Parking lot camping (part deux) worked well. We both slept peacefully and no local ‘boy racers’ spoiled the tranquility of the place. However, it got cold. 1°C at 5:30am this morning. Propane furnace to the rescue!
We managed to get ready and be on our way before 9:00am which was nice as today will include some driving. First we headed East towards Deer Lake where we stopped for fuel and to clean the windshield of dead bugs.
Leaving Deer Lake we headed North on Hwy 430 along the ‘Viking Trail’ toward Gros Morne National Park. We turned West onto Hwy 431 towards Woody Point. This road used to be the primary road North to St Anthony, and users were required to take a ferry across Bonne Bay from Woody Point to Norris Point. Today, Hwy 430 bypasses these towns and removes the need for the ferry.
Lovely communities along the West Arm of Bonne Bay and a fishery still operates in Woody Point.
It is at Woody Point that the road turns sharply inland towards the Tablelands mountains. These are massive flattop igneous rock mountains made of some of the oldest rocks known to exist on the planet. There is still some snow clinging to the sides near the tops; however, that is all that adorns these mountains as they appear completely devoid of any plant life. Quite a sight to behold.
We stopped to walk part of the Green Garden Trail up to the top of a rise allowing us a wonderful vista out towards the Gulf of St Lawrence. In all we hiked for about an hour before returning to the van and driving to the Tablelands Trailhead.
After a light lunch we hiked along the Tablelands trail learning more about these mountains and the various rock types. We completed our walk just as a large busload of Ontarian retiree tourists arrived.
From Tablelands we headed East again back to Woody Point and then back to Hwy 430 and here we turned North to drive deeper into Gros Morne Park.
We took a short detour into Norris Point and looked back across the West Arm of Bonne Bay at Woody Point from earlier. Barb found an ice cream shop and we each enjoyed a small cone before heading back onto Hwy 430 for a short drive to our stop for the night at Green Point Campground.
The campground is operated by Parks Canada but is relatively small and as such quiet. Sheltered amongst the Spruce and Birch trees from the West wind we have a nice grassy site where there seem to be no bugs! We enjoyed a drink outdoors in the late afternoon sunshine before the clouds arrived and we retreated into the van for dinner and a quiet evening.
Tomorrow we ride in a boat!