Hiking in Newfoundland

I knew nothing about Newfoundland Canada until a few months ago when I started planning our vacation. Mike has been telling me for the past several years that he wanted to go to Newfoundland. No reason, he just wanted go. So I took him serious this year and I started my google search for "hiking in Newfoundland." Come to find out, Newfoundland is a great place for hiking.

We flew into St. John's and started hiking our first day. We hiked mostly along the famous East Coast Trail where we saw towering cliffs, visited two lighthouses, saw a few whales off in the distance, and walked across a suspension bridge.

When we left St. John's, we drove to Gros Morne National Park and we flew out of Deer Lake. It was a 7 hour drive to the little cabin we stayed in and nothing on the way except a great hike on the Skerwink Trail. Mike was not happy with me when I walked away while he was taking this picture but it was so windy, I thought I was going to blow off the cliff.

No vacation is complete for us without that one challenging and difficult hike that leaves you sore the next day. This time my google search led us to Gros Morne, the second highest peak on Newfoundland. The hike started out easy enough, we hiked 2 miles through a wooded forest. Then we reached this nice resting place where we took the picture below. You can see the mountain behind us and the rock gully we are about to climb. The trail goes up where you can see the snow to the right in the picture. As we looked closer, we could see people in the distance hiking up those rocks. I looked at Mike and said there's no way! There must be another trail to get up that mountain. We asked questions of other hikers and found out that's the way up. Some people turned around at this point and others stayed. Well of course, we were the ones who decided if they can do, we can do it.

As we got closer to all those rocks, this hike started bringing back terrible memories of Mt. Katahdin and Knife Edge, the hike we did in Maine and we realized we were in way over our heads. I said then I would never do that type of hiking again. But yet here I was climbing up a mountain of rocks and boulders. Before we made it to this snowy area seen in the first picture, I had already had one panic attack as I started sweating, breathing real heavy, and didn't think I could take another step. I looked ahead to see how far we still had to go and said I can't do this. Mike had to remind me not to look ahead but to look at how far we had come. At this point, I didn't have a choice. There was no going down those rocks that we had just climbed up. Turning back was not even an option. 

Mike and I are pretty fast hikers but not on this terrain. I made my way slowly up the mountain as others passed us and as Mike waited on me. 

We finally made it to the top and guess what, there were more rocks then I could even imagine. I was hoping for nice green grass but no, the top was just more rocks. We talked to other hikers, took pictures by the sign to show our accomplishment, we sat in the built-in seats (made of rocks of course) and ate lunch, then we headed back down the backside of the mountain for our long hike down and around the mountain. 

The trail down started off easy enough with some great views along the way. Every time we saw a boardwalk or stairs, I got so excited . . . anything but rocks!

After we got off the mountain, we had to make our way around the backside to hike to the base where we started. We passed a beautiful lake where fellow hikers stopped to take a swim. We didn't even take pictures because at this point, I just wanted this to be over with. At one point, I looked ahead and all I could see was a huge field of rocks More rocks! I asked Mike to please tell me we are not going that way but sure enough, we could see hikers ahead of us walking across the rocks. We were about out of water, we were hot, and I was exhausted. We couldn't stop and rest because the mosquitos were so bad. With a whole lot of whining on my part, we finally made it.

My feet had been in the snow . . .

all over those millions upon millions of rocks . . . 

and now it was time to put my feet in cold water . . . and the water in the creek was really cold. 

Needless to say, this was a grueling hike. It was difficult both physically and mentally. It took us 8 hours to hike the 10-mile loop. It was tough but I'm glad we did it.

This was my first trip to Newfoundland Canada and we hiked every day while we were there. We loved it! I am so thankful that I'm able to do these crazy hikes with my husband who loves it just as much as I do. I doubt we will ever go back to Newfoundland (because we never go to the same place twice) but  I'll always remember our hike to the top of Gros Morne Mountain.



You, Lord give true peace to those who depend on you, because they trust you. So trust the Lord always, because He is our Rock forever. ~Isaiah 26:3-4