Week 660 · September 2026 · Gros Morne, Newfoundland
Gros Morne is one of the crown jewels of the Canadian National Parks and is probably one of the most scenic national parks on the eastern side of Canada and the USA. Not quite at the level of Yosemite, but close and with the fjords on the water, similar to Norway in some respects.
We arrived in Deer Lake about 3pm for a break from driving and maybe a bike ride — it was pouring so we kept driving and ended up in sunshine in Gros Morne National Park about an hour later. We did end up needing more time to set up for camping, between the grocery run, slower travel in the park, and longer to set up than planned — it was good to have more time.
Demand is high for Gros Morne, we had been told that they go quickly for August so we had reserved the camp site in February. Good setup and relatively close to bathroom (with shower) and wifi hotspot. We definitely brought enough stuff and our big lesson learned is to just buy ready-to-heat food and avoid all the cooking hassle. You can also see the tent attached to the car — the concept being that the tent extends your living area and you sleep in the car with the lift gate opening into the tent. Sharon decided to stay in the tent. The location was good — we had a short hike down to Trout River Pond which was a fjord. The picture on the cover photo was the view from our site if we were not buried in trees. So world class location.
First challenge with our high-tech car: the dome lights in the back would not turn off and no matter what we did, they would come on with the lift gate open. So we closed the liftgate. Then after going to bed, needed to go to the restroom and instead of sliding out the back, had to go out the back passenger doors. Of course, child safety locks were on and I couldn't get out — even unlocking with the remote. So had to crawl into the front seat to exit. Next night, any movement turned on the ambient lighting so I locked the car with the remote to turn it off. It did — but when I opened the back passenger doors (I had fixed the child locks) the car alarm went off and disturbed our corner of the campground. So we decided to not connect the car for the next stop.
Reserve Gros Morne campsites early — ideally in February for August at the Parks Canada website parks.canada.ca. The park has five campgrounds; three take reservations and they fill up fast in peak season. Trout River campground puts you on the south side of the park near the Tablelands and Trout River Pond — a different experience from Green Point on the north side. Visit the visitor center at “Discovery Centre Woody Point” for an in-depth lesson on geology.
The initial plan was to do one of the key hikes — Tablelands. This was one reason to select this campsite. But when we looked across the valley — raining at the Tablelands peak. So we went the other direction to the coast and stumbled upon a great trail — maybe 3 miles round trip (versus our plan of 6 miles). Ended up being a much better hike: scenery, elevation changes, and distance all better.
We went back to Eastern Point Trail for sunset and after sunset caught the moonrise on the drive back over Trout River Pond.
So — since the initial kayak worked out so well, we thought that we would do it again. Plan sounded good — launch into the Trout River pond, the pond spills out into Trout River which has a decent current (peaking at Class II rapids) and takes you about 1.6 miles to the ocean where you can paddle into a protected cove and onto a sandy beach. We had bikes, so we could drop off the kayak at the pond, position the car at the beach, and I could ride a bike back to the pond. And since we were tide experts, we decided to go when the tide was coming in, so we had a lower risk of getting pulled out to sea. Execution was not as good — because it was near low tide and we had a fin on the bottom of the kayak, we kept getting stuck but because of the Deliverance-like waterfront properties, we had to walk the kayak as much as we paddled and then saw a place to escape back to the road. Of course, we came out about 50% of the trip — so had to walk to the car while Sharon stayed with the kayak. But no injuries or serious issues.
The Tablelands is famous because it is one of very few places where the Earth’s mantle is exposed, which gives it the reddish-brown color and it is so packed with minerals that nothing will grow there. One side of the valley is a green forest, while the other side is reddish-brown, and in the distance are gray granite mountains, which are the northern portion of the Appalachian Mountains within North America (they continue under the sea to Norway). One of the most geologically diverse places in the world where the continents split millions of years ago. However, one of the least compelling hikes that we took — most interesting to look at with the explanation than hike for a couple of hours. The other recommended hike on the Trout River side of the park is Green Gardens, which we did not do — it appeared to be similar to the Eastern Point Trail.
Gros Morne National Park, situated on the west coast of Newfoundland, provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth’s mantle lie exposed. More recent glacial action has resulted in some spectacular scenery, with coastal lowland, alpine plateau, fjords, glacial valleys, sheer cliffs, waterfalls and many pristine lakes. The park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
The Tablelands exposes ultramafic peridotite rock from Earth’s mantle thrust to the surface during a continental collision — creating a rust-colored landscape where few plants survive due to toxic mineral composition. The rust color comes from the iron and magnesium content of the mantle rock, and the absence of vegetation is not climate but chemistry: the rock is hostile to almost all plant life. One side of the Bonne Bay valley is temperate green forest; the other is this barren ochre plateau — the contrast is visible from the road and makes the geology legible in a way that most geology never is. The geological significance of the Tablelands was instrumental in proving the theory of plate tectonics, and the park’s rocks date back over a billion years.
With our two days camping completed in Trout River, we headed out to the other side of the park to our next campsite at Green Point — about an hour and 20 minutes drive around Bonne Bay — and stopped for lunch in Norris Point.
