Hiking in Gros Morne

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Today we were hiking in the park, but there are so many trails how do we choose?  It was a nice sunny day, about 16 degrees.  We stopped at the visitor centre just down the road from the KOA and asked the ranger to suggest some shorter, easier trails to get us warmed up.  We also got our park trout fishing license.  Look out brookies the Dickinson's are in the park!!!  Our first hike was up Rocky Hills Trail. This lookout was once used as a lookout for returning boats.  So much for starting slow, it was 20 minutes up a fairly steep hill.  When we got to the top it was beautiful overlooking Rocky Harbour, surrounded by mountains.  We talked to 2 ladies from Edmonton that we saw on the ferry coming over to the island, they had just come from the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, so that is was going to be our next stop.

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse

The Lobster Cove head Lighthouse had a little museum, which gave us a bit of history of the area.  It was fascinating to see what the early settlers had to endure.  The ranger told us St. Matthews Anglican Church was having a bizarre with a soup and sandwich lunch.  So guess where we had lunch?  So much for going back to Elbroko for our lunch.  From the Lighthouse we went up the road 4 or 5 kms to the Coastal Trail.  We walked back along the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence for a few kms.  It was cool to see all the different things that had washed up on the shore. Huge timbers (made you wonder if some poor family lost their seaside house to the sea, or fisherman lost their boats and lives to the sea. Shoes, floating bobbers, dishes, and even a moose hide.  

Coastal Trail

The ladies from Edmonton had told us about the fish factory that had a store you could buy all sorts of seafood.  So guess what we were having with our steak tonight?  Yup, Lobster.  $8.00 for one, can't beat that, pre-cooked, all we have to do is reheat in boiling water.  

We drove down to Norris Point, apparently the most scenic town in the park.  You can look out over Bonne Bay and see the tablelands.  

I had tons of pics to take down here, so Doug went in and had a beer with locals and found out some of the hotspots for fishing.  Then it was time to go back and have our surf and turf....yummy!

Norris Point

The Tablelands

Neddie's Harbour

  

Rootcellar

Don't Be a Stranger!