It rained hard last night and the forecast was for more of the same all day today, so we slept in late and kicked back all morning. Around noon we decide to venture forth and headed over to Trout pond to check out the kayaking possibilities there. The guy renting kayaks was very helpful and informative and we decided to go out there tomorrow.
We went out to lunch (!) at the very nice (even by US standards) Seaside Restaurant in the town of Trout River, which leaves a lot to be desired as it is quite depressed even though it is in a lovely setting where a flowing river meets the sea at a crescent beach with a boardwalk from end to end. Several of the women in Trout River proudly display and sell their knitted goods from lines in front of their house and Al decided to buy a pair as he needed thick ones to wear inside his Bean boots.
Later we drove over to Woody Point where we found several interesting shops and galleries featuring locally created arts and crafts.
Since the rain never developed we decided to take a late afternoon hike through Tablelands, a geologic wonder of the world where ancient rock from the upper mantle of the earth’s core was pushed to the surface. From the brochure: “This 500 million year old body of rock formed tens of kilometers beneath the floor of an ancient ocean. It is part of a package of oceanic crust that was thrust up on to North America when two ancient continents collided.”
Most of the rock is ochre colored peridotite that gets its surface color when the iron in it oxidizes. Serpantonite is the same rock after it has been metamorphosed by water being forced through the cracks and calcium being expelled through them. The mineral composition in these rocks is not conducive to plant growth so just a few unusual and rare plants are evident. One of my all-time favorites is the carnivorous pitcher plant, which I have never seen in such abundance. It was a fascinating place to hike and we had it pretty much all to ourselves since we did it so late in the day.
You’d need to be Ansel Adams to capture Gros Morne in photographs, but I’m doing what I can to provide a glimpse.
Back to camp for dinner and blog posting.
Cloudy and cool. 44 miles
Travels with haRVy 
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