The Tablelands and Corner Brook Area

Photos: August 16, 2016

Woody Point is so well located with a view towards Gros Morne across the bay and the tablelands at the other end of the bay. Our hotel had a panoramic view of the bay – a wonderful view to wake up to, to have breakfast - to just enjoy. We set out to visit the tablelands where we had already been in 2009. On one side of the road is a mainly barren series of peaks, on the other a forested mountain. It is one of the places on earth where the Earth’s mantle was thrust up and is visible. Not much grows here as the soil is rocky and full of heavy metals. It is quite something to see the reddish mountains on one side of the road and the green forested mountain on the other side.



This is the result of the collision of the ancient continent of Laurentia (now part of North America) and Gondwana (now part of South America, Africa and Antarctica). The Iapetus Ocean, which had been between them was thrust up forming Pangaea. Newfoundland is a combination of the three with the tablelands being from parts of Earth's mantle that was pushed upwards.



Much of the rock is peridotite - it gets its reddish-yellow tinge from oxidization. The black section is serpentine - the white lines being calcium which has come to the surface of the rock.



We hiked up near a waterfall.



Growth is slow with trees that grow horizontally and may be hundreds of years old. Their wood is extremely dense



Paul gazed at every rock, in awe of the geology and I gawked at every flower that managed to grow in this environment.

I think this is shrubby cinquefoil.

And a few more flowers





This is a pitcher plant - the provincial flower of Newfoundland and Labrador. It captures insects in its leaves. They in turn are digested by larvae who then excrete waste. It is this that nourishes the flower.



You can see how the leaves form tubes that are filled with liquid.

We had to continue on...



We explored the south coast of the Humber Arm and stopped at Frenchman's Cove. For many years the French had fishing rights on this coast of Newfoundland. These are fishing dories.



Larger craft also fish out of this harbour.



The season for whatever this area fishes for must have been over as all the dories seemed to be pulled up out of the water.



We checked in to the Glynmill Inn in Corner Brook. It was built originally in the 1920's as the "staff house" for senior staff of a paper company.



It is right near the pond in Corner Brook.



A beautiful moon ended our day.

These and more picture can be found here.

Another Day in Gros Morne Park

Photos: August 3, 2016

We hiked to Western Brook Pond. It is not a difficult hike. On the way you pass many ecosystems - meadows, bogs, forest...



I am always impressed by how life adapts to its surroundings - flowers grow in abundance, yet their variety is amazing from the iris growing in the wet area near a pond to the many wild flowers found in the fields and near the roadside.



This is cotton grass; we saw a variety in the arctic that grows much larger. The inuit used it as wicks for their oil lamps. Different growing conditions create variations.



Mosses and lichen grow on the bogs.



A raven called out from a treetop in a creaky voice - searching out others? Declaring its territory? And then it flew off.



We took a boat trip up and down the pond, which had been carved out by glaciers many thousands of years ago. When the land started to rebound, the pond was sealed off from the ocean. The water does not have a lot of nutrients so the variety and number of fish is low for a lake this size.



The cliffs tower over the pond. We were told that caribou climb down from a meadow on one side and swim across the lake and then climb to a high meadow on the other side.



Waterfalls cascade down; they continue to cut a path through the rock. There is also evidence of several rock slides.



There is so much wilderness in this country. Two young men got off our boat at the far end of the lake. They were about to do five days of back country hiking.



To get to and from the head of the trail to Western Brook Pond, you drive through a small fishing village, Sallys Cove.  At one time much of Newfoundland's coast was accessible only by boat. This is still true for much of the southern coast. Villages like this would have to be very self-reliant. Now roads connect these villages and services are more available.