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magazine / ja03
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July/August 2003 issue |
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MOSAIC
Summer in the pits
Photography and text by Wanita Bates
There's all kinds of places but the place we likes to get
Is up on the highway in the gravel pits
— From "The Pits" by Buddy Wasisname and the Other Feller
For an estimated 5,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, summer
means it's time to head — with trailers and lawn chairs
in tow — for the abandoned gravel pits that line the province's
highways.
Why camp in a gravel pit? That's a good question. No one seems
to know why exactly, but it's not uncommon to hear about people
camping in the same deserted pit for 20, 30 or even 50 years. At
least one group of campers has even banded together to lease land
from the provincial government and turn it into a private campground.
"People have their spot, and they're not interested in
going anywhere else," says Norm Catto, a geography professor
at Memorial University of Newfoundland. "Quite often, people
are joined by their friends, and they create great bonds with their
fellow gravel-pit campers."
For the rest of this story, visit your local newsstand or go to our store to buy this issue. top
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