To Gros Morne National Park

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. 

Jet trails

View from Fishermen's Wharf, Rocky Harbour

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. 

Two Arms and a Tickle

Tablelands and Woody Point from Norris Point

View of Eastern Arm & Southeast Hills

View of South Arm & Tablelands

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).

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.

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.

Wooden bulldozer

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).

Tablelands

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.

Other sidde of Tablelands from Trout River Pond

Misty morning in the Southeast Hills