Jun 16, 2025 – Somewhere, there is a Sad and Lonely Mountain

Somewhere in the western part of Newfoundland within the Long Range Mountains, a continuation of the Appalachians, a mountain stands alone. At 2644 ft, It isn’t particularly tall; but when veiled in fog, it looked sad and lonely to the French settlers who, centuries ago aptly named it ‘Gros Morne’.

One of Canada’s uniquely beautiful and fascinating national parks is Gros Morne, named after the mountain located in its center region. If the mountain is sad and lonely, I can add insult to injury because while visiting the park, I could not tell you when or if I saw the mountain. Dismayed, I finally Google-searched an image and was able to match it with one of my photos taken on the final day in the park.

We never hiked to the top of Gros Morne (the trail remained closed during the first days of our visit), and obviously we didn’t take great notice of it either, but did take notice of the park’s three distinct land attractions – the coast, the Western Brooke Pond, and the Tablelands.

I’ll begin with the coast because thats where we began our discovery of Gros Morne National Park and what defines Newfoundland for us. The park is a monumental testament to the effects of heat and pressure on the earth’s crust. And if you pay attention to what the park’s interpreters are saying, you will make the long astronomical connection between plate tectonics and glacial activity and the characteristics of the coast, which changes dramatically in a short distance, from sand dunes to sheer vertical cliffs.

Speaking of glacial activity, what seems to be the most popular attraction within the park is a fresh water fjord created by glaciers. As the glaciers melted, the land pressed below the ice rebounded and the outlet to sea was cut off. What is left is the Western Brooke Pond, a 10-mile long and 540-ft deep body of water.

You may be wondering why such an impressive body of water is called ‘pond’ and like me you might be Googling “lake vs pond” right now because it seems worth pondering. In most parts of the world, there is a fairly clear distinction between the two – not so in Newfoundland. Here, a pond refers to any land locked body of water. Does Newfoundland contain lakes? Yes, like Deer Lake. But apparently, these became lakes with the presence of several American military bases built during WWII.

While A fjord with its great walls of rock is an impressive site, Gros Morne has another landscape that does everything to pique a visitor’s curiosity and wonder. It is a barren looking land of rock that should never be seen by the human eye.

It is a strange land that stands apart from the green forested mountains adjacent to it. It was formed a half a billlion years ago as continents collided, building the Appalachian Mountains. Meanwhile, a large piece of the Earth’s mantle was thrust upward. Over time, the mountains eroded to reveal the Earth’s “inner soul”, the exposed mantle. Behold, the Tablelands where wind and lack of top soil do not deter hardy plants from living.

As a point of interest, we came to Gros Morne on two separate occasions, each time for 3 days. This gave us plenty of time to see the areas of interest without driving long distances.

We enjoyed staying at Shallow Bay, one of the park’s campgrounds located on a sand dunes beach. We were close to Western Brooke, several coastal hiking trails, and the town of Rocky Harbour. Enjoy these photos from near our campsite on Shallow Bay.

For the second visit, we stayed in the Tablelands area. We hiked a coastal trail, took a ranger-led hike in the Tablelands (highly recommend), and visited the Discovery Center while it rained. If I could recommend anything to RV travelers coming to Newfoundland, give yourself time to see Gros Morne to account for weather conditions, especially if you want to see Western Brooke or do a scheduled ranger tour.