Wheelin' and Rockin' with DIanE

Sightseeing on Thursday: Western Brook Pond Fjord

You can’t out-think the weather here. We were scheduled to go on a boat tour of the fjord on Wednesday, but, trying to get the best day possible, changed the booking twice. So, with fingers crossed for good weather, we finally settled on Thursday for our BonTours Western Brook Pond Fjord boating outing.

The starting point of the tour is a 3 km hike in from the road. We enjoyed the warm weather, sunshine and sights along the way. Standing on the dock, we saw the clouds roll in and shrugged at a little possible rain. The winds picked up, but passengers exiting the previous tour said not to worry as the wind would die down 15 minutes into the tour.

By the time the boat pulled out, the sheets of cold rain felt like tiny ice picks on my face, and my poncho was blowing wildly, making me feel like a big orange bat. The wind did not die down until quite a bit longer than 15 minutes into our 2-hour, 32 mile tour.

So, with that context set, I’m hoping you understand how spectacular the experience was. I would not have missed the sight of the land-locked fjord of Western Brook Pond. It was stunning. The 2000 ft. rock face is craggy with vegetation, fallen rock, and many waterfalls. The most spectacular waterfall shot out from the top, falling hundreds of feet before hitting the rocks below. A picture will never give the same perspective, but here’s a sample:

One more great Newfoundland experience.

Hiking on Friday: How to Adapt On-the-Fly

Friday, again, did not have a great forecast (8 degrees Celcius with rain). Undaunted, we planned to do the Green Gardens trail, setting out early for a one-hour drive, hoping to catch a few dry hours for this (reportedly) four-hour hike that is supposed to be one of the best in the park. Here’s an excerpt from the Gros Morne website: “The trail begins on the open serpentine barrens of the Tablelands and descends through boreal forest to a fertile volcanic sea coast. The coast is a wonderful array of sea stacks, coves, and beaches topped off with lush cliff-top meadows. One can easily spend many hours exploring along the shore, admiring the abundance of wildflowers in the area, or just lazing on the meadows staring out to sea.”

We almost missed the entrance off the highway due to the foggy conditions. Ours was the only vehicle in the lot, likely due to the fog that reduced the path visibility to nil, and the message on the yellow note:

We really, really wanted to do this hike, so decided to go explore the nearby town of Trout River, grab a coffee, and come back. Maybe the fog would clear and we would have a line of sight on any bears.

Trout River was interesting, but no coffee to be found.

Back to the trail we went. The fog was no better, but seeing other cars in the lot, we thought maybe we could scope out some fellow hikers and travel together. I was elected to go do the talking.

One woman in the group was already headed back to her vehicle after reading the bear warning. Three others were having a chat. I approached, and asked if anyone was headed out, and were there any concerns about the bears lurking in the fog? As luck would have it, one woman was a trained hiking guide for Gros Morne park, who had a day off work and this was her idea of fun: “It isn’t the bears you need to worry about today. What you should keep in mind is that the rain and fog will make hiking conditions hazardous. Expect slippery conditions and washed out trails. Don’t try it without trekking poles. The combination of high winds, rain, and dropping temperatures will also be physically challenging. Oh, and the hike is 2 hours to the ocean and 4 hours back up.”

My inside voice: “WHAAAATTTTTT?? Noooooooooo…..”

My outside voice to Ian: “I think we should look at other options for today.”

So we returned to the Discovery Center and found another trail. It was quite nice, with no survival threats. We even saw some lobster fishing.

So, enough adventure for the day. We stopped at a local fish store and will enjoy some fresh Newfoundland scallops tonight.

— Diane