Backroad Memories: Tablelands Gros Morne

Monday, June 6, 2011

Today was another awesome day. We were on the road a lot earlier today as we wanted to get to the south side of Bonne Bay to see the tablelands. I was up had the coffee and lunches made, before prince charming got outta bed. He needs his beauty sleep you know. We stopped at Southeast Brook Falls and did the 1 km hike back to see this waterfall. It was not as spectacular as the one I saw yesterday, but it was still nice.

It should have taken an hour to drive over to the tablelands, but you know me and Doug, we always have to take the scenic route. We had to stop and snoop in all the little villages along the way. We always have such a great time doing this. We get to see so much, how the people really live, and we even get to chat with some of them.

Gathering kelp to fertilize the garden

Along the way I finally saw my moose. A young calf just strolling along the side of the highway, and even on my side.

The main street of Woody Point a little fishing village

Lighthouse at Woody Point

It is interesting to see how these people live. Most of them take pride in their homes, they are well kept, even though they may not make much money. We always wonder what these people do to make a living. There is certainly no big factories or large towns around to employ them. There are a lot of craft stores and every little town seems to have a fish processing plant. One thing is for sure, everyone is SO friendly. We stopped at a little waterfront cafe in Woody Point and they couldn't do enough for us. Put on a fresh pot of coffee and served us some warm muffins. Yummy! We finally made it to the tablelands sometime around noon.
The tablelands were amazing! It felt really strange to think we were walking on what was once the ocean floor millions of years ago. It is very barren, as it doesn't have the usual nutrients to sustain most plant life.

We hiked in 4 kms to get to the valley. When we finally got back in, it looked like the snow wasn't too far away, so off I go. Doug found a nice comfy rock to sit on for the 40 minutes I was gone. It was actually only a about a 10 minute walk but you have to allow for picture taking you know.

Tablelands valley

I had a great view of the valley, saw some interesting plants and even made a snowball. There certainly didn't seem to be much soil for these plants to grow in.

One of the side hikes was to climb over the rocks to get up to the waterfall. You know I just had to do it. This took another 40 minutes. All the time my Dougy was patiently waiting for me at the bridge. He is such a great guy. He didn't complain once!