Another travel day with no sightseeing; our only stops were for lunch and gas. We covered almost as many miles as yesterday, 290 miles from campsite to campsite. It rained for most of the drive but once we arrived in Deer Lake, which is just outside Gros Morne National Park, the clouds cleared and the sun warmed up to the mid 60's.
This area of Newfoundland looks very different than the east coast. It's greener, much less developed, and instead of hills, there are mountains that appear to rise as much as the White Mountains, but they do it right up to the water. It's like Echo Lake in Franconia Notch on a much greater scale.
Once we entered the park, we still had another 35 km to get to our campsite. The drive was spectacular; very hilly with gorgeous views at every turn. Got to our campsite around 5:30 and after setting up all our gear, we drove into Rocky Harbor, a very small town only a few miles away. We had a great dinner, pan fried scallops for Joni and grilled halibut for me. From our table we were treated to a beautiful sun set on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Both the staff and the fellow diners at this restaurant were very friendly and offered lots of suggestions on what to eat and what to visit. The hospitality of Newfoundlanders and our fellow tourists continues to amaze us. We're spending four nights here and we can't wait to start exploring.
Day 11, Saturday
Beautiful day; sunny with just a few high clouds and temps in the low 60's. Spent the entire day visiting various sights in the Gros Morne National Park.
After bacon, eggs, and toast in the campground with drove just a few miles to the next fishing village south of us, Norris Point. Stopped in a wonderful coffee shop and chatted with a couple driving a Roadtrek who were on the 4th visit to Newfoundland. Got some great shots of the "Tablelands" which is a high plateau above tree line where Alex went winter camping with one of outdoor rec expeditions from UVM. His photos of that week were what first sparked our interest in visiting here.
Next we headed back through Rocky Harbour, confirmed our tickets for an afternoon boat trip up a fjord, and then visited the Lobster Head Cove Lighthouse.
Headed up the coast along the Viking Trail we stoppEd at various tiny fishing villages before picking up two orders to go of fish and chips at the Snack Shack in Sally's Cove, population 27.
Having driven no more than a mile up the beyond the Snack Shack, we spotted the two red Adirondack chairs that are found in all Canadian National Parks. There are 16 pairs of these chairs, "waiting to be discovered" in GrosMorne. They are usually placed in breathtaking spots to encourage you to just sit back and enjoy the view. We did.
As we used to say when we would go on family ski trips and found ourselves alone on a trail, "nothing but Bidgoods", and that what's it was like as far as you could see in any direction...incredible. That's Newfoundland!
Hating to leaving, but knowing there were lots more amazing sights awaiting our discovery we continued our journey up the Viking Trail and came upon the remains of the steamship "Ethie" that went aground in a terrible storm 97 years ago. Hard to believe there would be anything left after so long.
Leaving the "Ethie" we headed for our big ticket activity of the day, a two hour cruise across the fresh water fjord "Western Brook Pond". To get to the boat you have to walk 3 km across a marsh and scrub forest. Lots of moose possibilities, so they say, but we struck out both ways to and from our boat. We covered the 3 km in 37 minutes, giving us a few minutes to cool off after the fast paced hike before boarding the board which left the dock right at 4 pm.
This pond, as they call it, was originally a salt water fjord, but over time a marsh formed sealing it off from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and eventually all the water converted to fresh. The water is so pure that it doesn't even conduct electricity since there are so few minerals in the water. The lack of minerals also limits the animal growth in the pond, so there are far fewer fish than what would normally be In a body of water of this size. The pond is 16 km in length and over 350 feet deep in many spots.
The boat returned to our dock at 6 pm, and just as the crew was trying up the boat, we spotted a moose about 200 yards across the bay. Too far for a good photo, but I couldn't resist. I need a bigger lens!
That dark brown spot in the center of lower part of this photo is a moose. Trust me.
Our hike back to the parking lot went quickly as we chatted with a couple from British Columbia, and from there we drove back to Rocky Harbour for dinner at "Earl's". Following the advice of a man we met at the lighthouse at Fort Amherst in St. John's, I ordered the moose stew. It was good but I honestly couldn't say it tasted any different from beef stew. Joni wouldn't indulge...her childhood exposure to moose meat killed her appetite for it, so she had a pizza. Oh yeah, we had a couple of Icebergs too. Gonna miss that fine lager.
Just as we stepped out of the restaurant at 8:30 PM, and we were treated to the last seconds of the setting sun on Rocky Harbour. A beautiful end to a memorable day to say the least.
I zoomed in and spotted the moose!
ReplyDeleteI zoomed in and spotted the moose!
ReplyDelete