Newfoundland – Gros Morne – Green Gardens & Lookout

Green Gardens
Bill hiked the Green Gardens Trail – a 7.5-mile hike to coastal cliffs topped with green meadows.

It’s a long hike just to get to the ocean passing through barren landscape and descending through forest. But then the trail brings you out on the ocean cliffs.

Sheep grazed on the grassy slopes.

Another tourist asked Bill if he saw the “Teddy Bear.” Can you see the teddy bear shape in this seastack?

Discovery Center
In the afternoon we went to the Discovery Center, which we found quite interesting – talking to rangers, looking at their displays & video, and taking in the view. Here’s a ranger explaining the pitcher plant using a quilted model.

Lookout Trail
Afterward we took the Lookout Trail – a 3-mile hike with 1000 feet in elevation gain to a viewing platform. We went up, up, up, even seeing some snow along the trail.

We loved the panoramic view at the summit.

And guess what was at the top? Red chairs.

The clouds looked threatening, so we headed down – getting just enough rain to put our cameras in plastic bags, but not enough to get us wet.

Newfoundland – Gros Morne - Tablelands

We are now on the west coast of Newfoundland at Gros Morne National Park, a large park encompassing various geology, but best known for its fjord-like areas. We’ll be here six days. We aimed for the southern section first, camping at the aptly named Water’s Edge Campground – a tiny private campground right on Bonne Bay.

We hiked first at Tablelands – an interesting geological area. As we were driving down the road we noticed the right side was pretty green and had soil and trees and the left side was basically barren. You may or may not be able to see that in this picture.

The barren area is a geological layer that used to be deep below the surface of the earth. When the continental tectonic plates collided this land was pushed to the surface. This layer contains heavy metals, so very few plants grow there.

We hiked to Winter House Brook Canyon where there was a small waterfall.

We were struck by the unique mustard color of the rock.

Like a desert, only certain things can grow here. Bill spotted a pitcher plant – a plant that eats bugs.

And being a Canadian National Park, we found some strategically placed red Adirondack chairs. Hard to believe there are still patches of snow on June 28^th.

We also drove down the road to look for caribou that frequent the area, but didn’t spot any. We did see our first Newfoundland moose earlier in the day – a mama moose crossing the road in the distance just past a large sign that said “Watch out for Moose!”

Newfoundland – Twillingate “Uh-ohs”

We had a couple “Uh-ohs” today. The first was that Bill has a cold, but it isn’t bad enough to curtail our plans. So off we went to the trails by Long Point Lighthouse. Bill found a scenic, easy loop we could do together and then Barbara drove off to the lighthouse to look for some letterboxes, while Bill continued along the coast to meet her.

Barbara snapped a shot of an iceberg miles away (our only Twillingate iceberg) and then one of a ferry. She went to take another picture and “Uh-oh!” Our trusty Canon S3 camera stopped working - all the pictures came out white, as if it was ultra over-exposed. Not a major issue as we still have 2 other cameras and cellphones, but Barbara used that camera the most.

Then we went to French Head where there are several loop trails. Another trail system over high cliffs along rocky coastline – a beautiful trail with Twillingate in the distance.

Bill picked out the shortest loop trail to do together and thought he could continue on to one of the longer loops. Still up to more hiking Barbara decided to continue along after the first easy loop. We go around a corner and then come upon a steep scramble. “Uh-oh!” We could have turned around, but Barbara decided to give it go. It was too much for Barbara, but with Bill’s help she made it and the scenery was well worth the effort. :-) 

We topped off the hike taking in the view from a set of red chairs similar to the National Parks’ red Adirondack chairs.

 All three Twillingate trails were spectacular – we wish the pictures better captured the grandeur.

Bill tried to hike one more trail from the campground after dinner, but one last “Uh-oh!” – “Trail closed.” He heard it was due to nesting hawks. Still a great view from our campsite. This is what he saw when he walked down to the water.

Newfoundland – Twillingate & Little Harbour

Twillingate is known as the “Iceberg Capital,” but this year the icebergs went elsewhere and by now most have melted. Glad we spotted them in other places.

