Not Enough Time- Visiting Gros Morne National Park
After waking up to all the mosquitoes, we were on our way to Gros Morne National Park. For those not familiar, this is a large park on the West coast of Newfoundland. Personally, this was high up on my must-visit list. Because of this, I did some research before leaving on our trek out East, but alas, there just wasn't enough time...
Don't get me wrong, every second in the park was amazing, but 2 days allowed us to only see the bare minimum. I also have to confess that we didn't exactly maximize the first day as we were fairly exhausted from an early morning and quite a bit of driving. Our first stop was at the Discovery Centre in Woody Point. We gathered some information, had a snack, picked up the requisite sticker and decided to head for Trout River Campground. We didn't really have a plan other than we decided to explore the South side on day one and then head North on day two. Securing a campsite was not a problem and we headed to our spot.
We took a small hike down to the river. From this part of the park, you can view the Tablelands. This part of the park is not what you would expect from Newfoundland. In fact, driving from Woody Point to Trout River is spectacular- on one side lush green mountains rise up, while on the other, the amber colour of the Tablelands. It is assumed that they formed from a plate collision millions of years ago. So basically, it's the Earth's mantle. Pretty amazing.
After dinner, we drove back down the road towards Woody Point in search of some red chairs. We also ended up back down at the river where Tesla went for a great swim. The campground amenities were decent, including WiFi next to the washrooms and showers and a sink to wash dishes if you were so inclined.
We definitely took advantage of the showers, and enjoyed a campfire that night. The next morning, we prepared to head to the North Side of the park. Trout River was a great spot, but it is pretty much as far South as you can be in the park, so we were in for about an hour long drive to reach our next destination.
Having researched and talked with a few people, we knew we had to visit Western Brook Pond. This is a fresh water fjord created sometime around 25,000 to 10,000 years ago. The best way to view it's beauty is on a 2 hour boat cruise. And this is the moment where I disappoint you and tell you that we did not go on this cruise.
As mentioned, this was the one destination that I actually did a bit of research on before our trip. Well, you can't take a dog on the boat cruise around Western Brook Pond, no matter how adorable and well-behaved she is. We decided we still wanted to stop in here and see what we could see.
Don't get me wrong, every second in the park was amazing, but 2 days allowed us to only see the bare minimum. I also have to confess that we didn't exactly maximize the first day as we were fairly exhausted from an early morning and quite a bit of driving. Our first stop was at the Discovery Centre in Woody Point. We gathered some information, had a snack, picked up the requisite sticker and decided to head for Trout River Campground. We didn't really have a plan other than we decided to explore the South side on day one and then head North on day two. Securing a campsite was not a problem and we headed to our spot.
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| Tesla at our Campsite |
We took a small hike down to the river. From this part of the park, you can view the Tablelands. This part of the park is not what you would expect from Newfoundland. In fact, driving from Woody Point to Trout River is spectacular- on one side lush green mountains rise up, while on the other, the amber colour of the Tablelands. It is assumed that they formed from a plate collision millions of years ago. So basically, it's the Earth's mantle. Pretty amazing.
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| Trout River- Tablelands on the Left |
We definitely took advantage of the showers, and enjoyed a campfire that night. The next morning, we prepared to head to the North Side of the park. Trout River was a great spot, but it is pretty much as far South as you can be in the park, so we were in for about an hour long drive to reach our next destination.
Having researched and talked with a few people, we knew we had to visit Western Brook Pond. This is a fresh water fjord created sometime around 25,000 to 10,000 years ago. The best way to view it's beauty is on a 2 hour boat cruise. And this is the moment where I disappoint you and tell you that we did not go on this cruise.
As mentioned, this was the one destination that I actually did a bit of research on before our trip. Well, you can't take a dog on the boat cruise around Western Brook Pond, no matter how adorable and well-behaved she is. We decided we still wanted to stop in here and see what we could see.
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| Heading towards Western Brook Pond
Trust me when I say we thought of how we could do the boat tour, but it just wasn't going to happen. For starters, it was a lot warmer than it actually looks in the above photo, so leaving Tesla in the van was not an option. Also, even if it was cooler outside, it turns out that the "hike" (most of the trail looked like the picture) from the parking lot is about 45 minutes to an hour (we hoofed it and thanks to our long legs did it in about 35 minutes). So that's 1 hour hike, 2 hour boat tour, 1 hour hike. We weren't really ok with leaving Tesla in the van so far away so we all went on a "hike".
Although we didn't get the spectacular views that often accompany promotional pictures for Gros Morne, it was still worth it.
 
When you reach the pond, there's a small shop where you can purchase tickets for the boat tour, along with a bunch of souvenirs, or a light lunch. We maybe had hot dogs. We also found some more red chairs- they were not obvious, so we enjoyed a quiet moment while a crowd gathered awaiting the next tour.
 
Our experience in Gros Morne was short, but fantastic. It is safe to say that we will definitely be back one day with more time to explore and maybe different accommodations where Tesla can be safe and relax while we do a boat tour!
At this point, and again if we had had more time, we probably would have headed even further North for L'Anse Aux Meadows. I highly recommend planning to visit just the western coast of Newfoundland (if flying) and then the East. Or just planning to spend a great deal of time here.
It can be difficult to plan a van camping trip, especially to an island. We were completely tied to our ferry booking back to Nova Scotia, which was scheduled for 11:45am this time around. As our time in Newfoundland was coming to an end, we were a little bummed but realized that it would be added to our "must go back" list. At the same time, we were ready to explore the rest of the East coast and what it had to offer!
Until next time,
J & S
P.S. I will eventually blog about the wedding, when ready... but have chosen to focus on our #vanlife adventures first. Thanks for tagging along :)
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