Gros Morne: Heading North

Sunrise walk with Shadow

   How fortunate we were to have a 3rd day with            good  weather, warm temperatures and no rain,            There are  more than 100 km of trails in the park.        We took on two  more as we started our drive  north     up the west  coast. 

  

 The Salmon Point Trail was an easy warm up, less than 1 km to views of the mouth of Bonne Bay, carved by glaciers. The trailhead  was at the end of Main St. S in Rocky Harbour, a single lane dirt road.

 

 We drove only a few km on Route 430 to the Coastal Trail, a very popular one. The 6 km return path 

follows the winter mail road which connected two small fishing communities. The trail passes cobble beaches  strewn with driftwood, through short stretches of dense coastal forests known as "tuckamore"  (trees stunted by the wind). There were beautiful coastal vistas, We met several hikers in both directions. It took us a little over two hours for the trek....many photo opportunities for me.

Wildlife sightings: several   small toads, a fuzzy caterpillar, one cormorant, and one shorebird (unidentified). 

We ate a late lunch in the parking lot before driving a short distance to Cow Head, a community of approximately 400, in the park. We are at Sea Breeze RV Park overlooking the ocean. We drove only  54 km. An early stop, before 3 p.m., allowed us to do a major house cleaning.

Gros Morne: Day 2

 

The day began much warmer @ 18º and hazy. Our first sightseeing stop was the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse on the northern side of the entrance to Bonne Bay. The lighthouse was constructed in 1897 and operated as a signal station when signal flags were used to send messages. Automated equipment was installed in 1969. The property was eventually transferred to Parks Canada and now has very interesting  exhibits showing how the lighthouse operated and the life of the lightkeepers' families. Several trails lead off from the lighthouse to the coastline.

Our next adventure was the highlight of the day: the two hour boat tour of  Western Brook Pond, a landlocked fiord carved by glaciers. Kathy did  the 3 km walk from the parking lot  to the boat terminal while I chose to take the golf cart, $10 round trip.

The 12:30 excursion took two boats the crowd was so large. The tour went 16 km down the fiord. There was live commentary pointing out the geological features and some of the historical events like landslides. The scenery was breath-taking. We saw a couple of waterfalls. No wildlife.

Our boat dropped off a group of hikers who were going to do the 35 km unmarked trail using GPS and compasses, usually a 2-3 day trek.

The end of the fiord

   We returned to Rocky Harbour, browsed through a couple of         craft shops  on the waterfront and ate dinner at Fishermans       Landing. Kathy had a lobster roll; I had scallops. Our dinners     were pricey but tasty. The restaurant was quite popular.

We returned to the campground around 5:30. A shorter driving day, just 68 km but a trip highlight for sure.

Gros Morne National Park: Day 1

 Gros Morne National Park  was established in 1973 and made a national park in only 2005. The park was awarded World Heritage Site  status by UNESCO in 1987. The park takes its name from Newfoundland's 2nd highest peak at 2,644 ft. It's French meaning  is "large mountain standing alone" or more literally "great sombre".

Fortunately for us, Gros Morne was not 'morne'  this day as we drove 181 km under mainly sunny skies and never left the park. We stopped at the Visitor Centre  to get information on the hiking trails. We took two short hiking trails, less than a km each  on our way to Norris Point on Bonne Bay. The Mattie Mitchell National Historic Site & Trail commemorates the Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland. Mattie Mi'kmaq was a 20th c. guide, trapper and prospector.

The Southeast Brook Falls Trail led to a beautiful cascading waterfall.

The view  at Norris Point was breath-taking and well worth the side trip. We returned and continued along  Route 430 which followed the shoreline of East Arm. More stunning vistas before turning inland. We drove through the communities of Glenburnie,  Birchy Head and Shoal Brook.  We visited the park's Discovery Centre at Woody Point, literally the end of the road. The centre had very interesting exhibits which explained the geology of the park.

We stopped briefly in Woody Point to mail cards.

