock and the death and the horror and like just a terror of that day that this could in any way be turned into a feel-good moment but it was and you know the importance uh of that to those who ended up here on that day uh just ask them many have no words or have some words that they can barely get through the tears of appreciation right so In a nod to Come From Away, I would encourage, you know, Gander, Appleton, Gambo, Lewisport, Deer Lake, Stephenville, Goose Bay, St.

John's, wherever, take another bow.

You know, take another bow if you had anything to do with anyone and helping anyone on that day.

I heard it this morning.

Oh, it sends chills up your spine because you're starting to realize the enormity of this.

Then we started getting calls from Gander and Stephenville and Goose Bay and Deer Lake.

And we had reporters all over the province at that time.

Lots of hospital cr- we call them critical patient transfers.

So we pick them up out of these smaller hospitals in these small communities, and then move them to St. John's or to Deer Lake, Corner- to Corner Brook, um, these bigger s- uh, spots to take, uh, like, you know, if they needed to assessment by a doctor.

So that was like, say, one of the common missions.

Uh, obviously fishing vessels out, people are out making their livelihood in Newfoundland, uh, fishing the waters in the Atlantic.

It's kind of like the primary focus is getting on and off boats and stuff like that.

So we had completed that training and kind of put the, kind of the, put our boat skills, like not on hold, but we kind of know they taper off for the winter 'cause of the weather.

And then February, uh, we get ready to go to do a land extraction exercise we call Deer Lake.

It's the location we go, Deer Lake X everyone calls it, but it's, uh, on paper it's land extraction.

Well, I think it was a dude named Sheldon Decker.

My parents took me to camp somewhere outside of Deer Lake.

I don't know where it was.

I know I just got...

Come on.

I got

dropped off in Deer Lake.

And I remember the street was, like, abandoned.