Gros Morne National Park is the Natural Wonder of Newfoundland. Now in day 10 on the Rock, the two bucket list items are complete: Icebergs and now the Western Brook Pond Boat Tour
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Western Brook Pond Boat Tour
The towering cliffs are high as 600-700 meter range – that’s 3 football fields high – were spectacular. The cliffs make accessing the lake impossible except for the western side of the Pond where the terrain is nearly at sea level.
Parks Canada is keeping this area pristine. The fjord was carved by glaciers which eventually melted and the salt water was flushed out. Then Stag Brook as well as the many waterfalls filled the Pond.
The water is ultraoligotrphic which means there are very few nutrients and organism making it extremely clear and pure. It is quite spectacular and only one certified boat company is allowed to do tours much like at Maligne Lake/Spirit Island in British Columbia.
There are no roads going to the boat dock except for the 2 km gravel path. $10 gets you a golf cart ride down to the boat dock with most people doing the easy walk through the muskeg, a peat forming ecosystem which are scraggily fields where moose and antelope roam, but of course we saw none of this.
We did see a unique duck-like bird which determined to dig itself a hole and was not at all scared by us. We saw no canoes, kayaks or paddle boards but it was still quite cold.
We were quite happy to have our winter puffy jackets and hats for the return and could not imagine paddling through these winds. Kayaking is looked down upon the Internet says, and we heard tales of rocks slides every once in a while that create a thunderous boom, wave and dust cloud. In early 1900’s a slide caused a 30 foot wave.
My question was why is this called a Pond when it is 10 miles long with water depth in the 300 to 400 feet range. Our Guide said it was a carryover from the British who even called the Atlantic Ocean a Pond as in “across the Pond.”
It was an awesome day of incredible beauty.
Green Gardens Hike
One of my all time favorite hikes. During the first 2 kilometers you just wonder where the green of the gardens is.
Then the ocean view. This hike followed with cliffs and the grassy bluffs and beautiful coastal views and even steps down to the rocky beach.
Parks Canada had arranged for some vigilant greenskeepers.
It was a 6 mile day with ups and down and a 1200 ft elevation gain.
The problem is there was a lot of down, down down getting to the ocean bluffs and you knew that you would have to go back up, up, up at the end after being fatigued a bit by the hike anyway.
The rocks cliffs and along with the green made it absolutely stunning on our beautiful sunny day.
Hikes
Outlook Hike
The Outlook hike did just that provided incredible views looking Bonne Bay and East Arm from over 1000 ft elevation.
The shaded walk upward dirt path continued into the scruff where Parks Canada had at least a kilometer of boardwalk assembled into shrubbery.
It was a perfect workout for us 60 plusers and the views were amazing.
I had attempted this hike when we first came to Gros Morne and John was recovering from a head cold, but turned around because the fog was rolling in and it started to rain. That day the damp, damp Newfoundland was a reality.
This hike starts right from the Visitors Center and can be combined with Photo I-cloud download and delicious Moose Soup or Cappuccino and a sweet treat.
Baker’s Brook Falls
A nice 6 mile walk in the woods with less than 1000 feet of elevation. The prize was the beautiful falls.
And we even found several cute little toads along the way.
Coastal Hike to Greenpoint Campground
After being battoned down for a day of rain, we never even exited Vinny, John was feeling a bit better and we did the 3 mile hike along the Coast to Green Point.
Here we investigated the Muskat Hotel as one of the rangers described it because the canopy had coverage like a roof of this tree.
It was a nice and easy hike.
The salt water air felt great even though we had to beat back against the wind. We even found some fiddleheads.
Camping at Green Point Campground would allow for this walk right from the campground.
Green Point Geologic Site
This is where the layers of time tipped over and one can see them as you walk along the coast. Perhaps we should take the guided hike because I was told that you can even see fossils, but our untrained eyes did not spot any.
The layers of limestone and shale were unique to see from a horizontal perspective.
Tablelands
The hills are full of rusted peridotite. This rock is usually found deep within the earth’s crust and is rich in heavy metals creating an environment where few plants can survive.
