Bonne Bay Layover

August 11, 2016

After a good night's sleep we awoke to a rainy day and enjoyed a continental style breakfast while looking out over the bay. The owner offered us the use of one of her vehicles to drive around to some of the park's attractions. First up was a short drive to a guided walking tour in the Tablelands area. This proved to be the best possible start to our time in Gros Morne as the guides (one speaking English and one speaking French) were able to explain the geological significance of the park in terms even I could understand. Briefly, as multiple continents migrated they collided and portions surfaced in the park.

On the left side of the picture the area where green vegetation begins is actually the border between two Continental plates.

According to Wikipedia, the barren ground we were standing on was "ultramafic"rock known as "peridotite". It is thought to originate in the Earth's mantle and was forced up from the depths during a plate collision several hundred million years ago. Peridotite lacks the usual nutrients required to sustain most plant life, hence its barren appearance.

The rain was not as much a factor as the wind. Rhona's hair didn't stand a chance.

But when the sun came out it was quite pleasant.

Both of us were recovering from injuries (my knee, Rhona's back) which nearly caused us to cancel our tour. However, Rhona being Rhona coorced me into chasing her up a near vertical trail to Lookout Point at the top of a mountain overlooking the bay. At one point I thought of asking a guy to have his big white dog tow me up the steepest parts, but he selfishly clung on to the leash himself. Later I had the satisfaction of watching the white dog joyfully fling himself into a pool of black muddy water...it will be a long time before he is a white dog again.

I didn't stop to take pictures scrabbling up the hill. There was a relatively flat area on top with some boggy areas protected with wooden walkways. It looked like a great place to see a bear.

Throughout Newfoundland these (usually) red chairs are sited at scenic areas. We had to work hard to earn these particular seats.

Rhona's back started to attack her on the way back down and with my already gimpy knee it took a while as we took half steps much of the way. We welcomed the car ride up over the peninsula to the little fishing village of Trout River.

Rhona being Rhona, she decided we hadn't done sufficient damage to our knees and backs so we climbed the steps in the background up the cliff.

There is a small museum and boardwalk in town where it was worth spending some time. I tried a sample of salted Capelin fish, complete with eyeballs. The tast was ok but there was a week's worth of salt in one fish.

We're not sure what part of a whale this is....

While driving back on the road to Woody Point we reflected on a story related in the museum about a time in the 1950's before the modern road was completed when a pregnant women with severe complication was stranded in Trout River needing to get to Woody Point. Neighbors and relatives joined a Nurse Jackman in a horse-drawn wagon but were caught out in the open by a sudden snowstorm. Nurse Jackman stood in the wind sheltering her patient with her open coat but the woman lost her baby as well as leg and part of her hand. Nurse Jackman also lost leg and two of the horses were killed. The school in Trout River is named after Nurse Jackman. We had it so easy driving over the same route to Woody Point which was so dangerous even in our lifetime.

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