Stan
Well-known member
We spent nearly a month touring the Canadian Maritimes, including a week on that “rock out in the Atlantic”, Newfoundland. Rock it was with outcroppings of some of the oldest rock on the planet in Gros Morne where we spent much of our time, aside from waiting for the infamous ferry which had its regularly scheduled unscheduled equipment failure combined with the inevitable foul weather to delay an 11 AM sailing ‘til about 4 AM the next morning for the six hour crossing back to Nova Scotia.
Don’t get me wrong, the ferry was delightful and everyone from reservations to bartenders and in between was most pleasant and professional. It’s just that at that strange hour there is not much to do but sleep and without reservations for a cabin (who needs one during the day?) it is not the most comfortable siesta … except for Erik who found a couch in “funland”, a quiet place at that hour, and comfortably sprawled out … ‘til about 6 AM when a cheerful 5 year old girl and her younger brother stared into his bewildered eyes to inquire, “Would you like to play dress up?” Now, Erik is a cooperative victim for these things but at 6 AM and less than two hours sleep he mumbled, “Later … zzzzz.” At about 8 AM when things began to stir, he woke up to find himself decorated in a boa, an Easter bonnet and other assorted “funland” haberdashery … and a stuffed rabbit tucked under his arms.
Back to hiking.
Gros Morne has terrific opportunities for hiking and paddling but beware on the latter, the prevailing south and southwesterly winds get powerful coming through the mountains and into the “ponds”, the nomenclature for large bodies of water that millennia ago were fiords open to the ocean but, with falling ocean levels, now set tens of meters above sea level.
Our first hike was at the Discovery Center to the Lookout, a 5 km (3.1 mi), 1000 feet loop. The center and the hike are great introductions to the park and a must stop for an understanding of the unique geology and an overview.
Bonne Bay from the Lookout, the bump on the horizon is Gros Morne Mountain:
The hike up, clockwise for us, included a few hundred yards of boardwalk across a verdant meadow of wildflowers. There is a very steep stretch just below the summit and those with delicate knees might wish to come up that way instead.
Tablelands from the Lookout, note the color … that rock is among the oldest rock on the earth’s surface:
Our next “hike” is really an easy walk mostly along boardwalks and wide gravel paths to Western Brook Pond, the poster child of the Park. Paddlers might be tempted to wheel a kayak 3 km (1.9 mi) into the Pond and explore it before the wind came up, then paddle through the outlet and what appeared to be class I or maybe II for a short distance to flat water and the Gulf of St. Lawrence about three miles away. There is a campsite on the northern shore of the pond but crossing Western Brook on foot could be cold and tricky, even with the rope hold across.
We were fortunate to book a last minute ride on the boat that cruises to the head of this fiord, some of the most striking scenery in the Park, and in North America for that matter.
Trail into Western Brook Pond:
Western Brook Pond, these cliffs rise 650 meters above the Pond and sink 165 meters below it with waterfalls nearly 1000 feet:
We took a rainy day trip to the far northern tip of Newfoundland, a 1000 AD Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows. Erik described it as “to the back of beyond.” There is nothing like being there to appreciate the hardships and challenges those explorers faced in open boats and little in navigation equipment beyond their considerable wits. The climate was a bit friendlier then and they used this settlement for a staging area for further North American exploration … until the natives, failing to obtain weapons, tired of the barter and drove them away ... which may have been part of their motive for acquiring them.
Don’t get me wrong, the ferry was delightful and everyone from reservations to bartenders and in between was most pleasant and professional. It’s just that at that strange hour there is not much to do but sleep and without reservations for a cabin (who needs one during the day?) it is not the most comfortable siesta … except for Erik who found a couch in “funland”, a quiet place at that hour, and comfortably sprawled out … ‘til about 6 AM when a cheerful 5 year old girl and her younger brother stared into his bewildered eyes to inquire, “Would you like to play dress up?” Now, Erik is a cooperative victim for these things but at 6 AM and less than two hours sleep he mumbled, “Later … zzzzz.” At about 8 AM when things began to stir, he woke up to find himself decorated in a boa, an Easter bonnet and other assorted “funland” haberdashery … and a stuffed rabbit tucked under his arms.
Back to hiking.
Gros Morne has terrific opportunities for hiking and paddling but beware on the latter, the prevailing south and southwesterly winds get powerful coming through the mountains and into the “ponds”, the nomenclature for large bodies of water that millennia ago were fiords open to the ocean but, with falling ocean levels, now set tens of meters above sea level.
Our first hike was at the Discovery Center to the Lookout, a 5 km (3.1 mi), 1000 feet loop. The center and the hike are great introductions to the park and a must stop for an understanding of the unique geology and an overview.
Bonne Bay from the Lookout, the bump on the horizon is Gros Morne Mountain:
The hike up, clockwise for us, included a few hundred yards of boardwalk across a verdant meadow of wildflowers. There is a very steep stretch just below the summit and those with delicate knees might wish to come up that way instead.
Tablelands from the Lookout, note the color … that rock is among the oldest rock on the earth’s surface:
Our next “hike” is really an easy walk mostly along boardwalks and wide gravel paths to Western Brook Pond, the poster child of the Park. Paddlers might be tempted to wheel a kayak 3 km (1.9 mi) into the Pond and explore it before the wind came up, then paddle through the outlet and what appeared to be class I or maybe II for a short distance to flat water and the Gulf of St. Lawrence about three miles away. There is a campsite on the northern shore of the pond but crossing Western Brook on foot could be cold and tricky, even with the rope hold across.
We were fortunate to book a last minute ride on the boat that cruises to the head of this fiord, some of the most striking scenery in the Park, and in North America for that matter.
Trail into Western Brook Pond:
Western Brook Pond, these cliffs rise 650 meters above the Pond and sink 165 meters below it with waterfalls nearly 1000 feet:
We took a rainy day trip to the far northern tip of Newfoundland, a 1000 AD Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows. Erik described it as “to the back of beyond.” There is nothing like being there to appreciate the hardships and challenges those explorers faced in open boats and little in navigation equipment beyond their considerable wits. The climate was a bit friendlier then and they used this settlement for a staging area for further North American exploration … until the natives, failing to obtain weapons, tired of the barter and drove them away ... which may have been part of their motive for acquiring them.
