Gros Morne – Not enough time…
We spent the 25th to 30th in Gros Morne park. What can I say about it. Only one word works and that word is “WOW”!
We stayed in Rocky Harbour at the Gros Morne RV Park. On the 26th we did several shorter hikes visiting Norris Point, Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, Green Point and several others. Don refused to come with me for an 8 hour hike up Gros Morne Mountain and he didn’t want me to do it by myself so I made him hike as many trails as I could find.
The 27th found us hiking the 3km boardwalk to Western Brook Pond to take the 2 hour boat tour through the ancient landlocked fjords. Amazing! The water doesn’t conduct electricity. Truly an enjoyable way to spend 2 hours. 3km back to the parking lot. Unfortunately Lucy had to stay back in the rig as dogs were not allowed on the boat but she got her long walks in the morning and afternoon.
The 28th was spent on another boat tour around Bonne Bay. We were fortunate to see a minke whale. I couldn’t snap a photo fast enough to catch it with my camera but I got some great shots of the ocean. 🙂
Life in Newfoundland certainly was no picnic back in the day. When we were passing by Woody Point, the guide who grew up there said the houses were insulated with sawdust or old clothing – anything to keep the cold out. He told us that at one point in time, the Newfoundland government was offering to provide a ram to the smaller remote communities so they could raise sheep. One of the residents of Woody Point heard about the program and wrote to ask for a ram. The response was that the community was to small to be given a ram. He wrote back and said that it wasn’t for the people but for the sheep. A little local humour there.
On our “last” day in Gros Morne we decided that we wanted to come back to hike the Tablelands (30 km behind us) and visit Trout River and Woody Point so we booked a 2 night stay for after our visit to the far northern tip of the “West Coast” as it is referred to here.
We drove to Cow Head with a couple of hiking trails in mind and also the possibility of finding a larger grocery store than what was in Rocky Harbour. We wanted to hike the Old Mail Road trial at Shallow Bay. The misty fog had just lifted. Perfect! Not too hot, not too cold. With Lucy leashed up, off we went. The trail meandered through the trees towards the coast. Blast! There were mosquitoes. First just a few but as we went deeper into the trees, more and more arrived. Don said they were swarming around me. I could see that his red had was black. Lucy was being bugged by them too. Don wanted to turn around right then but I thought the trail might come out into the open soon so we continued on. Pretty soon I couldn’t see through the swarm. I had to give up. I put my coat around my head and we practically ran back to the truck. All I could think about was the poor mail man if conditions were the same back then. He must have gone nuts! The bugs followed us back into the truck and we bashed bugs for quite some time.
I have 4 photo albums of this part of our trip which I will upload when we have free wifi.
