NEWFOUNDLAND – GROS MORNE NATIONAL PARK, NORTH.
Day 146 – Brrrr…..it was 38 degrees this morning and cloudy when we got up. The sun came out late morning, so we had an early lunch and left to explore, driving north on Route 430. We drove through small towns like Sally’s Cove & St. Pauls, traveling beyond the northern edge of Gros Morne National Park. Each town was charming. And we stopped at several interpretation points at various locations in this northern part of the National Park.
The site of the sinking of the SS Ethie had beautiful scenery and it told the story of the terrible storm conditions which caused the crew to purposely run the ship aground rather than have the waves take control of the ship. There were still old ship parts near the shore. The Broom Point Restored Fishing Premises was a hike down to the shore to visit the restored buildings. But they were locked, closed for the season. A little ways north of the National Park border we stopped at Arches Provincial Park. Not a campground, but a day use area, this Park was great with a close-up overlook of The Arches, a rock formation on the shore. The rocky beach was accessible to climb around & get pictures from.
Click on any picture below to see a slideshow.
We turned around at this point and re-entered the National Park, driving south to Cow Head, a slightly more populated town. In Cow Head, we drove to Shallow Bay Campground, a National Park campground, but it had closed for the season. The day use area had good water views & from what we could tell, this campground would be a good one for us to stay at next time we come here. Proceeding onward through Cow Head, there was one main street with houses scattered about on each side of the road, one side being right on the Ocean. Very pretty. This is a popular town because there are a few Inns, B&Bs, restaurants, and they have a summer theatre which has plays about life in the old days in Newfoundland or life in fishing towns or boat disasters. Cow Head is also a good place to stay for the most popular tourist attraction in the Park – the Western Brook Pond boat tour through the fjords of the Long Mountain chain. There is a parking lot near Cow Head that is almost always filled to capacity for this tour, no matter what the weather conditions when we drive by. You park there, get a ticket, and hike a well-maintained trail about 45 minutes inland to the Western Brook Pond boat launch, take the boat tour which is supposed to be the most incredible scenery in the Park, then hike back for 45 minutes. When my knee is fixed, we are doing this FOR SURE.
We continued driving on the one main street in Cow Head until we reached a long causeway to an island. We would love to live on this island, not at all crowded surprisingly and really nice. Shore birds are migrating now and there were many stopping over to bathe in the puddles from the recent rains.
It turned out to be a beautiful day, a little windy by the Ocean, but not bad at all. The high was 55 degrees & it was mostly sunny. We drove back to the RV & relaxed for the evening. Tomorrow’s the day we reserved a boat trip out into Bonne Bay and we are following that up by a really nice dinner at Black Spruce Restaurant in Neddy Harbour.