The hills just west of the Grassy Gullies are also heavily wooded and the climb is steep but it affords a spectacular view along the valley and away to the south and west towards Spread Eagle Peak and the ridge that runs from the bottom of Trinity Bay south and along the eastern side of Placentia Bay. West, beyond the crest of the hill, the land slopes away towards Trinity Bay providing yet another amazing view. It was from here that we caught out first glimpse of the waters of Trinity Bay seven miles (11 km) to the north and west and the cliffs along its north shore stretching away towards Trinity Harbour and beyond. Once again, John Guy’s “Mount Eagle” (Hopeall Head) rose in the distance to the northwest. We adjusted our course and headed off down the hill towards the bay.
The night of September 3, 1612, Crout tells us, they “lay in a wood by a freshe watter lake wher we killed some 5 or 6 ducks for our supper“, and that “in that lake was some 4 beavers nesses.” The route we followed on November 4, 1997 took us past the south side of Big Pond and on to Three Corner Pond and Loo Pond. The banks around Big Pond and Three Corner Pond are marshy and unlikely spots for anyone to spend the night but the north side of Loo Pond to the west of Three Corner Pond, and connected to it by a short, fast flowing stream, is dry and includes several places where one might stop for a night. The best of these is on a level bank just west of the stream. It was here that we stopped to ‘boil the kettle’, and while we may never know exactly where Crout’s party spent the night, it could not have been far from here. Loo Pond is roughly four miles east of Trinity Bay and its shallow, marshy waters are still frequented by a number of types of waterfowl including the black duck, the green-winged teal and the red breasted merganser.
