Tablelands

The tablelands in Gros Morne are very unique in the world. The first thing you notice is that they are quite barren. They are also a different colour than the surrounding hills. The reddish hue is from rust because the rocks contain a great deal of iron.

Million of years ago the land mass of earth was made up of two super-continents Gondwanaland and Pangaea. Due to tectonic plate movements, these large continents crashed into each other. One huge mass was pushed downwards and another was pushed upwards. The actual mantle of the earth, below the crust was exposed to the air. These brownish mountains once lived 77 miles below the surface. There are only three places on earth where the mantle has been exposed and the other two are virtualy inaccessible.

This dip is called "The Bowl". If you are incredibly energetic you can climb up beside the river on the right. You can then walk along the lip of the bowl to the left side. Now you can put on skis and ski down to the bottom centre. As a reward you get to hike down along the river.

Because it is very wet, some of the forested hill are quite unstable. This avalanche came storming down the mountain as the owner of the blue house stood at his window. The flow stopped just before it entered his back yard.

This is an elder tree which grows elder berries.

There is a hiking trail that traverses this flat-topped hill. It takes three days to hike and you must go with a guide. Our hike was four kilometres long and took us a couple of hours.

This is a sample of a serpentine peridotite rock. Where the iron stones have been shattered you can see where Calcium has leeched into the cracks.

The Bowl

 

This is a pitcher plant, which is the provincial flower of Newfoundland. It is a carnivorous plant. Flies are lured int to pitcher where are trapped and dissolved.

Photo Time

Obviously this is not a healthy environment for trees.

More serpentine rocks.

They may not be easy so spot, but this picture shows three caribou resting in the long grass. I had no idea there were caribou in Newfoundland. I called them reindeer, but I wasn't sure they were the same. Siri confirmed that caribou and reindeer are two different names for the same animal.

In Trout River we found crab pots.

The original on-line shopping centre.

We stopped for coffee at Woody Point. Whales actually com into this bay. Just a few yards off shore the water is deep enough.

One last look at the Tableland. A few wispy clouds have dropped down below the peaks.