Introduction
Spruce. Larch. Spruce. Bog. Spruce. Lake. Spruce. Bog.
You get the idea. This 350km (217-mile) stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway is long and, if you're in a grumpy mood, awfully tedious. Travelers crossing the interior typically spend more of their time cursing slow-moving RVs and wishing for passing lanes than admiring the scenery. The vast forest is certainly monumental, and along the way you'll crest some hills and take in panoramic views of lakes or ocean inlets that finger their way down from the north. You can also detour to some appealing fishing villages on the north coast. These notwithstanding, Newfoundland's interior is widely regarded as an area you should pass through en route to more inviting areas, rather than one in which to linger. If you've been saving a book on tape in the trunk, this is the time to rummage around and get it out.
Grand Falls-Windsor and Gander are both regional service centers and are reasonable stopping points for stretching your legs, taking in an attraction, gassing up, getting a bite to eat, and perhaps spending a night if evening is encroaching. But neither offers much as a destination for travelers, with the exception of hunters, fishermen, canoeists, and backpackers who might choose to employ the towns as bases from which to explore the woody, boggy, lake-filled interior. The area around Twillingate is a distinct exception -- it's well worth the northward detour off the Trans-Canada Highway and could easily occupy a traveler who enjoys low-key, off-the-beaten-path destinations.