There are a few that have adapted like the Newfoundland State Flower, the Pitcher Plant. It attracts insects and the hairlike strands prevent them from escaping. Once inside the “pitcher”, the excrement of these insects is where the plant gets water and nutrients to thrive.
Tablelands are part of the ancient Lapetus Ocean floor that instead of being pushed downward got pushed upward exposing the Earth’s Mantle on one side and the Appalachian Mountains on the other.
Furthermore, these Newfoundland Tablelands were instrumental in proving the theory of plate tectonics and Pangaea as these are the same rocks as in Africa and there were these green interesting alligator rocks here and called Serpentinite which are metamorphic peridotite.
We had decided to take the Parks Canada guided hike to understand a bit more about the Tablelands.
The hike was quite windy and we got back just as the sky began to sputter.
Traveling to Places
Rocky Harbor
The 29 years running Anchors Aweigh musical performance is also home and performed three days a week at the Anchor Pub.
Musicians were super talented and we loved the Led Zeppelin rendition of the traditional Newfoundland Song called Sonny’s Dream. One of the original founders, the accordion player, had a whole series of costumes and especially funny explanations. This production came out of the downturn of the cod fish industries that economically devastated Newfoundland about 30 years ago. They had a lot of energy and talent and even did a song where they got the whole waitress staff up dancing – the comradery was radiating in the place. Finally they did a call out of all the places where people came from and did a song from the area. In particular their walk across the artists from the Canadian Provinces was quite entertaining. It was an enjoyable evening and well worth the money to support local talent.
Norris Point
Norris Point is the town where there are boat tours, stores, restaurants (Catstop Bar- under construction in this shoulder season, but heard it was the happening place on the Harbor) and shops.
Twillingate to Gros Morne
Our drive from Twillingate to Gros Morne required a halfway stop at Lefty’s Pizza Parlor in Grand Falls Windsor. We were lucky to find screaming Wi-Fi so all photos could make their way to the cloud and I-phone and I-pad backups could occur and the pizza was really good too. We were both feeling a bit tired, as we had gotten screeched the prior night. A small rest at nearby Gorge Park was perfect to break up the trip – a hiking trail is also available there. And it doesn’t get dark to 10pm because we don’t want to hit a moose just see
Cow Head
Cow Head is home of the Theatre Newfoundland/Labrador Theater and of course we love to take in some of that when possible. A local guy named Daniel Payne was providing the show for the Friday Night 25th anniversary of the theater on the night we were passing through. The very talented singer, accordionist and fiddler took us through some of the local music of the area in this smaller back theater. It was so nice to hear his words without any amplification.
At the performance, we briefly talked with an older couple. Well, the next morning when I awoke, there was Darlene walking right by our cemetery hideout – I opened up and said hello and wouldn’t you know it, she invited us to the house for coffee on our way out of town.
Darlene and George, had a cute little house with guitars on wall and harps in the corners and whole wall full of beautiful yarn. Darlene wore another beautiful obviously hand knitted sweater which I had noticed the night before. She gifted me a small woven and crocheted shawl. She said she was mostly a weaver, but this was in her home in another province.
Camping area
Elephant RV Park
When traveling from the east or south, one first comes to the Tablelands/Trout River area of Gros Morne. We found a private Elephant Head RV park between these two where we called ahead to secure a spot. Nice new facilities high on a flat grassy area with excellent cell coverage and very peaceful.
Here if we had had been no clouds, it would have been great stargazing.
They even had an air trampoline which I had to try out! We followed the posted sign up a gravel road loop rather than take the Google Map route. Upon leaving they had warned that this section of the loop was rough-and we have heard that the Canadians mean business when they say a road is rough. The property also had several dome rooms and a nice community kitchen. We decided to go private with the Elephant because we had not purchased A Gros Morne National Pass and it was getting late to do so, and didn’t want to take a chance tangling with the Parks Canada Mounties.
Berry Hill Campground in the Rocky Harbor
We did a rainy hour drive from Tablelands Area to the Berry Hill Campground in the Rocky Harbor Area. Our campsite was pretty close to the community kitchen fireplace shelter and this had a wee bit of Wi-Fi with better reception when directly in the shelter. We are enjoying yet another full day of planned rain in Vinny, although tonight we are going to the Anchor Pub for the Anchor’s Aweigh Musical Enlightenment in Rocky Harbor.
