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 28th.
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!”
