I am trying to figure out what is the attraction of spending the night in a tent. I think part of it is just being outdoors. Of waking up in the morning and taking your first steps through the wet grass with the fresh smell of the dew, of listening to the birds singing, of just seeing the beauty and simplicity of nature around you.
Today was the day of our climb up Gros Morne….and it was raining, and the mountain tops were buried in cloud. Knowing that the weather can change very quickly, we kept up a positive spirit, went to a small restaurant in Woody Point for breakfast, and drove up to the start of the hike. By now, it had stopped raining, and things looked positive. So, we set off for the base camp – the “decision” point 4km into the trail. We reached that point in an hour, and although the top of the mountain looked a little cloudy, we decided to tackle it. The next 3 hours were quite grueling. We climbed straight up for 400 metres over large boulders and rock for about an hour and a quarter before reaching the summit at 806 metres. About ¾ of the way up, we met a couple coming down because the fog, or cloud, had started to move in on the top of the mountain and they got concerned. Now, I thought to myself, it will have to be extremely foggy before I will ever consider climbing down over all this rock! We were lucky, when we got to the top it was beautifully clear. So we kept going. Then we met another person who was a little ahead of us but once again the cloud started to come down and she got concerned about being on the top of the mountain alone. So we three kept trekking. The cloud disappeared, the sun came out, and the view was magnificent. The fiord on the back side of the mountain was breathtaking! The pictures don’t show it justice but I hope you can stretch your imagination and imagine the beauty we saw. Part of the beauty is the peacefulness and the tranquility, and the feeling that you are such a small part of nature. The first part of the route down was pretty nasty – very rocky and difficult walking; but we saw a moose and her calf and ptarmigan and her chick. We also met 5 military guys who had just done a 5 day hike through the mountains. We watched them come straight down the mountainside through the forest, in a stream bed that led down into the lake. What a descent!!! They told us some of the stories of their trek. They started out in a heavy rainstorm; one of them fell in a pond (lake) and head-butted a rock; one of the others just about fell down the cliff, but managed to break his walking stick which apparently saved his fall; all were dirty, but still smiling and in good spirits. On our way up, we met a young teacher from St. John’s who had bad blisters and decided that she was not going any further. She was separated from her group, and asked us to tell them, if we met them, that she was walking back to Corner Brook and they should pick her up on their way back! Now Corner Brook is a few hours drive. Well we did meet her group who were looking for her, and assured them that she was safe and they were to continue. They were just ahead of us most of the way and we kept meeting them when they stopped for a rest. At the end, they left just behind us. All of us were very concerned that she was walking and truly wondered if they would meet up. We were so happy when we found her a considerable distance along the road and watched to make sure that her group did in fact pick her up. She was very courageous to have trekked so far on her own, along the side of the road, and with blisters!
We seemed to make good time on the trail. The advertised time is 6 to 8 hours and we made the trek in about 5 ½ hours with about 15 minutes for lunch. Although the scenery is simply breathtaking you don’t want to hang about too much because the weather is so changeable and the clouds/fog roll in very quickly.
We crawled to the car, drove back to the camp site to clean up, and then into Woody Point where we went to the Old Loft Restaurant for dinner. The food was good and it was a really nice place to chill out in after an amazing day at the top of the mountain. The beer was good too – and well deserved.
Today was the day of our climb up Gros Morne….and it was raining, and the mountain tops were buried in cloud. Knowing that the weather can change very quickly, we kept up a positive spirit, went to a small restaurant in Woody Point for breakfast, and drove up to the start of the hike. By now, it had stopped raining, and things looked positive. So, we set off for the base camp – the “decision” point 4km into the trail. We reached that point in an hour, and although the top of the mountain looked a little cloudy, we decided to tackle it. The next 3 hours were quite grueling. We climbed straight up for 400 metres over large boulders and rock for about an hour and a quarter before reaching the summit at 806 metres. About ¾ of the way up, we met a couple coming down because the fog, or cloud, had started to move in on the top of the mountain and they got concerned. Now, I thought to myself, it will have to be extremely foggy before I will ever consider climbing down over all this rock! We were lucky, when we got to the top it was beautifully clear. So we kept going. Then we met another person who was a little ahead of us but once again the cloud started to come down and she got concerned about being on the top of the mountain alone. So we three kept trekking. The cloud disappeared, the sun came out, and the view was magnificent. The fiord on the back side of the mountain was breathtaking! The pictures don’t show it justice but I hope you can stretch your imagination and imagine the beauty we saw. Part of the beauty is the peacefulness and the tranquility, and the feeling that you are such a small part of nature. The first part of the route down was pretty nasty – very rocky and difficult walking; but we saw a moose and her calf and ptarmigan and her chick. We also met 5 military guys who had just done a 5 day hike through the mountains. We watched them come straight down the mountainside through the forest, in a stream bed that led down into the lake. What a descent!!! They told us some of the stories of their trek. They started out in a heavy rainstorm; one of them fell in a pond (lake) and head-butted a rock; one of the others just about fell down the cliff, but managed to break his walking stick which apparently saved his fall; all were dirty, but still smiling and in good spirits. On our way up, we met a young teacher from St. John’s who had bad blisters and decided that she was not going any further. She was separated from her group, and asked us to tell them, if we met them, that she was walking back to Corner Brook and they should pick her up on their way back! Now Corner Brook is a few hours drive. Well we did meet her group who were looking for her, and assured them that she was safe and they were to continue. They were just ahead of us most of the way and we kept meeting them when they stopped for a rest. At the end, they left just behind us. All of us were very concerned that she was walking and truly wondered if they would meet up. We were so happy when we found her a considerable distance along the road and watched to make sure that her group did in fact pick her up. She was very courageous to have trekked so far on her own, along the side of the road, and with blisters!
We seemed to make good time on the trail. The advertised time is 6 to 8 hours and we made the trek in about 5 ½ hours with about 15 minutes for lunch. Although the scenery is simply breathtaking you don’t want to hang about too much because the weather is so changeable and the clouds/fog roll in very quickly.
We crawled to the car, drove back to the camp site to clean up, and then into Woody Point where we went to the Old Loft Restaurant for dinner. The food was good and it was a really nice place to chill out in after an amazing day at the top of the mountain. The beer was good too – and well deserved.
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