The major hike we planned for today is the Tablelands hike. It is supposed to be a nice hike at the base of the Tablelands and it is also quite a popular one. What we didn’t plan for is the cold and the wind and the fact that rain might be coming in from almost every direction. Still we decide to start on the trail and see how far we can go before the rain gets us. The Tablelands themselves is a scenic mountain massif similar to Gros Morne the previous day but from a different geological era.
The hike is level and nice but there are lots of other hikers, this is one of the most popular hikes in Gros Morne and likely the cruise ship doesn’t help. To our surprise there are a few creeks that cross the trail even though everything looks desolate, this is not due to lack of water but the soil composition.
There are some nice benches along the trail but this is no weather to sit down as you would freeze quite likely really soon.
The attraction here are the rocks, there is one called serpentine that seems really rare and unlikely to be seen by an untrained eye. But almost immediately as we start looking for it we notice it everywhere, it is very common here.
Now the rain starts falling and something even worse seems to be coming from the direction of the parking so we decide that we have seen enough and likely the landscape will not change and also that we do not want to be in the open if lightning starts. So we start back towards the parking lot but on a different trail that will create a loop back to parking.
The spur trail is a bit more vegetated with Purple Pitcher Plants as well as other endemic and common plants.
In fact some areas would not seem out of place on any of the other trails, the vegetation is quite thick and colorful. And then we arrive in the parking lot and duck into the car to escape the now serious rain that pervades the area.
Now we have a decision to make, return or continue. We decide to continue maybe this is an isolated patch of rain. And lo and behold after a few kilometers the rain clears up so we stop at the next parking area to hike and use the facilities, no facilities at Tablelands which was very surprising. The facilities are open and in great shape but to our surprise the trail itself is closed. So we decide to move on and try a different trail at the end of the road, the Trout River Pond trail.
