Blogs from Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, North America - page 4

Not having access to Gust O'Wind this summer has been a mixed blessing - it has not been a good sailing season on Georgian Bay - so our typical trip to the north Channel might not have been up to past years. The Whytes rented our place again for 3 weeks and we have taken off for the east coast - Halifax, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. We'll send along a couple of blogs of our travels over the next 3 weeks. Halifax is a great place to visit - we picked a B&B close to Downtown so we could walk everywhere. Spent 3 nights there. Highlights included: Pier 21(entry point for over a million immigrants to Canada), The Citadel, Maritime Museum and a lovely sail on the harbour. A surprise addition was being able to listen ... read more

June 24, 2008 Today our destination is Tablelands. First we visited the new interpretive center in Gros Morne and then drove through south and west along highway 431. What a contrast! The north side of the road was lush and green with gently rolling hills, plenty of trees. The south side was rocky, barren and flat. Scientists think that this area originated in the earth's mantle and was forced up from the depths of an ocean during a plate collision several hundred million years ago. The rock, peridotite lacks the usual nutrients required to sustain most plant life. It’s very low in calcium, very high in magnesium and iron and has toxic amounts of heavy metals. No wonder nothing grows here. After experiencing some more of Newfoundland's liquid sunshine, we continued west to Trout River for ... read more

Bob and I arrived in Newfoundland on Sunday, June 17..The ferry was about a 9 hour trip and we were able to keep up with the fantastic finish of the U.S. Open during the trip. We spent the night and took off the next morning for Gros Morne National Park. What a beauty it is!! There were no cars on the highway so it is like we are the only people here. Bob has fished some but is planning alot more and I plan to salmon fish with him on our next stop...Grand Falls-Windsor. Millie was pretty sick when we left but is feeling herself, I think. She is on antibiotics for the trip and Jimmy Hunter is mailing some additional medicine and I just hope it gets here before Wednesday when we are scheduled to ... read more

So we are on the "Rock" finally! Actually, we have been here for a week or so, just got back from Gros morne National Park, Leanne's dream come true, which was quite incredible really. We climbed the Gros Morne mountain and took a boat tour through the Western Brook Pond (don't get confused though, the "pond" is actually 16 miles long! that's Newfoundland for you...) where we were surrounded by huge cliffs and trickling waterfalls, some that even dissipated before they reached the ground because they were so high. Wow, It was even more spectacular than the photos make it out to be. We have been treated rather royally since we arrived on the island too. I must confess that I was quite nervous to ride the island after speaking to a lady in cape Breton ... read more

This morning it is cool and cloudy but no rain!! So our first stop is Lobster Cove Head Trail. This headland and Berry Hill are large chunks of jumbled rock that forms a mélange. Beds of buff-colored dolomite, shale, and ribbon limestone were folded and faulted as slices of ocean floor slid over them. We got lots of photos. Our next hike is the Coastal Green Point an easy hike of about 3 km. We talked to the ranger and he had seen a black bear and a moose in the area. A fellow hiker informed us yesterday the trail was underwater. This did not deter us. The trail follows an old winter mail road along the coast. I can’t imagine the harsh conditions of winter in this rugged park. The scenic coastline, wetlands, and forest ... read more