Storyline: Atlantic Canada, Take 2
July 3
A week in Newfoundland already. The weather so far has been fantastic. And even today, after heavy rains overnight, it was a good day. We drove through a thick fog that cleared up once we arrived in Port au Choix. Sun is almost shining as I am writing this and watching the waves crashing onto rocks full of fossils from about 5 million years ago.
After Alex rejoined me in Deer Lake and caught up on his sleep (see the post about his ferry night) we headed north to our first campground. Waters Edge Campground in Birchy Head near Wild Gros Morne Kayaking and Tours centre. In 
general, I don’t like repeating a road, but there will be a lot of this on the west coast since there are no alternatives to the major highway up to St. Anthony and back.
For those of you not familiar with the geography of the Island, from the ferry terminal in Port aux Basques, the major highway goes through Deer Lake and splits there. One part goes to St. Anthony near the tip of the Western Peninsula, and another continues east towards Gander and eventually St. John’s. So, we’ll be travelling all the way north to St. Anthony to visit L’Anse aux Meadows historic site and then back to Deer Lake to continue eastwards.
I selected this small campground on the edge of the water as its name suggests because it’s the closest to the tablelands hike. We arrived at the campground and continued to the parking lot of the tablelands.
It was already full and we parked on the side of the parking area road. The hike itself is an easy stroll with lots of interpretive signage. At that point we had entered the Gros Morne National Park, Unesco recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
So what are the Tablelands? Well, if you’ve seen some pictures, you’d think they are hills flat at the top resembling tables. Although this is true, their importance comes from the fact that these rock formations came from Earth’s upper mantle, beneath an ancient ocean.
When two continents collided about 460 million years ago the Tablelands were pushed upwards onto the continental crust, and the Appalachian Mountains started to form. The rocks are periodate, being poisonous to many plants.
Thus, the flora here is sparse, if any. Exposed to air and water, the rocks become rusty and crumbly.
We took pleasure photographing carnivorous pitcher plants, whose leaves attract the insects, then drown them and absorb the nutrients.
The campsite is small, with water and electricity (15A) but no dump station. They sent me a few e-mails prior to our arrival, on the location of the nearest dump station, which we didn’t yet need.
After returning from the hike, we tried to cook up some dinner. Fresh veggies mainly. It was very windy and our propane griddle didn’t want to warm enough. Since Alex had had to shut off the propane tank and tag it before boarding the ferry, we thought something may have gone wrong. Couldn’t find anything wrong, aside from the fact that he forgot to close the little cover door while driving off the ferry and all the way to Deer Lake. This he remembered the next day and cleaned it up.
And we moved to Berry Hill 3 campground. I had booked 3 nights there, unserviced. At the kiosk I asked if they had any serviced sites and they had for the first two nights. We also decided to see if they could find us something at Shallow Bay campground for the last night. They did find us an unserviced site there. So far so good. We have already decided that we’d not attempt to hike the Gros Morne Mountain. One of Alex’s medication side effects is affecting his feet and it is a long and strenuous hike. Besides in order to protect the fragile flora it was closed for hiking to the end of June, and initially I planned to be there earlier in June.
The sites at Berry Hill were really big and private. At least ours was. Did a little hike around the buggy pond which I seem to be attracting. The bugs, that is.
On Canada Day, July 1, we hiked to Western Brook Pond and took a boat tour observing the inland fjord (which as we were told is now more accurately called a lake). It was fascinating and reminded me of Milford Sound in New Zealand a few years ago.
Just that fjords are usually not inland. The pond is surrounded by steep rock walls. These were created by a glacier that compressed the land then slowly melted after which the land slowly rebounded and cut off the fjord from the sea.
Our guide told us that the lake is ultraoligotrophic. Which means low in nutrients. “Just don’t ask me how to spell it. It took me 4 years to learn how to pronounce it” he joked. I am not sure 4 years will be enough for me. The guide was well trained on the geology of the place.
Many waterfalls feed the lake, the Pissing Mare Falls (you’ve got to love Newfoundland names) being one of them. At 350m (1,150 ft) it’s one of the highest in the eastern North America.
The tour itself lasts two hours and ended up with a little entertainment by our guide with traditional Maritime songs.
The hike to the pond is 3 km and it is now a well-gravelled wide path or a pedestrian highway so to say. The parking lot was full when we arrived.
It was very foggy that morning, however our tour was at 1:30pm by when most of it had dissipated. So, we were able to see and enjoy the scenery at the pond and around.
On June 2 we ended up in the campground at the beautiful Shallow Bay Beach. This was the night the staff at Berry Hill found for us.
I am so glad I asked. It is stunning. The white sandy beach stretches for miles and miles. Shallow Bay is part of Gros Morne National Park. By the time we head west we’ll have at least one night at every campground in the park.
Unserviced sites here were really big and private. I joked – we had a bedroom a living room and a dining room. I won’t recommend the serviced sites though, unless necessary. They all were concentrated in the open field near the showers and kitchen.
We spent the rest of our day strolling on the beach and enjoying the sun.
That evening tried the griddle again. And it worked perfectly well. So nothing wrong with the gas supply. It was just the high winds. We’ll know not to try it next time if winds are strong.
On our way to Shallow Bay, we stopped at Cow Head. This is where we’ll come later for our dinner theatre. Found a nice RV park at the end of the town and cancelled the motel reservation I had made before we left, as it was the closest place to the theater. But it’s a small place and an easy walk from the RV park.
We noticed a charity event – lobster supper at the local church. We explained Alex’s immuno-compromised situation and they sat us alone at the end of a long table. No one else was sat at that table while we were there. Not much chance to socialise, but we felt safer this way. Enjoyed the lobster and then continued on to Shallow Bay.
Last night it rained a lot. The morning was foggy and it was a pea-souper. Barely could see 20 metres ahead, so missed most of the scenery to Port aux Choix, the importance of which will be for another post.
I enjoy reading your travelogues.
Thanks for visiting our e-Table Rupali!