Newfoundland arrival and Gross Morne NP Sept. 15-19, 2019
We left Chambers b and b and drove to the ferry terminal just a few minutes away. It was a 7 hour ferry ride to Newfoundland...had a codfish dinner when we arrived and then checked into our suite at a local motel which had been booked by our airbnb, which had some unexplained thing happen so that we couldn't stay there. Anyway, the next day we drove to Gross Morne NP with a grocery store stop in Corner Brook (hometown of Alison Crowe and the 3rd largest town in Newfoundland). We are staying in the "sunken dory" a garden level studio apartment in a salt box house in Rocky Harbor, a small town within the park. Chad (who is from Newfoundland) works for the park, and his wife Tara, who is from Goose Bay Labrador and their 4 year old son Matthew are our hosts. A ice little place to use as our base. Cool/cold wet weather our first full day here...but we made the most of it, doing a 2 hour ranger led hike in the Tablelands (Siegrid was humorous and informative), followed by a couple of short but beautiful hikes near Trout River, and a stop at the Discovery Centre before returning to the sunken dory. It's quite beautiful here, and the park is UNESCO site for its natural beauty and world class geologic status. It's one of the few (and probably the best) places on earth where the earth's mantle is exposed (Tablelands region). It also has several landlocked fiords that have been cut off from the ocean for so long that they are now fresh water. It's all very interesting and quite dramatic.
Our second full day was cool/cold but partly sunny and no rain. We took in a another ranger led talk at Green Point, an amazing location where sedimentary rocks interspersed with limestone layers that have been laid down over hundreds of millions of years are exposed tilted up vertically. We learned many interesting facts, but a surprising one was that the Scottish highlands are actually a part of the Appalachian chain as is the long range of western Newfoundland. We also took in Lobster Cover head, lighthouse, museum and numerous viewpoints along a headland trail; Berry hill trail, and our longest one...around a 6 mile RT hike to see the Bakers Brook Falls - very impressive. A great second day in the park.
Our second full day was cool/cold but partly sunny and no rain. We took in a another ranger led talk at Green Point, an amazing location where sedimentary rocks interspersed with limestone layers that have been laid down over hundreds of millions of years are exposed tilted up vertically. We learned many interesting facts, but a surprising one was that the Scottish highlands are actually a part of the Appalachian chain as is the long range of western Newfoundland. We also took in Lobster Cover head, lighthouse, museum and numerous viewpoints along a headland trail; Berry hill trail, and our longest one...around a 6 mile RT hike to see the Bakers Brook Falls - very impressive. A great second day in the park.
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