We returned to the campground around 5:00. A great day of sightseeing in the park.

Back To The West Coast

Sunrise on the river

  It was only 9º and a "frost warning" for Grand-Falls Windsor when we    left the campground and continued west. Sunny, dry weather ahead.

  Kathy found another one, hiking trail, that is, at King's Point on Green    Bay, a short distance off the TCH.

The Alexander Murray Hiking Trail is named after the Scottish geologist and explorer who produced the first geological map of Newfoundland which led to the building of the trans-provincial railway.

The 8 km trail is rated moderate - difficult reaching an elevation of 1100 ft with approximately 2200 manmade  stairs to a view of Green Bay.. There are three waterfalls and a 600 ft. gorge along the trail. The lady at the information centre was very helpful in making suggestions. After signing in for safety reasons, Kathy hiked to the 2.7 km mark for some of the best viewpoints while I, recognizing my limitations, walked about 1.5 km through mostly forest and a couple of the flights of stairs (puff, puff, wheeze...). Kathy hikes for the hike with the scenery being a bonus. I hike for the scenery and the photography.

 

We drove as far as Deer Lake where we stopped for gas and a few groceries at Foodland. The drive into Gros Morne National Park was  absolutely stunning under partly cloudy skies. Beautiful vistas at every turn. 

We checked into Gros Morne RV Campground  in Rocky Harbour for three nights. We drove  320 km.

Turn Around Day

Not only is it Hell-With -The -Bell -Tuesday, on this, the 16th day of our trip, 3,655 km from Dunromin, we made the turn for home. But it certainly isn't an end to  our adventures ... still more to come. One Newfoundlander we met who was visiting friends at a campground for the long weekend and was from Corner Brook, said "The best is in the west." (To clarify, she had never left Newfoundland.)

Taking the shorter ferry to and from Newfoundland does have an advantage: driving the same route west and east.  It rained all morning and was at times very foggy as we drove west  back through Terra Nova National Park. Fortunately the weather was clear when we were driving east through the park. We eventually drove out of the rain and  stopped  in Glovertown to eat lunch, made a brief stop at  a Tim's on the highway past Gander and arrived at Sanger Memorial RV Park on the outskirts of Grand-Falls Windsor around 4:00. The campground is situated on the banks of the  Exploits River, "one of the top Atlantic salmon rivers in North America".

We drove 420 km today. Harvee Too got a good power wash.

Saint John's: Day 2

 It was a much warmer 19º, very humid  and overcast when we drove back to Signal Hill to see the Cabot Tower shrouded in fog. 0 visibility out to sea. The Cabot Tower is a federal Heritage Building named after John Cabot who discovered  Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in 1497.

Construction of the tower began in 1898 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Cabot's landing. The tower opened in 1900.

From there we drove a short distance to visit the Johnson Geo Centre cut from the ancient rock of Signal Hill. Called Newfoundland's "premier science centre", the building goes underground three levels. The geological exhibits explain the creation of our planet and the province and include space exploration.  It was completed in 2002. We watched a short film narrated by Gordon Pinsent supported by  special effects in the theatre.

In front of the centre are large bronze sculptures of the two dogs of Newfoundland and Labrador. They recognize the province as the home of the two world famous breeds. 

We took a  lunch break from our sightseeing and ate  at the famous fish and chips restaurant Ches's. Kathy treated me to a delicious  scallops and chips dinner; she had the seafood platter, also delicious.

The next attraction we visited was The Rooms, "a cultural facility" that opened in 2005 situated on a hill overlooking Saint John's. More than just a museum, it houses the most extensive collection of artifacts depicting Newfoundland's history, ways of life. It was all so very interesting. We could have spent more than the 2 1/2 hours there that we did. The building and layout of the four floors were fascinating in themselves..

It reached 26º, felt like 31º. We were exhausted from all the walking and standing, our brains mush from the information overload. We filled the gas tank  @ $1.68.9 / l on the way back to the campground, arriving back around 5:30. We drove 46 km.