A Return To The Tablelands and Previous Disasters May Have Been Overstated

Okay folks, so I may have fallen slightly behind on the blogging.  I forgot that we had an early start to the day today, so I didn't get a chance to write in the morning, which means that I haven't covered yesterday or today.  Here's a catch up:

Yesterday we kicked the day off with a return to the Tablelands trail.  As I previously mentioned this is one of those rare areas where you're not asked to stay on the trial, and some suggestions were made for off-trail routes that could be hiked.  We went in a bit on the main trail and then headed out into the rocky wasteland, aiming up toward the area known as the Ice Cream Bowl.  Is a depression near the top of the plateau that routinely has some snow in it year round.  We all made it to different points in the hike; Mom and Euphy turned back with Finn when the little guy started to get too cold, and Dad stopped when things started to get pretty steep.  Jay and I managed to get into "the bowl" but we didn't make it far enough up the sides to hit snow.  It was a beautiful hike with great views of waterfalls cascading down the barren landscape.  Well worth the effort.

We took it pretty easy for the rest of the day, hanging mostly around the house.  At one point I went out with Jay and Dad into the woods behind the house.  Things get vertical pretty quickly back there and we were able to get about 70 m of altitude in a fairly short hike.  That was the extent of our adventuring for the afternoon though.

Today we got on the road early with the hope of getting to Gros Morne Adventures in Norris Point right as they opened.  They do kayak rentals on a first-come-first-served basis and we wanted our best possible shot of getting everyone in a boat.  What we hadn't counted on was that they would be very gun shy when it comes to the weather.  Apparently the forecast was calling for a significant increase in the wind speeds and they were concerned about us going out without a guide.  We ended up booking a guided tour for Tuesday to maximise our chances of actually getting out there, but it was still disappointing to have the day's plans derailed.  The wind eventually did pick up today, but long after we would have been finished our paddle.  I get where they're coming from though, as I'm sure plenty of people would be willing to overstate their kayaking experience, and the weather is an unpredictable force.  We'll hope for better luck on Tuesday.

We made the best of the situation though and hit up some short trails around Norris Point.  This is where all the photography fans in the audience are in for something of a treat.  As previously noted I've busted the lens on my phone's primary camera, and I'm having a lot of trouble getting photos uploaded to Google Photos from my computer.  Well, as it turns out the camera on my phone still has some tricks up its sleeve.  I peeled off the broken glass, but there's still another piece of the lens underneath.  I had done a quick field test and found that this prevented it from properly focusing, so I gave up.  However, upon further examination it seems that it only has trouble focusing on close objects, and if I aim at something far away the camera works fairly well.  The end result of all that is that I'm still able to take some half-decent landscape photos!

Norris Point from the first trail we hit.

The staff at Gros Morne Adventures directed us just down the road to a lovely little trail that loops along the coast and then curves steeply upward to get back down to the parking lot.  There's a side trial that could have taken us to the height of land, but none of us were particularly keen on more climbing, so we just took it easy.  The trail offers great views of Norris Point and Bonne Bay.  It gets steep at times, but the worst parts of it had stairs and boardwalks to take the edge off.

Euphy particularly liked this cool bench.

Once we got back to the car we headed a little way up the road to a trail that starts just off Main St. and then winds gently down to Wild Cove.  Euphy and Finn opted not to join us for that for that hike for fear of the local wildlife; they were reporting a bear sighting in the area, and far more terrifyingly the trail was said to be a bit marshy and there was concern about the mosquitoes.  It wasn't prohibitively buggy, but given Euphy and Finn's strong reactions to mosquito bites it was probably best that they stayed clear.  Also, it was decidedly clear of bears.

Wild Cove was wild.

The hike down was very easy, but that was fine for everyone involved.  We made it down to Wild Cove, which is really beautiful.  By the time we got down there the wind had picked up significantly and the cove was getting hit directly.  It's an amazing thing to stand by the water and get the full force of a strong wind, especially knowing that we were just getting a small taste of what the area has to offer.

We've spent most of the rest of the day puttering around; we hit Rocky Harbour for lunch and souvenir shopping, then Wood Point for groceries, and swung back toward the house for gas and additional supplies.  By the time we got back to the house we only had a short time to kick back and relax before it was time to head back out again in search of dinner.  Everything we've done has been pretty light, but we've stayed busy today.

Tomorrow will be another very early day, so I wouldn't anticipate a post until the evening.  I'll do my best to get something posted tomorrow rather than waiting until Tuesday.  Stay tuned!