Today we had grand plans to climb Gros Morne proper, a ten mile plus hike. However after arriving after midnight at our AirBnB we wake up late in the morning and decide to temper our goal with a hike to the base of the mountain only which is still a six mile hike but excluding the most difficult climb which is one way only.
We use the extra time to admire the birds from our patio, there are robins, ravens as well as thrushes and sparrows.
Breakfast is from our previous night stop at Tim Horton’s, we were smart enough to buy also for breakfast. And of course the jams which we bought the day prior, we do have to try them out and finish them before boarding the plane.
Then it is time to go to the visitor center to pay the entrance fee. It is an imposing center but the permanent exhibition is relatively small as well as the gift shop. There is a large temporary exhibit with paintings that we enjoy but we are on a strict timeline so it is time to move on.
The parking lot for Gros Morne is close by and we are happy to find a parking place, we didn’t expect so many people here and we wouldn’t look forward to it if it would be high season. But we are happy to know that we are one of the last people out so while we will meet a lot of people on the way there there shouldn’t be many if any people on the way back.
From the beginning we catch glimpses of the Gros Morne Mountain between the trees, it is quite an impressive bald mountain rising above the plateau and being visible from all directions.The trail itself is quite nice as it passes through the green forest and we enjoy our hike after the long drive the day prior.
There are also birds along the trail, none extraordinary but still always great to see. Especially a group of woodpeckers and chickadees that interact and argue and just fly all around us.
The trail is up and up but it is mostly a gently slope and we can take it slower as we know we won’t make the additional climb and just enjoy the forest.
The climb levels out as we start to follow the contours of the terrain with great views of the Mountain, it still looks quite far away. We can also can catch glimpses of Crow Gulch and the many rapids and waterfalls on the fast flowing creek.
We are happy that it is cloudy as this exposed section would not be fun under the sun given the humidity and relatively high temperatures. In fact most people coming down complain about the heat but we are ok even while still going up.
There are side trails that were side roads but none of them are official so we don’t explore them today. There are also flowers and raspberries and mushrooms along the trail and we stop a few times to see what they are or just smell the flowers while catching our breath.
And then we hear something large moving in front of us. First we think bear, as we see something huge and brown in front of us. From a safe distance we take the binoculars out and take a look, it is actually a young moose phew. But is it phew really? It stays on the trail and doesn’t seem to care about us at all so we are stuck. And then another group approaches from uphill, we signal desperately as they approach obliviously and they finally notice us and stop. The moose now decides it had enough and evacuates the trail and both groups can now continue, with us being now stressed out if we will be able to pass when we return. Spoiler, there was no moose on return in the area, double phew.
Next is the major waterfall on the trail which is visible from a newly built bridge. It is a nice waterfall and a very popular stop so we decide to make our stop on return when as expected there was no one left and we had the waterfall for ourselves.
After the waterfall the trail continues the climb through a more mature forest. It is cooler here as we pass creeks and look all around, any interesting birds in this higher altitude forest?
The answer is a resounding yes, we find a skulky Blue-heded Vireo and almost immediately afterwards a Black-backed Woodpecker, a first for us and a relatively difficult to find bird.
Right after the bird bonanza we exit the forest and now are walking on a plateau making a last push towards the base of the mountain. The views now change with ponds and low vegetation being the norm.
The trail itself changes, it becomes more muddy. Luckily most crossing have boards or bridges or someting so we can make safe crossings, we escape and do not get our boots wet during the many crossings in the section.
Final approach has a toilet which we don’t think is functional and a large bridge crossing a major creek and then we arrived, yay.
We sit down on the rock fields and eat some snacks while enjoying the views and watching the stragglers that return from the mountain pass by. We want as many as possible to pass us by, we would like to have as much quiet as possible when returning back down. We also explore the signs at the start of the mountain climb, there are many, many warnings there that don’t apply to us as we go down not up.
And now it is time to descend as we follow the same trail going down. There are a lot fewer people now and we can take our time enjoying the views, waterfalls and nature. Unfortunately there are fewer birds and no mammals on the way down but we still enjoy the descent which is also much faster than the climb. It fact it is so fast that we decide on one more stop today, a hike around a pond still in Gros Morne National Park.
