Rob-n-Hild, Eastward Ho!

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Gros Morne 198 km. 2:42 hours. Elevation maximum 350 metres. Sailing - 33.3km

Today we had another go at the Western Brook Pond Boat Tour and - as we were able to book on a trip starting at 3.00 pm - we had the morning to do something else. Last night we were too long at the Tablelands trail to do anything more at the Southern end of the Park so we figured we would go back there. We had another reason to go back to the Park Discovery Center at Woody Point - we had managed to misplace our Canada National Park Pass and the last place we had used it was at this center last night. Therefore, our first stop was actually the Park office in Rocky Harbour where they very kindly phoned up the Woody Point Office and confirmed that our Park Pass was in their Lost and Found. Phew, that was a relief as without this we would have to pay day fees at all the parks and historic sites we plan to visit this trip! The nice lady in the Rocky Harbour office also let us fill our water bottles in their kitchen as there is a "Boil Water Advisory" covering out camp site and as we didn't fancy having to do that we had been using our supply exlusively. We carry about 10 l in various size bottles, which covers us for a couple days (depending on the milk vs tea ratio)and we were getting low!

Due to the time constraint of having to walk in to the departure point for our boat tour at 3.00 (added to Rob's slow start) we had to rush our way through the Lookout Trail a bit. This trial is supposed to be a 5.8km loop taking 2-3 hours, only there were still patches of snow and it wasn't always clear where the trail went under the snow(!) so we did a there-and-back of 4.4 in just over an hour. This was a lot of climbing though (277 meters Max told us) and it was a good work out.

Even though we didn't get all the way to the top, there were still some lovely views over Bonne Bay (bottom). We could see the Tablelands area we had walked yesterday (top right) and the big Gros Morne mountain that we couldn't walk (top left) - because the track was closed, not because Rob was a wuss!

Then it was a dash back to the other side of the park and a brisk 2.7 k walk to get to our boat trip. We had a bit of time to spare, which we used in making a cup of tea, before the trip began.

And what a trip it was. Brook Pond is actually a land-locked fjord that is about 15 km long with sheer sides going up about 6-700m and down to 165m under the surface. It was formed by glacial activity, but as the land has re-bounded since the last ice age (about 15,000 years) the fjord was cut off from the sea and is now completely fresh water. There were so many impressive watefalls, rock crevices, weird shapes etc. that the few images here don't do it justice. Definitely another highlight of this park - along with Tablelands fom yesterday and the geological site at Green Point we saw the day before (was that Saturday? I forget).

Coming up: Driving to Twillingate - more icebergs?

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