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Although Happy Valley-Goose Bay is an isolated town, there are still some excursions to be made beyond its boundaries. The furthest you can go on paved road is about 40km to Sheshatsheits and North West River, passing the turn-off for the Lewisporte ferry and then a large ski hill. Be sure and stop to see Simeon Falls , a forest waterfall in the middle of a dense, moss-covered thicket. It's easy to miss: watch for a sign on the road that says "Waterfall 600ft" and then walk along a short winding trail over a tangle of tree roots. NORTH WEST RIVER itself is a small former fur-trading community picturesquely sited on a broad isthmus between two vast bodies of water: Grand Lake, a deep freshwater lake to the west, and Lake Melville, an inland sea with tides and long sandy beaches to the east. For a panoramic view , drive the 2km up to Sunday Hill on a rather rough, potholed road; you'll be rewarded with sweeping vistas of both lakes and the Mealy and Mokami ranges in the distance. In the village the main attraction is the home and studio of John Goudie , on River Road (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm), a local artist who makes furniture and jewellery out of Labradorite, a lustrous crystallized stone. He'll show you his studio where he and his assistants craft the stone and then take you into his house to see the furniture he's made, as well as a huge Labradorite-studded fireplace. The Labrador Interpretive Centre , located on Hillview Drive above the town (daily: 1-4pm; free), has displays of Innu and Inuit crafts, quilts and sculpture, as well as ancient artefacts found in nearby graves. There's also a display relating to the tragic Hubbard expedition in 1903, when three ill-equipped men set out from the town by canoe to explore the interior, resulting in one death. Directions to the centre are poor: take the road sharp left immediately after crossing the bridge and continue driving up the hill to the end of the road. The Innu village of SHESHATSHEITS (pronounced "shesh-ah-shee"), across the small harbour is worth a stroll as long as you don't linger too long; it's a traditional village and doesn't really encourage tourists. To experience the Labrador countryside at its most awe-inspiring, make a trip to Muskrat Falls , a thunderous falls on the Churchill River, which is as close to a safari trek as you'll get in Labrador without going too far from civilization. To get there, drive out of Happy Valley on the Trans-Labrador Route 500. After about 40km, watch for a rather small sign on the left indicating a narrow dirt road, down which you drive about 10km and then park your car. From there it's another twenty-minute hike on a rough unmarked trail down to the bank of the river, where you can view the falls from a spray-covered rocky outcrop. There are no facilities along the way, so be sure to take good walking shoes, plenty of drinking water and insect repellent.
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