Twillingate is also known for coastal hiking trails. As we got out of the car at Lower Little Harbour Trail a woman chatted with us and said she was born “down there.” In the 1960s the Canadian government mandated that people in remote locations relocate, so her father moved his house by boat(!) to a place more accessible to town services (i.e. electricity and roads school buses could traverse). And in 1992, the Canadian government issued a moratorium on cod fishing to allow the depleted fish stock to repopulate, ending almost 500 years of cod fishing. This devastated these coastal fishing communities, so the government also gave grants to out-of-work fishermen to build hiking trails to attract tourists. Now all that remains is hiking trails, dilapidated remnants of a few houses, and a recent summer home powered by generator.

We loved hiking this spectacular trail system. Barbara took the two spurs to the Natural Bridge and Jones’ Cove while Bill took the more rugged trail between those two points. Here’s Bill at the Natural Bridge.

And here are some other pics from the trail.

Bill was amazed how quickly the trail changed from grassy headland, to mossy rainforest-like woods, to cove.

The rocks on the pebble beach were speckled.

We met 2 families along the way: a B&B owner hiking with his visiting family and a local taking his granddaughter on a boat ride. Newfoundlanders take the time to talk.

We topped off our day at a restaurant overlooking the harbor. Barbara had cod as it’s the thing Newfoundland is known for and Bill got a scallop sandwich. All the dishes had layers of flavor -- here is our tasty salmon appetizer.

You can see the water through the trees at our campsite, reminding Barbara of her vacation home she had growing up.

A beautiful spot!

Newfoundland – Terra Nova

Back in St John’s we saw this picture of an old distorted map of Newfoundland on a sign, calling it “Terra Nova” (New Land). So we know where Terra Nova National Park got its name.

Our campsite is situated on the most inland corner of Newman Sound – with views of the water through the trees. It also is right along a trail that goes along the edge of part of the Sound – the 3-mile Coastal Trail. We left our car at the Visitor Center and hiked the Coastal Trail back to our campsite. This easy, peaceful trail skirted the coast with views through the trees and occasional points right at the water reminding us more of a lake than the ocean.

A short side path led to a small waterfall.

Like yesterday, wildflowers lined the path. 

Lots of butterflies fluttered by.

 And we even found some more red Adirondack chairs! 

 Bill had to hike back to get the car. After lunch we walked Sandy Cove Beach just outside the park. We like beaches framed by rocky shoreline.

 Ever seen a restroom like this?

 

A pleasant day at Terra Nova!

Newfoundland – East Coast to Terra Nova

The days we travel require hitching up the trailer, leaving by the check-out time, driving to our next destination, sometimes shopping along the way, and setting up, which doesn’t leave much time for big outings. Nevertheless we like to squeeze in some activities – like this day.

Bill suggested we hike one last stretch of the East Coast Trail before we broke camp – Silver Mine Head Path. Actually Bill hiked it the previous day. That day Barbara didn’t feel like hiking due to the weather (40+mph gusts, occasional spurts of rain) and just needing a rest. But now we had a glorious day. Let’s hike!

Interestingly this was the most seagulls we had seen except in the ecological reserves. We wondered if the capelin were arriving. When the capelin arrive (around the end of June), the whales come.

The trail offered lots of coastal views and sounds. We looked for whales, but didn’t spot any.

Then we said good-bye to the East Coast Trail and headed west to Terra Nova National Park.

After setting up the trailer and stopping at the visitor center, we went to Ochre Hill where we got a vast view of the terrain from a viewing platform.

We’ve occasionally noticed red Adirondack chairs placed at strategic points in Canadian National Parks. Like there is one in the rainforest at Pacific Rim National Park in British Columbia. We had just seen one at the easternmost point in Canada at Cape Spear National Historic Site. There were chairs along the trail at Signal Hill Historic Site. And now there were some chairs overlooking the terrain at Terra Nova National Park. We took a seat and enjoyed the view.

Then we took a trail around Ochre Hill Pond. Lots of wildflowers starting to bloom.