One regret

The spectacular Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park

Day 17: Gros Morne National Park ~ Flowers Cove (378km)

This trip was never meant to be an in-depth tour of Canada's East Coast. With just three weeks to cover it all, we had in fact planned it as just the opposite: an East Coast sampler that would let us see each of the provinces and get a little taste of the different people, cultures and lifestyles across this half of the country. And so far, I've been pretty happy with how we've planned things out and how it's all turned out. Sure there are places where I'd have liked to stay a little longer, or places that we didn't get a chance to go that I would have liked to visit, but on the whole everything's been just right, I think.

My one big regret on this trip, however, will be not having been able to spend more time in Gros Morne National Park. The nature here is simply stunning and defies description in words. Photos even, without using a super-wide-angle lens or having a large format camera, simply cannot capture the vastness of the landscape and the majesty of the rock formations. There are plenty of great trails to hike, lakes and rivers to paddle, and a few spectacular boat tours to take....all of which we have had to pass on this trip. Prior to today I was not sure if I'd ever be back to Newfoundland after this trip, but now I'm quite sure I will be, if only just to do Gros Morne more justice.

We woke up to drizzle this morning, which kept us in our tent beds until almost 10AM. No one likes rain when camping, but I think we lucked out by having a nice evening last night, drizzle through the night, and clearing weather as mid-morning rolled around. We packed up camp, had a quick brekkie, and drove off to see the Tablelands, an area of the park highly recommended to us by more than one person.

Where as nearly all of Gros Morne is smoothed, grey, hard rock with plenty of foliage, the Tablelands are nearly the opposite, sticking up from the surrounding terrain like Lego blocks stretched through bubble gum. They're golden in colour, nearly devoid of any plant or animal life and have very much a rocky desert appearance, despite there being no shortage of water. The rock that makes up the Tablelands is geologically completely different from the rest of the park, and if you need more detail than that, go and Google it. The drive was nothing short of spectacular, especially with the bits of sun and blue sky that came and went.

Already short on time, we had to get going on our drive north. Our original plan had been to camp in Gros Morne two nights but a review of the map on the drive from the east coast showed that it just wasn't possible to do that and still see the sights on the northern peninsula and make the ferry to Labrador on time. So after a quick lunch at Jackie's in Rocky Harbour, where they serve up great burgers and fries but play the same annoying Newfie fiddle music without end to improve table turnover, we spent the day driving up through the park, stopping at various lookouts and sights, and taking a little over an hour to do the Western Brook hiking trail. For those that have seen a Newfoundland travel brochure, you've undoubtedly seen the photo of the hiker standing on a rock overlooking a majestic fjord. This is probably the view that every tourist to Newfoundland wants to see. Unfortunately, what they don't tell you is that chances are you're never going to get there. This is because the rock the guy is standing on is an hour or two hike into the wilderness at the end of a 3-hour boat ride from the far side of the lake, which is closest to the highway but still a 3km hike from the parking lot. So in order to get to said rock, you have to do the hike from the lot, catch the once daily boat ride, leave the tour and hike into the back country on a trail that takes up to 3 days to complete. For all this you need to have a back-country permit for which (I believe) you need to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of orienteering (navigation using a compass). So not something for your average camera-toting sightseer, and given our time limits, certainly not something for us - at least this time. Our consolation prize, however, was seeing a herd of caribou at fairly close distance, crossing the boardwalk as we walked the trail back to the car.

Continuing the drive north and out of the park, the sun was sinking lower and lower into the sky. As it did, the number of cars bumping along at slow speeds on the highway started to increase. Every so often we'd see or get stuck behind one of these cars, the occupants of which were invariably wearing neon orange baseball caps. They were on moose patrol, rifle no doubt in the back seat. Gros Morne National Park has the largest population density of moose in North America, and the surrounding regions of the province do well to compete. Throughout our time in the province, we'd seen road signs either warning of moose crossings, warning of moose-vehicle accidents (with a running signboard tally for the year), or worse yet, moose accident fatalities. So in a nutshell, there are a lot of moose, and and encounter with one at 100 km/h would likely be your last. As dusk encroached, twice we rounded a corner and found a moose smack in the middle of the highway, taking its good, sweet time to get from one side to the other. They are massive creatures, and yet somehow managed to avoid my camera lens each time.

Tonight we find ourselves in Flowers Cove, a small collection of low, white houses on the edge of the Strait of Belle Isle, not too far from the ferry port at St. Barbe. Once again we have found yet another terrific little B&B in a tiny, no-stoplight, one diner town. Tonight's diner served much the same as the one in Sandringham, only this time we had an ancient jukebox (2 plays for a quarter!), which we put to good use playing songs from Pink, Santana, Madonna and Hoobastank. The 7 or 8 empty tables in the joint didn't seem to mind our music selection although I have to say the music seemed really strange coming out of a machine that old. Our hosts are very friendly and sport (like everyone else around here) great Newfoundland accents. Breakfast tomorrow morning promises more partridgeberry and bakeapple jam... yum!