I turned in early last night. It had seemed like a very long day, but I guess they are actually all the same length.We were tired and were in bed before 9 pm. This early hour may have been a first for me, but I slept well and for a long time. This morning it was time to start exploring again. We started the day off with some rain and a beautiful rainbow just outside our window. Carol had cereal and I made myself some eggs and toast. The coffee was brewed and we sat and chatted at breakfast, excited for the day that was just beginning. Today was a day to explore the area.
What a way to start your day.
The rain was dwindling as we headed out with plans for the day. First stops were in 'town' for some shopping. Rocky Harbour is a town that is strung out all around the harbor. It's long but it doesn't stretch too far inland from the shore. These are water people. We stopped at the Visitor Center and the requisite gift shops and chatted with locals and other tourists. Harper was a hit with everyone. I handed out some puppy cookies so strangers could make friends. A few times, as Carol shopped, I sketched this new landscape around me. It is all new and fresh and a bit foreign. I stopped and got French Fries from a street vendor who has a 'food truck' of sorts on the waterfront. We chatted about potatoes. His potatoes are grown locally and hand cut. He said he goes through just about 1000 pounds a week.
Waiting for fries as the last drops fell.
As we chatted the last of the rain fell. After stopping at a few more gift shops we wound our way out to Lobster Point to hike the trails around the lighthouse.
Lobster Point Lighthouse
This is such a surprising landscape, the land rises straight up out of the sea in a most wonderful way. There is layer upon layer of distant horizons, each with its own personality. We toured the lighthouse and hiked the trails that led to the edge of the land where it drops off to the sea, through conifers that we don't recognize and purple and red flowers and berries that have never entered into our knowledge.
Rose hips and lighthouse
Such an amazing landscape
From the light house we made our way to the Berry Pond trail. We placed the day pass we purchased at the visitor center on the dashboard and were waved into the park by a young ranger. We parked and headed down the path to the water and turned left. Someone recently said 'when in doubt, turn left', sounds reasonable. The trail had its muddy spots left over from the rain, but they did not pose much of a problem. Boots are supposed to be muddy.
Hiking around the pond
About halfway around the lake we came upon some workmen who were building a boardwalk over a particularly muddy area. I mentioned to them that if they would have been working faster, we would be less muddy. It was a good hearted exchange and they told us 'Congratulation on being the first on the boardwalk'. We have found the people of Newfoundland to be very friendly. We left muddy footprints on the freshly sawn wood. The trail around the pond was quiet and the woods seemed almost like a fairyland in places.
Friendly guys and muddy footprints.
The moss was so green, there were yellow flowers, purple flowers and more mystery red berries. Now the berries seem to make sense as the IS the Berry Pond Trail after all. We only met one other group hiking the trail this morning, we chatted.
Magical green mosses
Soon we were back at the car and we cleaned up a bit before our next hike. We even washed the windshield as it had too many bugs collected over the 1200 or so miles to get here.
Berry Hill starts gradually
Our next stop was Berry Hill, hmmm I bet we see more berries. This trail is rated as moderate/challenging. It is only .5 of a mile to the summit but is quite steep. It was a steady uphill walk we went around the North side of the hill but as we turned west it got steeper, and then the stairs came. These are not stairs like you have at home, these are some very steep stairs and the go on for almost a quarter of a mile. Up and up, fortunately there were a couple of benches along the way which we took advantage of..I'm getting old I think.
Distant pond from the hill.
We talked a couple of times about not finishing but both agreed that was unacceptable. So we made the summit. This is not a mountain but I felt a degree of accomplishment, it was steep, demanding and got my heart rate up where it seldom goes. It's all good! The view from the summit was pretty spectacular looking across to the mountains of Gros Morne National Park. We chatted with a young man from Montreal who mentioned his wife was hiking the mountain Gros Morne - he said she has been hiking for 8 hours and is currently on her way down.
That's a demanding hike. Our hill was about 400 feet vertically Gros Morne is 2644 feet or 806 meters (Canada is metric, like the rest of the world). We also met three young ladies who fawned all over Harper. I gave them treats to giver Harper as well, friends for life.
A view from the summit, our car is in that lot down there.
I want to say here, Harper is a real trooper, she never even slows down. She has hiked all across North America and never complained once. I think the woods is her 'happy place'. The hike back down seemed quick and short. The stairs are a lot easier for me going down. Carol seems to like going up better. We did get a glimpse of a moose way off in the distance, feeding in a clearing. He quickly scooted off into the woods and was gone from sight. I took a picture but it turned out to be taken too late, he was gone. We will keep looking.
So pretty up here
We made to to the car in short order and on our drive back to our cabin we came upon a stretch of the road which was lined with cars, lots of cars. We couldn't figure out what could be going on. It seemed as if all of Newfoundland must have been parked there.
Hillside wedding overlooking the sea.
But there, down the hillside, overlooking the water was a wedding in progress. What a spectacular day and place for a wedding. Newfoundland is turning out to be an amazing place. We got back to the cabin a bit after five and both of us were ready for some supper but were just too tired to go out. I ordered from a local take out restaurant and got Carol some Lasagna and I got a Moose Burger. I'm thinking that it was just a hamburger in disguise to fool the tourists, but it was tasty and it filled the void created by a walk up a hill. After supper we had another game of cribbage and as it happens I won again, this is not how it normally goes but I will accept all accolades...
Back to our cabin…
Where we are, Newfoundland is far…
Below is a gallery of other random images from the day
Click any image for a larger view
