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It’s not every day you get to walk through prehistoric landscapes, but that’s exactly what awaits you in the otherworldly beauty of Gros Morne National Park in Western Newfoundland. The awe inspiring landscape of the park fascinates geologists and all who experience it.
Gros Morne National Park is designated a Unesco World Heritage Site, and for good reason. The park contains the desert-like Tablelands area with unusual rock formations created by the earth’s tectonic plates colliding 500 million years ago – revealing its inner soul: the mantle, once deep beneath the planet’s crust – exposed as few have seen it. Add to the Tablelands, fjords formed by glaciers, cliffs and waterfalls, and you have the makings for a diverse panorama of hiking possibilities.
We suggest devoting a single day for each of these two hikes. The Green Gardens Trail, and the climb to the top of the Tablelands, will expose you to vastly different, individually unique topography of Gros Morne National Park. Plus, they will both get your heart pumping, and leave you with a tremendous sense of accomplishment.
To truly enjoy the pace and scenery along the way, each hike will take up a good part of your day. Due to distance covered and elevation gain, these two must do hikes in Gros Morne National Park are best suited to active hikers and those with a decent physical fitness level.
Gros Morne National Park Green Gardens Trail
Located within the park, Green Gardens Trail descends from the earth’s mantle of the Tablelands, to traverse Arctic alpine rock gardens, and into the Boreal forest valley. Here you’ll see some of the oldest and largest trees in the park.
Green gardens Trail is 9km return, with a 1312 feet (400 meter) elevation gain. Or more aptly put, descent. While most out and back return hikes feature an elevation gain climb from the start, Green Gardens Trail offers the reverse.
Descending from the earth’s mantle
After a gentle climb from the parking area, the trail descends towards the coastline, rendering the real elevation gain saved for the return trip at the end of the day. This is worth noting when pacing your energy level, or fatigue from heat and sun. Most of the trail is exposed and the area does get windy. There’s also little opportunity for shade until you reach the coastal shore.
The route descends from the Tablelands, meandering in gentle switch backs towards the coast.
The coastal reward
The reward on this hike is the beautiful ocean views, waterfalls, and rugged coastal green hills which will leave you guessing if you’ve arrived somewhere on British Columbia’s west coast, or the lush green mountainous backdrop typical of the Hawaiian islands. Of course the cooler wind sweeping in from the St Lawrence, and an absence of palm trees will remove all tropical fantasies. But you’ll still be left gob smacked at the rugged coastal beauty of Western Newfoundland.
You’ll be able to explore grassy meadows along the coast, and stare out to the rock pillars and ancient volcanic sea-stacks, with rugged cliffs left behind from an ancient volcanic island. While you get a glimpse of the waterfall as you descend into the coastal forest, once at sea level, you can explore the waterfalls and sea caves as they exit to the coastal ocean. A frolic in the water is a great reward, but just remember that the return route will be all up hill!
Gros Morne National Park Green Gardens Trail preCautions
We suggest you allow 5 hours for the return hike. Rated moderate/difficult, expect terrain of rock pathways, meadow, forest and sand/stone by the sea. A recent rainfall could render some of the path through the coastal forest a bit muddy. The return trail is all uphill, but moderate incline with switch backs.
Be sure to bring plenty of water, and dress in layers. Wind can be stiff almost anywhere close to the coast, and showers often come and go in the changing conditions. As the saying goes in Newfoundland, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.” Always pack layers for warmth, a shell for rain or wind, a hat for sun, and a toque for cooler high winds.
Gros Morne National Park Tablelands hike
Our second must do hike is hiking up the face of the Tablelands. The Tablelands is a plateau rising 700m above sea level, which when viewed from Bonnie Bay, seems to rise in the background like a moonscape. The massive rock emerged during the formation of the Pangea super continent, so hiking the surface offers you an experience few others have had.
Tablelands history
During the formation of the Pangea super continent, North America, Europe, and Africa joined together, and the ancient ocean, known as Iapetus, began to close. From 10km below the Iapetus ocean floor, the subduction of two tectonic plates pushed up pieces of the Earth’s crust and mantle which formed the Tablelands. Viewed below from a distance, it’s easy to appreciate how outer worldly the rock formation seams amidst its lush green surroundings.
