Gros Morne National Park, NL

I used to think the Appalachian mountain range ended in Maine. But no, we just spent 2 weeks in the Appalachian mountains of Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland!

We spent the first week in Shallow Bay, the northernmost campground in the park, which put us in a good position for a day trip up to L’Anse aux Meadows.

Newfoundland is 1.5 hours ahead of Eastern Time which means Michael is working from 9:30-6:30 local time. Shallow Bay was perfect because the campground had miles of beach that we could walk every morning before work!

We took a boat tour of Western Brook Pond, which is a inland freshwater fjord. The glaciers that created Gros Morne’s fjords have revealed geology that helped scientists understand plate tectonics.

We spent our second week on the southern end of Gros Morne on Bonne Bay. We had a waterfront campsite at Water’s Edge RV Park, with one of the best views we’ve ever had. I booked this spot because the bay is deep enough that whales can be seen from shore. We only saw one, which we think might have been a minke.

We spent a lot of time sitting outside enjoying our view, chatting with and having dinner with our neighbors, and trying as many Quidi Vidi beers (brewery in St. John’s) as we could find.

In addition to attempting to see whales from our campsite, we were also here to hike. The Tablelands of Gros Morne is one of the most accessible places in the world where you can walk on the Earth’s mantle, as opposed to the crust that we are normally walking on. The photos on the left below show the stark contrast between the orange mantle rocks that are inhospitable to plant life adjacent the tree covered land.

And last, we hiked the Green Gardens trail to these beautiful coastal views.

Next up, we try boondocking in the Brinkley for the first time.