Fogo Island to Gros Morne

Yesterday we had a long travel day. We left our Fogo Island Air BnN at 8:15 am and got to our Air BnB in Rocky Harbor Gros Morne by 3:15pm. When we woke up in Fogo it was cold, rainy and windy. The door to the place almost blew off when we opened it. Environment Canada had issued a frost warning.The ferry left at 10 but various locals recommended being at the terminal by 8:45. The hour crossing was eventful as the boat was being moved by large swells. It was difficult to walk on the ship. It was so cold and windy, I didn't go onto the deck. We survived the crossing and set off for our 450 km drive. Much on the TransCanada Highway. The TCH is not double laned but there are passing lanes. We realized in areas that cars coming towards us were using our passing lane to pass cars and vice versa. It seems incredibly dangerous. The drive days kill me as I get car sick. Cheryl thankfully did a lot of driving. Those prairie folk are good at driving long distances. As we made it westward on the island it warmed up and the trees got bigger. After a Foodland stop in Deer Lake we headed off for our one hour drive to Rock Harbour where we are staying. Gros Morne represents fjord type bodies of water with forested small mountainous landforms. Think U shaped valley bottoms. The trees are now a mixture of spruce and deciduous trees. We arrived at our Air BnB called Styling at the Barn. It was previously a hair salon converted into an Air BnB. It is only a year old and very nicely finished.

Today was a hike day. We drove for an hour making a large backwards U around Bonnie Bay to the tablelands an extremely unique geographical formation within the park. They are composed of reddened rock almost totally void of vegetation that form a mountainous range. The tablelands abruptly arise in the park. Very quickly one goes from heavily forested terrain to a barren rocky desert composed of a rock known as peridotite. We did a Parks Canada tour and learned that the Tablelands represent one of the few places on the earth where the mantle of the earth has been exposed. If you remember one's grade 10 geography, the earth has three basic layers. The crust on which we live, the mantle which is semisolid rock and the molton core. 500 million years ago plate tectonics caused one plate to override another pushing the mantle up to the surface where it solidified. The very thin crust overlying the mantle eroded and voila there was mantle on the surface. Pretty exciting if you are a geologist. We also learned that the mantle contained many metals which are poisonous to plant life.

After we finished our 4 km hike we headed off to do another nearby hike known as The Green Garden Hike. The Green Garden Hike traversed the Tablelands before heading down towards the ocean. As one got closer to the ocean the trees gradually increased in size. At the coast there were tall cliffs atop a beach which you could walk down these rickety cable steps the 75 meters down to the beach. One way 4.5 k total elevation loss 400 metres. I find such hikes always quite deceptive as one feels good on the way down but pay for it on the way up. About 3/4 of the way down, Cheryl announced that her money belt purse had fallen out of the pocket of her coat somewhere along the hike when she had taken her coat off. She would head back to find it and I would continue to the coast for a quick selfie before returning. It is best that I don't get too excited in these situations. After making it down to the coast and the selfie I started the climb back up and after 10-15 minutes I met Cheryl coming down the trail with her money belt purse and Sherrie. Cheryl had walked up about 10 minutes before meeting Sherry who was walking along the trail asking everyone she met if they had lost their purse. Cheryl had given her and her friend Deb a hug. They were from Airdrie and Fort Mac. We Albertans have to stick together. We decided that Cheryl and I should go back to the coast as she had come so far without seeing it. We made it back to the coast and even ventured down to the beach on the rickity cable steps. It was very pretty and I was finally able to touch my fingers to the Atlantic. After visiting a little more with Sherry and Deb we headed up the long path to the car. It was sunny and felt a little warm although it was probably only 20 degrees. We did the hour back to Rocky Cove and we are now very tired.Read more