We arrived at Trout River Campground in Gros Morne National Park for a two-night stay. This length of stay gave us an opportunity for hiking the Tablelands, which is one of the most fascinating places on the planet as there are only a few places where this kind of geological event occurred. However, out of those few places, this is the only one where the average traveler can access through short- or long-day hikes.
Joyous Vagaries did the Tablelands hike, and we were deeply moved by the billion year old landscape that is an ancient sea floor. “The rocks that make up the Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, are over 1 billion years old, while the event that pushed them to the surface happened roughly 500 million years ago.” You should visit this place, but if unable see this link to learn more: Where the Earth Tells Its Story.
We then strolled into the town of Trout River to visit the Trout River Interpretation Center. Young Ben, a local chap, gave us a tour of the facility, and provided us with some local history, especially about the Blue Whale.
On the people front, we met a lovely couple from Quebec. Like all people we have met from Quebec, they were kind and patient with our “grade school level” of French. We wish them safe travels back home and hope to meet up with them again some day.
While our hike on the Tablelands had great weather, the day we left our campground, the weather was overcast and rainy. We decided to make a last stop at the Tablelands parking area in case there was a “rainy day” photographic opportunity – and there was! For a brief moment, the sun came out which produced a gorgeous full rainbow! At one point it seemed to be so close that one could reach out and touch it – a miraculous moment. You could not have asked for a better punctuation to a Tablelands visit.
After Tablelands, we moved on to take a boat tour on Western Brook Pond, provided by Bontours. Before reaching the boat tour, we stopped by the Visitors Center to have a quick lunch where we had the opportunity to meet a lovely couple from Bangor, Maine, and their friend from California. We wish them enjoyable travels and a safe trip home.
Western Brook Pond is a fresh water Fjord that is part of the Appalachian Mountain Range (the same chain of mountains we started with at Flagg Mountain in Alabama). The weather was not ideal – rain, fog, and wind made it difficult to get optimum photos. However, we managed to get a few shots off and had an enjoyable afternoon of it. It was a thrill to ride through such a narrow strip of water with the Appalachian Mountains rising up on both sides of us!
After our tour of the Fjords on Western Brook Pond, we checked into Shallow Bay Campground for the night, and had just enough time to cook some dinner before the rain set in.
Next up: French Bread Oven in Port au Choix
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