Well I'll try to make this as short as possible, it'll be hard to do. I have travelled the maritimes for 30 years, majority has been spent in Nova Scotia but a fair bit in the others to be sure, the one glaring omission is Newfoundland! I've always wanted to go just for some unknown reason I've never pulled the trigger. After last years NS trip I made a pact with myself that 2018 would be the year I go. A lot can happen in a year, such as I finding a lady friend that will put up with my crap (we've known each other for over 10 years) but that could have put a dent into my plans, however she also wanted to see NFLD badly, so you might say it's kismet. I love to camp so a camping vacation is what I planned to do, however she has a bad back so sleeping on the ground would not do, fix was turning my Rav4 into a sleeper....honestly I doubt I'll ever put the rear seats back into it, it rocks!! My buddy also inherited a "car tent" that he's never used so I couple that with my car & it's like a traveling condo. So really there was nothing left to do but go
This is at Golden Arm RV park in North Sydney Cape Breton night before the ferry to NFLD
The ferry ride over was uneventful, the lady friend was nervous about sea sickness but nada on the way there, coming home though...well I'll leave that till the end. Ferry departs at 11:45 am for a 7:15pm arrival in Port Aux Basques. I can honestly say I had a weird fuzzy feeling seeing land from the boat. We drive off the boat and straight to Barachois provincial park for the night not wanting to push it to Gros Morne, after all everyone has warned us, watch out for the moose at dusk & dawn "they're everywhere". Not going to complain one bit, Barachois is a gorgeous park! A river runs behind our spot full of Brookies, nothing big but I was on the board. I'm told the lake that the river runs into has decent size ones, that will have to wait till next time
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Next day we head off to Gros Morne. Almost from the second we left the boat the scenery on this island left me speechless, truly breathtaking!
Now I'm not going to lie, I did fish... I fished quite abit but think I only have one picture with a fish and its a dink Brookie but I didn't land anything of note anyway. Twelve inchers were quite common, didn't seem to brake that record though. However when you're in Gros Morne there are a ton of other things to do so fishing does take a bit of a back seat, at least for a few days. I should also add, while in the park you'll need a park licence, it's free however. There are some rather irritating rules for river fishing there but that is my problem. I did mention a ton of other things to do, well the first one for me was the Tablelands. No picture can do this place justice, it is outstanding. There is a hike you can do, the standard path which is a fantastic walk with some spectacular sights however I had read somewhere about a unmarked hike that will take you to the top. It isn't on any of the maps you get from the park unless you ask for it specifically then they'll pull it out from under the table & charge you $3.00 for it. Worth it though
We started up the trail to the top when my friend got nervous about the big loose rocks we were climbing over, about 1/3 of the way up so we'd call it a day & head down. The Tablelands is one of only a few places on the planet where the Earth's mantle has broken through the crust. You are not allowed to take rocks from here or should I say not supposed to take rocks from here, they are way to cool looking to not be tempted. We'd have lunch off in the distance near the snow & just soak in the sights. Plant life is quite sparse here, no real nutrients for them to live off of. The next day we would putt around Rocky Harbor and a few other places/small hikes just to knock them off the map. I'd throw out the spoon whenever I could but wouldn't catch a whiff of a fish that day. The following day we were of to Gros Morne Mtn & what a day it would be.
Gros Morne the bald one on the left
The highest peak in the park & second highest in NFLD, Gros Morne stands 2648 ft & is a 16km round trip. It's a bugger that will zap you, but worth every body ache, man was it awesome. It's a 4 km hike into base camp, that alone had many folks calling it a day but once there you get this
My friend was rather miffed that she backed off the Tablelands trek so she was determined to make this one count. She did awesome so we ended up with views like these
About 1/3 of the way up the first snow patch
It took us around 9 hrs to complete the 16km + a few days of swore muscles so we would drive to see Vikings & fish where ever I could without a guide present.
Saw some Icebergs in St. Anthony
On the way home we spent some time in Quebec at Gaspesie park where just outside the park there is a Geode mine where you can dig for them, pretty awesome place, & although Mt Jacques Cartier is higher than Gros Morne it is nowhere near as intense a climb
I could go on for a long time with every little detail about NFLD, my friend is a trained photographer and she didn't bring her camera stating she wanted to take it all in before she tries to capture it......well her I-phone captured 7200 photo's for someone not taking pictures...lol. So I'll end with this, as a Canadian, either born or immigrant you owe it to yourself to travel this truly amazing country we all share. Some amazing things pop out of nowhere to inspire & send you in awe & it must be said, Newfoundland is the crown jewel. A unbelievable adventure was had & this really is the tip of the iceberg posted here
CHEERS from the top of the ROCK