Western Brook Pond - Gros Morne National Park

Upon the recommendation of the family parked next to us at Rocky Harbour, we decided to take the Western Brook Boat tour in Gros Morne National Park.  The tour consists of a mile hike from the parking lot to the boat dock and a 2 hour boat ride on Western Brook.

We arrived at the parking lot from where you start your hike in plenty early so we could take our time walking to the boat.  The view from where we started was already gorgeous so we were sure it would only get better.

The trail was gravel and shaded in parts.

Small iris flowers were along the trail.

Part of the trail would be open and a boardwalk…

...because part of the time you were crossing a bog.  The bog continues to grow deeper year after year.  What we were crossing was as much as 16 feet deep.

The view kept getting better as continued getting closer to the pond.

We took our time walking to the pond.

When we arrived at the boat dock at the edge of the pond, there were several information boards describing how the pond and the mountains were formed.  We learned that Western Brook Pond is one of the purest lakes in the world.

Most people would consider Western Brook Pond to be a lake because of its size; but in Newfoundland all the lakes are called ponds.  The mountains and the pond were formed by glaciers.

We got very good seats on the boat and began our windy trip across the pond.

We thought Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia was amazing but the fjords of Western Brook were even more spectacular. 

The cliffs rose as high 714 meters (2,330 feet) high.

And the pond dove as low as 165 meters (536 feet) deep.

Chuck and I have said time and time again that the pictures we take do not come anywhere close to giving you an idea of how magnificent the scenery is but here are a few that will hopefully give you some idea. 

Gros Morne has its own versions of “Rocky Top”.

This picture looks like I took it from up above like in a helicopter; but I just zoomed it. 

You could see huge cracks in the rocks.  (We just hoped none of the rocks would crack and fall off!)

We even spotted some snow remaining in some of the cracks.

It was amazing to me how many trees grew right into those rocks.

There were several different waterfalls along the cliffs.

There was a tin man on the rock face.  Do you see it? (Click on the picture to enlarge it on your screen to see if you can find it.)

Right here is where years ago caribou migrated across in the winter when this was frozen and still a glacier.

At the back of the pond is a boat dock where experienced hikers could be dropped off to hike to the top of the cliffs.

The view from the back of the pond was spectacular too.

The boat turned around and headed back out of the gorge.

We said good-bye to the tin man...

and good-bye to the rest of the wonders of the Western Brook Pond.

And before we knew it, we were reaching the end of the boat trip.

On the walk back to the parking lot, we both agreed that the Western Brook Pond tour was probably one of the most beautiful things in nature we had ever seen.  Below is one of the videos I made that I hope you will enjoy.  You may want to turn down the audio.  The wind noise is loud but toward the end you can hear some of the Newfoundland music they were playing for us toward the end of the boat ride.

We are so fortunate and thankful to have this opportunity to see a part of God's wondrous and powerful creation that not many people get to see or even know about.  Hope you enjoyed it!