We
hoped to get to Western Brook Pond on one of our three full days in the
northern part of Gros
Morne National
Park, but the forecast predicted rain all three
days. The best day to go would be the previous day – the day we moved from the
south to north side of Gros Morne. That ended up a little tricky – purchasing
tickets at a little harbor inn (would we be able to park the trailer?), getting
into the campground before noon (would they let us check-in early?), and then
getting to the boat parking lot which we heard could fill up (so didn’t want to
bring our trailer with us). All this worked out except the previous campers in
our site were still there after their checkout time, but they were apologetic and
quickly packed up. So we made it!
Western
Brook Pond looks like a fjord with its steep cliffs and in fact used to be a
fjord millions of years ago, but now, cut off from the ocean, it is technically
a lake. It is one of the last wild, ultra-oligotrophic lakes in the world –
having no plant nutrients. Scientists probably love the place and certainly the tourists do
too, with its sheer cliffs going down to the water.
The
way most people experience the pond is by boat and the way to get to the boat
is a 2-mile flat walk.
We
got there early enough for Bill to check out a side trail heading toward Snug Harbour,
but getting to the harbor required fording a river that is currently chest deep.
Not today!
Barbara
poked around by the boat dock and found (you guessed it) red Adirondack
chairs.
Here
is our boat as it came in to pick us up.
We
stood on the windy bow for the entire 2-hour ride feeling like a dog sticking
his head out the window of a moving car.
And
we just loved the scenery as the boat passed between the cliffs to the other
end of the pond.
Just
to give you an idea of scale, you can click to enlarge this image and see the
other boat in the distance.
Waterfalls
flowed over and between cliffs.
All
in all we had a wonderful day.