Trout River
No electricity here, but the spaces are tree surrounded and very private. It took us a few tries to find the campground, but we found a picnic area with an incredible view of Bonne Bay.
This picnic area was the back drop to Father’s Day dinner (Cream Chipped Beef – dad’s favorite) and phone calls with the girls. We were the only ones there. The 14 year old Oban seemed to do the trick on our Green Garden Hike muscles, and we both were great the next morning despite this 7 mile hike with 1200 feet elevation gain. We had not done one of these for a while.
Cow head
We arrived in the town in the afternoon and decided to have lunch at what seemed to be the main jigging Shallow Bay Restaurant/Inn which conveniently was located right across the street from the Theatre for which we planned to attend. The bartender said that the Cow Head Lighthouse area would be a good place to park for a nice nap. Turned out we found our boondocking site for the night in a small turn out right below the protection of the Anglican Cemetery that was up a dirt road above that provided a bit of protection from the winds that always seem to be blowing in Newfoundland. This was a perfect boondocking site that was very close to town, yet quiet except for these strange sounding birds or maybe they were foxes, but both for our siesta and at night. The odd calls required me to have earplugs.
We would definitely check the Theatre schedule when planning for Cow Head and travelling up north. There is a Clover Farms grocery store and the area is charming. The Shallow Bay Restaurant/Bar was quite large and we even came back after the show to watch the Stanley Cup where the Oilers actually won the game – we left before the comeback at the end though, only about half a dozen people at the bar during the first half, not exactly a Philly style loud crowd.
Cow Head is the most northern part of Gros Morne, but still don’t know why it is called Cow Head. The Parks Canada, Shallow Bay Campground is nearby and people we met on the Boat Tour said it was quite nice and it has campsites with electricity. Parks Canada always provides great facilities.
Gros Morne General Camping
In this beginning/mid June time frame, would probably go up or down the Parks Canada campgrounds in this order or its reverse. If poor Wi-Fi is needed, get site close to kitchen. We had very spotty cell service, but some did come through occasionally. Visitor’s Center Wi-Fi way better
Shallow Bay / Cow Head
Theater, Lighthouse and Western Pond Tour
Berry Hill Campground
Hike Brooks Falls and Lookout
Anchors Aweigh in Rocky Harbor
Rocky Harbor Visitor Center Close with great WiFi and charging station at ever couch.
Rocky Harbor Laundromat right across the street from Ice Cream
Trout River Campground – no electricity
Green Gardens Hike
Tablelands Hike
Trout River Hike
Parks Canada Info
The Tablelands Visitor Center allowed us to purchase an early bird Gros Morne annual pass for about $50 for the year. We were planning to come and go to the park two more times during our Newfoundland visit, so this worked out perfectly rather than buying the $150 annual family pass for all Parks Canada that we would probably not use. Although Terra Nova National Park is in Newfoundland, my research showed it to not be so spectacular and I had decided to let it fall out. I spent a lot of time with the friendly park staff to get the 4-1-1 for all the places we must visit while in Gros Morne and while in Newfoundland. It was quite the drizzly day, and as John was congested and coming down with something or other, so I took advantage of a few really nice people at the Park Info Desk.
The Parks Canada Visitor’s center are brand new facilities. Rocky Harbor had just opened and it was quite pleasant to sit in the lobby and enjoy some faster internet – way better than at the Campground kiosk and there were comfortable chairs with electricity, beautiful scenery and nice bathrooms. Today we are going to try and download a season of Joe Pickett which helped pass the rainy days.
Parks Canada will not take reservations online for the current day, you just need to show up and be lucky. On the other hand, I have been searching for several days at the end of June when returning from St Anthony and it seems there are always non-electric sites available in all their campgrounds. There seems to be many private RV parks with full hookups throughout the area too.
Coastal Hike to Greenpoint Campground
Berry Hill Campground in the Rocky Harbor
Travels with Vinny VanGo 
You had a great adventure in Gros Morne, NP. Great pictures and write-up! — thanks for sharing. And I’ll see you when you come back and explore Mt. Witney again ; >)
Geoff
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