Day trip from Rocky Harbour to Western Brook Pond

Overview map of Western Brook Pond. Docks are at the upper left end.

 

I wish we had taken a better overview picture, but this does show the Pond, how close it is to the salt water on the left, and how many smaller ponds are in the area. If you look closely you can see a "You are Here" spot, and even the faint hiking trail in from the highway.

This boat cruise is one of the things that Nfld tourists like us have to do at least once. It's only 25 km from Rocky Harbour, a beautiful sunny 20C day, so that's what we did today.

Western Brook Pond was the core of the creation of Gros Morne Park Reserve back in the 1970's. It was originally a salt water fjord carved out by glaciers, but once the glaciers retreated, the land rose and shut the pond (would be called a lake most places) off from the salt water. Gradually the pond recycled to become completely fresh water. If you're at all interested in Gros Morne history, Wikipedia has a nice writeup here, along with several pictures:
Gros Morne National Park

The trail starts from the parking area, just off the highway:

 
It's an interesting tour, as from the parking lot it's a 3 km "nature hike" from the trailhead on a trail through balsam woods and bog terrain (boardwalks as needed), quite pretty. This is just to get to the boat dock, where we actually bought our tickets. Breezy enough today that there was virtually no black fly issue:

 

The hike was quite pleasant, crossing through woods and bogs, well gravelled and with boardwalks where needed. The trees are quite stunted, it's a harsh environment for them. Lots of wildflowers, and moose tracks in the mud.

The boat dock:

Lots of happy tourists: 

The cliffs at the side varied, up to 2,300 ft or so high in places: 

After the boat tour we returned to Rocky Harbour, first snagging some more seafood for tonight's dinner at "home" (scallops and salmon). We also had a hike along the rocky shore around Rocky Harbour: