When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills, And summer spreads her hand, When silvern voices tune thy rills, We love thee, smiling land. When spreads thy cloak of shimmering white, At winter’s stern command, Thro’ shortened day, and starlit night, We love thee, frozen land. When blinding storm gusts fret thy shore, And wild waves lash thy strand, Thro’ spindrift swirl, and tempest roar, We love thee windswept land. As loved our fathers, so we love, Where once they stood, we stand; Their prayer we raise to Heaven above, God guard thee, Newfoundland
Those are the verses to “Ode to Newfoundland,” composed by Sir Cavendish Boyle, without the refrains as would be commonly sung. It was the national anthem of the Dominion of Newfoundland and these days is the official provincial anthem of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Newfoundland is the world’s 16th largest island; it is located far to the east in Canada and makes up one part of the now Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland was the first British colony in the Americas, and it is also where the Vikings, with Leif Erikson, landed when they first came to North America. You can visit the archeological dig at L’Anse aux Meadows on the west coast of the island.
The reason for its historical prominence in European times came from the large stocks of cod fish that inhabited the Grand Banks off the coast, though the island had long been home to the now-extinct Beothuk peoples prior to any European settlement. It is a rugged and windswept island with amazing vistas when the weather allows.
And that is often the problem.
Had I been one day early in my most recent December trip to the island, I would not have made it, as gale-force winds had cancelled flights. This can happen in December. I arrived to an island of snow and ice, a little unusual in early December, but then these days and on this island, you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you.
So it was that I found myself on a hike with my good friends Dr. Aaron McKim and Andrew Draskoy in the White Hills near St. John’s with Aaron’s two huskies. Our group has been doing “winter” hikes for decades. We used to call them Arctic Picnics, and our group we had dubbed the “Royal Anarcho-Geographic Society of Newfoundland” or RAGSN. The members of RAGSN number a multitude and these days live around the world. But today it was just Aaron, Andrew, and me on a short winter hike. The ground was icy but the day bright and a little windy, as you might hear from the audio.
Listen to the episode for some great stories and history about Newfoundland and Labrador, hiking, and more.
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