As we ventured off the ferry at Port aux Basque and drove up the western sloped land, rocky and sparsely treed with occasional signs of habitation, Newfoundland struck us like Iceland. There were vast spaces of rocks and scrub and trees, homes sites out by themselves and designed for winter, and occasional combo gas/restaurant/stores. I guess Newfoundland can’t help being this different, being stuck this far east and north, an island on the way to Labrador. As we pushed further north, the trees began showing their success in invading the slopes, pouring down from the mountains that grew increasingly higher behind them. We were headed to Gros Morne National Park, the place where the earth revealed its mountains thrust up at the coast to yield proof of plate tectonic movement.
This was ground zero for a few geologists who found rocks that were way too old and out of place. In the late 60s radical geologists posed the theory of plate tectonics, but it was a British grad student, Robert Stevens, who found rock that was 480 million years old. And then dig more digging to find that not only was his find a piece of the earth’s mantle thrust up by big collisions of crust, but he also went on to show how Newfoundland had stuff from all over that could only have been there if the crust was wildly moving around like little kids shuffle cards.
The TableLands is where a big exposed chunk of the earth’s mantle was choked off by one of those tectonic shuffles. The result is a Mars-like surface with rock chemistry that prevents any plants from growing. It’s safe to say that at the mantle’s usual depth 670 km beneath us there probably aren’t many plants growing there either. Still, the scrub bushes and plants are slowly pushing their boundaries trying to conquer this piece of subterranea. We walked through the battle zone’s DMZ and on into a great valley surrounded by barren peaks of half billion year old rock.
A second day hike was to Green Gardens, and a beautiful day it was. After descending through a patchy, low coastal forest we arrived at high grassy plateaus overlooking sea stacks and rocky beaches. Suddenly as we turned out of the trees, there they were! – the iconic red Adirondack chairs that we’d seen placed at the edge of great views all over Newfoundland. We sat for a long lunch, soaked in the scenery and relaxed with the breeze and the sound of the waves below. Then we scrambled down to walk along the beach and explored the tide pools and waterfall.
The biggest hike of our stay was Western Brook Pond. Per Park rules, the only way to do this hike was with a guide. In my opinion, only some of the reason for this was that, because the terrain is rugged and the mountain beasts are fierce, the park doesn’t like to send search crews for lost hikers. (Understandable, but aren’t there rough terrain and hungry animals at most national parks?). I think the other more fundamental reason is local economic stability. The $200 per person guide fee surely helps keep a few people employed in this remote area. Yikes. The trail was steep, muddy and rocky, but we have hiked trails just as tricky in other places without the guide. Yet this was one of those epic hikes, and it would have cost way more than the guide fee to come back again in the future if we decided not to. Add the fact that the boat ride along Western Brook Pond was thrown in, the tour guides were knowledgeable and talkative, and the views were fantastic – and all in all. It was a good day.