On the surface, pieces of the mantle form a desolate but colorful landscape. Up close orange, red, yellow and sometimes even green and blue rocks can be seen. Tableland rocks are high in nickel, magnesium, chromite, iron, cobalt, olivine, clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene, and are some of the oldest rocks on Earth. Astrobiologists believe that the Tablelands offer a similar environment to that of Mars.
Tablelands hike
There is an easy 4km return trail that follows an old roadbed as it skirts the base of the mountain, which offers a great scenic overview of the area. This is as far as many visitors will get in viewing the Tablelands. But to truly feel yourself on the earth’s exposed mantle, and to take in the magnificent views from atop the Tablelands moonscape, you really must climb up to the top!
Gros Morne National Park Tablelands hike Precautions
Doing so is not for the faint of heart however. There is no flagged trail, and the terrain is unstable with lose rocks in some places, in addition to being steep and challenging. Weather can be a factor too. A hot sunny day with no shade is unrelenting, and getting caught in rain or wind is not only uncomfortable but dangerous as slippery conditions deteriorate. So it’s best to check the weather forecast and plan for optimal conditions.
For experienced and prepared hikers, the off-trail trek up the mantle’s slope face is possible on your own, if you have the route finding and navigation skills required. But we would suggest hiring a guide if it’s your first time, or if no other members of your group have climbed it before. Guides are available for hire, and in our experience add tremendously to the safe passage as well as offering historical and interpretive context to the area.
Get a 360 view!
We chose to do this hike with Wild Gros Morne, who took us out on the bay in a Zodiac in the morning, and then accompanied us on the Tablelands hike in the afternoon. Their 360 Tour was well worth it to get a perspective on this geological site from Bonne Bay, and to understand the history of the fishing villages and people from the area. In addition to recommending a safe route while hiking, our guide also helped interpret rock formations and vegetation along the way. We did the boat tour in the morning, and then hiked the Tablelands in the afternoon – seen at a distance in the photo below.
The Tablelands appear dessert or moon like, with umber rocks and sun baked slopes. The area is inhospitable to organic matter. However, the “pitcher plant”, Newfoundland’s flower, survives despite all odds on the mountain, by ensnaring bugs that get caught inside its beautiful red flower disintegrate to provide nutrients, rather than tapping a root system in the ground. Our guide used an eyedropper to extract liquid from the flower to check what the plant was “eating” which was quite fascinating!
the North Rim
Our guided hike took 4-5 hours off trail to hike to the North rim. The 14km off-trail trek involved picking our way through loose rock and scrambling up the steep sun baked slopes. It was a challenging hike with no set path. At the top was a 1968 ft (600 meter) lookout with unobstructed views of the Bonne Bay fjords and Gros Morne Mountain. We also hiked over to look at the Winter House Brook Canyon feature, which added another 20 minutes to the hike from the top rim, but well worth it to appreciate the diversity of terrain from the top.
We definitely recommend hiking poles for this hike, especially for the route down over rocks which can be unstable.
Layer up!
Bring layers to add at the top, since it does cool at elevation with exposure to wind. A hat for sun or a toque for warmth is a good bet when hiking anywhere in Newfoundland, but particularly on the Tablelands. Bring lots of water, especially if it’s hot, and start early. Check the forecast and don’t get caught in the rain, fog or threatening thunderstorm.
While independent hikers may scoff at the idea of hiring a guide, getting safely to the top of the Tablelands will be THE BEST hike you will do in Gros Morne National Park, Western Newfoundland, if not one of the BEST HIKES of your life. Contact Wild Gros Morne to learn more about their 360 boat tour, as well as hiring a guide for your hike.
When planning your Newfoundland adventure, be sure to check out this other post – Corner Brook Adventures: Zipline, ATV Touring and Hiking
Sources for additional information
Parks Canada Gros Morne National Park website https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne
Wild Gros Morne 360 Tablelands Tour https://www.wildgrosmorne.com/tablelands-360/
Check out GetYourGuide.com for other day trip tour listings in the area.
Accommodations close to Gros Morne National Park
There are a number of town options with accommodations located reasonably close to access Gros Morne National Park. Check out the map below.
Bonne Bay Inn at Woody Point offers lovely accommodations we can fully endorse, along with all rooms overlooking Bonne Bay from the hillside location.
Alternatively, you can also search directly through Booking.com or Expedia to do some easy comparison shopping for features and prices. But to be perfectly honest, you won’t want for friendly and accommodating hosts pretty much anywhere you venture in Newfoundland. The people are one of the reasons visitors rave about this friendly province!