South on the Viking Trail to Gros
Morne National Park
After two
days in St. Anthony we travelled south towards Gros Morne National Park (368
km). What was interesting along the way was all the jet trails in the sky heading from Europe to spots in North America. We passed by the land-locked Western Brook Pond and fjord,
stopping for a couple of nights at an RV Park in Rocky Harbour. Cecil had an unforseen issue to deal with
from his e-mail , so I explored Rocky Harbour and was able to purchase some
fresh halibut from a store at the fishing wharf for supper.
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| Jet trails |
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| View from Fishermen's Wharf, Rocky Harbour |
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| Inland Fjord at Western Brook Pond |
After a quick visit to the Visitor Centre the
next morning, which was a bit cloudy, we drove to Norris Point, which is
situated where Bonne Bay is split between the East Arm and South Arm fjords, by
a rocky peninsula and narrow channel (Tickle).
From Norris Point it was possible to see the Tablelands and Woody Point
across the South Arm.
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| Two Arms and a Tickle |
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| Tablelands and Woody Point from Norris Point |
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| View of Eastern Arm & Southeast Hills |
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| View of South Arm & Tablelands |
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| Bonne Bay from Norris Point |
We then drove back
to Rocky Harbour, through the village to Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, which
provides a vista of the coastline south of Bonne Bay (Lookout Hills).
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| View of Bonne Bay from Lobster Head Cove Lighthouse |
After lunch we headed to the Discovery Centre
at Woody Point. The road has to go
around the sea fjords and the Southeast Hills, passing by the highest peak in
the park, Gros Morne, which looks like a very smooth, bald, rounded mountain,
rather than a peak.
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| Gros Morne is the bald, rocky hill on the left |
The Discovery
Centre is an interesting building on a steep hill overlooking the fjords with
Gros Morne visible in the distance. Gros
Morne is the highest of the Long Range Mountains in this area, which are
actually the glacially eroded end of the Appalachians. Inside the Discovery
Centre there was an art exhibit of handmade objects from around the Gros Morne
area. The mittens and wooden "dozer" caught our eye.
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| Wooden bulldozer |
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| Local mittens and balls of wool as art works |
Another hill climb or two took us up to the
Tablelands, an area where tectonic plate activity has pushed part of the
earth's mantle up to the surface . The orange weathered rock is called peridotite,
which is orange on the outside from the oxidation of iron in the rock, but
green in the interior. There is very
little plant growth in this area because the minerals in the rock are toxic,
due to the high concentration of iron, magnesium and heavy metals. We took the walking path up to the viewing
platform at a small brook (round trip of 4.3 km).
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| Tablelands |
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| Split piece of mantle rock (peridotite) showing orange exterior and green interior |
Back at the
truck, we drove around to Trout River, hoping to see a moose or two on the way
as they had mentioned in the Centre that there were sightings that day - no
luck, though a couple we talked to had recently seen a moose cow and calf. At Trout River Pond, there is a view of the
other side of the Tablelands with a more typical rocky hill on the other side
of the lake. All very scenic. The last photo is of the Southeast Hills on a
misty morning on our way out of the National Park to Deer Lake.
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| Other sidde of Tablelands from Trout River Pond |
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| Misty morning in the Southeast Hills |
