Day 23: Lomond Beach to Trout River campground, Gros Morne

What a difference a day makes! Sunny and cool. We aren’t traveling far today, only to the next campground in this part of the park. We passed through Woody Point again and the Tablelands Trail we did yesterday. We spent an educational hour at the Discovery Center along the way. Very informative and easy to understand explanation of the importance of the Tablelands and understanding of plate tectonics. Gros Morne is a UNESCO world heritage site.

I finally looked up what Gros Morne means in English. The name Gros Morne is French for “large mountain standing alone” or “great sombre”. Gros Morne is a mountain in Gros Morne National Park.

Woody Point .. gorgeous when the sun is shining

The Tablelands one day later, same view, different weather

A hike on the earth’s mantel via the Green Gardens Trail

30 years ago, almost to the day, we hiked the entirety of the Green Gardens Trail, 9.5 km of the most diverse scenery you will ever see, from walking on the earth’s mantel to the sea and lush vegetation. It’s a 5 hour hike and we just didn’t have it in us today. But we did cover about a third of it to the height of land on the trail. We turned back once it started downhill. This is one of the most memorable hikes we have ever done. We didn’t feel the need to do all of it a second time.

More hardy plants living in extreme circumstances encountered on the first part of the trail.

Peridotite freshly broken showing surface oxidation

The Green Gardens trail begins on the open serpentine barrens of the Tablelands and descends through boreal forest to a fertile volcanic sea coast. Green Gardens was long used by residents of Trout River as summer range for their livestock, and sheep are still seen there today.

Do you think they have a catch on board?

Our lunch spot in Trout River. Newfoundland pea soup and codfish sandwiches.

Still eating lunch out. Brian had Newfoundland pea soup and a codfish sandwich. We have switched now from haddock to cod. The pea soup was delicious and very different to the yellow split pea soup we were accustomed to in Quebec.

Newfoundland Pea Soup

a bag of yellow split peas (almost impossible to find in the U.S)
a piece of cured salt beef or if not available then a ham bone will do
3-4 carrot diced
a small turnip cubed ( what Canadians call turnip is not actually turnip but rutabaga.) The yellow one not the white one.
2 small potatoes cubed optional
2-3 bay leaves
3 onions diced
3-4 Tbsp. butter to sauté the onion.
enough water to almost fill your pot

We were greated warmly by the local flying/biting denizons when we arrived at our campsite, so much so that the bug tent was almost the first thing we put up.

For the first time in days, we could enjoy an afternoon sitting outside in the sun (in the tent). Yesterday I was lamenting not having purchased a rug hooking kit at Molly’s. Well they were available in the gift shop at the Discovery Center. I took that as a sign. I even found one featuring the Pitcher Plant. You don’t have to convince me twice. I bought it and spent the rest of the afternoon listening to my book and learning a new craft.

The fire ban has been lifted and it’s not raining tonight.. so hopefully we get to have our long awaited campfire. Right now we are enjoying a glass of wine and classical piano music before dinner.