Not Always "Green Garden"

This was Green Garden day. Literally everyone I have spoken with on this whole trip has said that this is THE walk of the many one might to do in Gros Morne. I was up early(big surprise) and drove from the Berry Hill campground where I had spent the night to the trail head for Green Gardens. The hour long drive took me through what is called the Table Lands part of the park. It is reminiscent of the Badlands in South Dakota but this place is made from the earth's mantle being pushed all the way to the surface during a collision of the earth's plates several hundred million years ago. Yup, several, hundred million years!!! I told you geologists would love this place!
The rocky surface and steep cliffs create this wind tunnel that is phenomenal. I parked the truck and was literally scared that the doors and back window of the truck were going to be damaged. It took two hands and my body weight to shut the car door. Not joking, So I bundled up, hoping I wouldn't become a human tumbleweed, slathered my face with protective goop and ventured forth! Was the name "Green Gardens" a joke? The first two miles of the walk was across the barren mantle. Up and over a little hillock. Once over the top, the landscape totally changed. As did the wind. I dropped a bunch of layers that now felt claustrophobic, and realized I could see the ocean in the distance. I also could see the forested bumps I would need to climb up and over to get there! One cool surprise on the way was finding one of the season's first lady slippers! My first time seeing a yellow one. It was a nice long walk, mostly, I noted, downhill and sometimes on staircases that looked like they had been built by Kelly. Downhill there meant for a likely sweaty return trip! (To join me, Kelly and Whitney can imagine a 2.5 hour walk up from their river!) What would I find when I reached the ocean?.....next postRead more