Corner Brook, Canada: Humber Arm Fjord, the Blow Me Down Mountains, and Captain Cook's Charts

Captain James Cook surveyed the coast of Newfoundland between 1763 and 1767, producing charts of such accuracy that they were used for navigation for over a century after his death. The Corner Brook area was part of this survey; the Captain James Cook Monument on the hillside above the city marks the viewpoint from which Cook took observations of the Humber Arm and the surrounding mountains. The monument is a 30-minute walk uphill from the city center; the view from the site shows the full length of the Humber Arm, with the paper mill at the water's edge and the fjord walls rising on both sides — essentially the same view Cook would have sketched. A cairn at the base of the monument has a plaque in both English and French; the surrounding parkland is maintained as a public viewpoint.

Blow Me Down Provincial Park, 40 kilometres south of Corner Brook on Route 450, takes its name from the Blow Me Down Mountains that drop steeply into the Bay of Islands along the South Shore. The park encompasses hiking trails through boreal forest to mountain viewpoints with panoramas of the Bay of Islands, Newfoundland's most complex coastal geography — a series of islands, narrows, and bays that was the site of early European settlement along the island's western shore. The park's hiking trails range from 1.5 to 8 kilometres; the Fox Island River Trail follows the river to a series of waterfalls in a valley that sees moose almost daily. The park's picnic areas overlook the bay from a height that makes the scale of the surrounding landscape comprehensible.

The Humber Valley, extending 45 kilometres northeast from Corner Brook to Deer Lake, contains some of the best salmon and trout fishing rivers in Newfoundland. The Humber River system is known for Atlantic salmon runs in July and August; pools below the Steady Brook Falls are traditional salmon lies accessible within 15 minutes of the city. The Marble Mountain ski resort at Steady Brook, 6 kilometres northeast of Corner Brook, operates as a hiking and mountain biking center in summer, with gondola service to the summit providing the same views available in winter without the snow. The annual Corner Brook Fall Foliage Festival (typically late September) coincides with the larch and birch color change that turns the hillsides around the city yellow and amber.

The Corner Brook Museum and Archives, in the city's downtown, documents the region's history from the Mi'kmaq and Beothuk presence through the European fishery and the establishment of the paper mill in 1923 — an event that transformed Corner Brook from a small fishing community into the region's industrial center. The paper mill, still one of the largest in Atlantic Canada, is visible from the cruise dock and its effluent plume is a permanent feature of the Humber Arm skyline. The museum's collection covers the Bowater's era (the British company that built and operated the mill for much of the twentieth century) and the social history of a company town with unusual thoroughness.