July 6, 2024 – Gros Morne National Park - West Coast of Newfoundland

 


We were happy to see sunshine on Saturday morning as we had booked a cruise on Western Brook Pond – small lakes are often called ponds here.  We first had a 3 km (one way) walk down to the dock where we boarded The Westbrook II – the boat on the left.





We headed toward the spectacular glacier carved cliffs of the Long Range Mountains.  These are called fjords but that are not really as this is a freshwater lake.  The lake was at one time connected to the sea as they have found fossils of sea animals, including whales here.







The scenery along the pond was beautiful with many waterfalls.







The Long Range Mountains at the end of the pond were beautiful.  Our boat dropped off eight back country hikers who were going into this beautiful wilderness.  There are no trails here and they will have to navigate by compass to get through the mountains – very hardy and courageous hikers!





It started clouding over as we made our way out of the fjords and back to the dock.  We were glad we took the morning cruise so we could enjoy it in sunshine.





We all enjoyed this fantastic cruise and are ready for the 3 km walk back to the parking lot.







It started raining shortly after we got back to the campground.  After lunch we drove north of Gros Morne National Park to Arches Provincial Park.  There were originally four arches but one has totally collapsed.





The rain let up some and we were able to walk down to the beach and arches.







We then drove to site where the SS Ethie ran aground during a storm on December 11, 1919.  Luckily, all passengers and crew were saved, including a baby sent ashore in a mailbag.







The SS Ethie was a coastal boat that carried goods, supplies, people and mail to the many communities along this shore.





We then went to Cow Head, a town just outside our campground where we celebrated Gunter and Susanne’s 51st wedding anniversary.   We enjoyed another wonderful day, especially the cruise and dinner with Gunter and Susanne.



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