Road Trip 2014: Gros Morne National Park - The Tablelands

After my sister's camp officially ended, we packed the car and headed back towards the ferry at Porte aux Basques so that we could hang out a bit in Nova Scotia.  Along the way we planned a trip back to Gros Morne National Park, this time focusing on the Tablelands.  The Tablelands is made up of massive rock formations which make the area appear to look like more of a desert than a park.  We joined a tour at 10am lead by a park staff who took us through the main trail and explained some things along the way.  He explained the rock formations are parts of Earth's mantle and did many demonstrations pointing out unique plant life along the way.  He also told us that the Tablelands were studied by NASA who believe this area can be compared to what astronauts have seen on Mars.  

After the tour we stopped by the visitor's center and had a picnic lunch outside before heading over to Trout River, a small fishing village.  Walking around the village itself was really neat with lobster traps literally everywhere.  The village also looked as if it was built on different levels or plateaus which is another incredible land formation created by mother nature. After spending the day at Gros Morne, we drove back to the Porte where we stayed for the night before boarding the ferry the next morning.  

View of the Tablelands as  we drove into the park 

Patch of snow in the distance!

The Tablelands - looks like the Desert

View from the Visitor's Centre

Trout River

Another view of Trout River

-M

Road Trip 2014: Gros Morne National Park - Rocky Harbour

We left Quebec and drove to New Brunswick spending the night in Moncton; a city very close to Sackville where I spent a couple weeks last summer.  From there we drove straight to Nova Scotia and boarded a ferry to Newfoundland.  Quebec to Nova Scotia was basically a straight drive with very little time to look around.  Our ferry ride was overnight, and although the ferry itself was very nice, the extremely loud snorers made it a bit uncomfortable.  After docking in Porte aux Basques we drove to Rocky Harbour; an area right outside a section of Gros Morne National park; a UNESCO site.  

The park is absolutely massive so we chose to cover one section before heading over to St. John's.  The area we chose is called Western Brook Pond which is a fjord surrounded by amazing rock walls formed by Glaciers back in the day. The trail was nice with a boardwalk in the middle of marshland and huge rock formations in the distance.  We took a boat tour with a company called "BonTours' Western Brook Pond Boat Tour" which was interesting, but in hindsight wasn't really worth the price we paid.  The tour was about two hours long in a relatively slow boat, and although we had a guide explaining stuff to us, it wasn't as interesting as other parts of the National Park.  Still, the sights were nevertheless gorgeous 

Trail through Western Brook Pond

Boat Tour

View from the Boat Tour

View of the Tablelands from Norris Point

Rocky Harbour

-M