UP the Hill not over it

We left off in the last post having spent a few days in Fundy National Park. You would think that we were close to Newfoundland at this point but no, not really. It would be another 5 hours of driving through Nova Scotia and then an 8 hour ferry to Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland.

The drive was awesome, Nova Scotia is beautiful and we will be back another time to explore Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The ferry crossing to Newfoundland, also called ” The Rock” by Canadians was like a mini-cruise. The car-ferry had coffee shops, a sit-down restaurant and cabins. We spent most of our 8 hour journey walking around, outside looking for whales and having lunch. Since the ferry did not get into Port Aux Basques until 6:30 NL time , which is 1.5 hours different than East Coast time, we spent the night there.

We began our Newfoundland adventure by driving up the west side of the island to Blow Me Down Provincial Park. The scenery on the west side of NL is breathtaking. Mountains rising up right next to the ocean, boreal forest right up to the waters of ponds and bays and rocks. So much wilderness.

Blow Me Down ( just one of many great names of places in NL) was on a peninsula jutting out into the Bay of Islands with Lark and York Harbor on either side. There were a few hikes in the park and close by. These Provincial Parks are equivalent to state parks. I love our PA State Parks but the Provincial Parks in NL are beyond spectacular!

Lark Head Trail hike goes from the campsites to the top of the mountain on the peninsula. It was rated as a hard trail with 900 feet of elevation gain over 1.8 miles with areas where you had to climb up and over rocks. It was not long so very doable if you can climb up rocks and it was absolutely worth it! The views from the top were spectacular. On the loop back we tacked on another trail called Governor’s staircase which led us back to the beach below the campground.

Another hike in the area was Copper Mine Falls Trail. This was just a very short little hike out to a waterfall but worth the time. If it is warm enough you can take a dip in the pool at the bottom of the falls.

There are two National Parks on Newfoundland but I think that the entire island could be designated a National Park! Our first National Park on “the Rock” was Gros Morne NP and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The diversity of the park is unreal. The southern portion includes the Tablelands where the earth’s mantle is exposed. We hiked the Tablelands Trail towards Winterhouse Brook Canyon. The hike starts out easy, 4 km hike on mixed gravel and boardwalk. Look for the pitcher plants growing in the rocks! Then at the end of the marked trail you can continue on along the brook towards Tableland Mountain. There is no marked trail and it is just all rocks, not easy going.

We continued north through the park to Shallow Bay where we camped. The next day we did a couple of hikes. First was Berry Hill Pond which is a short loop around a pond mostly on a boardwalk. We saw and heard a lot of songbirds.

Our second hike of the day was at Baker’s Brooks Fall. This was a 6 mile roundtrip with marshlands and beautiful waterfalls. We had to hike through a Moose ex-closure where they are trying to reforest due to over-browsing by moose. Also saw our first active bear warning.

While planning the trip I had read many things about the moose in NL. They no longer have an apex predator on the island so their numbers have exploded, somewhere around 150,000 on an island of 550,000 people! They warn you about driving after dark as the moose are active and very hard to see. Well, after hiking we decided to go in search of caribou in Port aux Choix north of the park. We saw a beautiful lighthouse, fox and sunset but no caribou. We miss judged when it would be fully dark and 13km from our campsite we hit a moose. Well actually the moose ran into the side of our car! Luckily we were not hurt and the car was drivable, just without a headlight and sideview mirror.

The people of Newfoundland are the kindest and friendliest people I have every encountered. Not one person drove by, after we hit the moose, without stopping to make sure we were ok. One guy was a mechanic and checked the car out to be sure we could drive it, another couple gave us a recommendation to a body shop in a near by town that could help us and everyone was just so kind. The moose by the way, hit the car, pooped down the side of it and ran back into the forest.

We took the next day off from hiking to take the boat trip on Western Brook Pond, a fresh water glacier-carved land-locked fjord. You can also book a trip to hike to the top of the gorge with a guide but we did not have time to do that. The boat trip itself was worth it!

There is so much to see in Gros Morne NP and surrounding area. We could have easily spent a week or more there but there was more of the island to see!

Recap of our favorite hikes from Blow Me Down to Gros Morne:

1. Lark Head Trail – about 3 miles round trip. Steep and rocky at points with beautiful views.
2. Governors Step- easy with great views.
3. Copper Mine Falls- short, easy walk to falls – nice stop along the drive.
4. Tablelands in Gros Morne – easy 4 km hike along gravel path and boardwalk. Can extend on as far as Tableland Mountain, no trail, very rocky.
5. Berry Hill Pond -easy 1.5 mile loop on boardwalk and trail.
6. Baker’s Brook Falls- moderate 6 mile out and back. Mixture of trail, rocks and boardwalks that can be wet and muddy.
7. Gros Morne Mountain – we did not get to do this and it is closed in May and June to protect the wildlife. It is rated as Hard- 10.5 miles with 3000 ft of elevation gain. This is on the list for next trip.

There is much more to come in Newfoundland as we were there for three weeks.

Now that the weather is getting nice, get outside and take a hike or walk in nature to decompress and forget about the insanity of the world.

Remember all it takes is two feet and a heartbeat.

Up the hill not over it!