Welcome to Day 5 and 6 of our 32 day adventure in Newfoundland and the East Coast of Canada.
Our base camp for three nights is at the Lomond Campground in Gros Morne National Park. From here each day, we set out to explore the area. On our first morning, we cooked up a delicious egg and sausage skillet and tossed it all in a tortilla wrap to enjoy. After that we packed up a small trail bag with water and picnic supplies, and drove to the Tablelands Trail.
Just driving to the trail head was stunning. There were mountain and ocean views galore with the Tablelands standing out in the distance. The Tablelands are so unique as they stand out from the surrounding green and blue landscape with their bright contrasting orange hue. There is a 2 kilometre hike to the base of the Tablelands with a great lookout platform, right beside a river with some small waterfalls. However, we decided to go exploring a little further and look for a quiet place for a picnic.
This is one of the busier trails in the Park as it is the most stunning, but also identified as an 'easy' trail rating and is a relatively short distance (adventurers are welcome off the main path though and you could make this a more challenging hike up the Tablelands). After finding a lunch spot, we took some time to soak up the sun and take in the sights. Although the landscape is relatively barren, there are some interesting plants to see such as Newfoundlands National flower the Pitcher plant. From the information posters along the trail we also learned we were walking on the earths mantel, which is usually 5 to 50 kilometres below the earths surface!
After our hike we visited the Discovery Centre where we learned about the area. This is probably one of the best information centres we have come across next to the one in Algonquin Provincial Park. There was a ton of, interactive exhibits, beautiful displays, and knowledgeable staff to teach us all about the geology, plant and animal life and indigenous culture. We were also able to get some info about a future trip we want to do (Stay tuned for that!).
The next day we hiked the Lomond River trail near our campsite. However, it wasn't as stunning as the Tablelands trail and we actually opted to hike along the road on the way back instead of the trail. We learned afterwards we should have hiked the Stanleyville Trail which is also connected to the Lomond campground as it is much more scenic. Either way the views from the window of our Woods brand tent were incredible enough and we thoroughly enjoyed walking around the campground and going for a dip in the ocean.
Unfortunately, the Weather Network was calling for some more rain, and we needed to start preparing for the next adventure, so we moved into the communal pavilion at the campground. This has to be one of the best parts of a National Park as these facilities were perfect. There was a wood stove, sinks do do your dishes and picnic tables or benches to relax on. We used the space to spread out all of our backpacking gear and sort it into two small backpacks for our next hike where we planned to spend a night in the backcountry of Gros Morne!
Make sure to check out our Instagram for more adventures in between videos!
3 фев 2024
