Day 2 - North Rim Traverse (Gros Morne National Park)

Day 2 of our trip started where we left off at Snug Harbour. Our plan was the hike up roughly 4KM to the top of the northern gorge by early afternoon and hike another 5KM to the North Long Pond.

We woke up late because the only timepiece we had was my Casio Databank watch. We set our alarm for 6:00AM but it turns out that the alarm is very quiet and it would only ring for less than 30 seconds. Nobody woke up to the alarm and we ended up leaving our campsite at 11:00AM. We had 2 Clif Bars for breakfast and substituted brushing our teeth with gums. The first stretch of hike was a rough hike with steep elevation gain on unclear paths. We kept losing the main trail and within 2hours, I had to take out my compass and tried to triangulate our location on the map. It was a difficult task and we were all panicking a bit. In 3H51M, we reached the top of the gorge. We had no more water, had our bug nets on, and the sun was stronger than ever right over our heads. Looking at the map, it was clear to me that the hardest part is over. I was most definitely wrong. I thought that we fought our way through our share of tuckamore for the trip. Wrong again. Tuckamore is a thick cluster of evergreen trees that are very difficult and painful to go through. We were told by the ranger to go around, not through, tuckamore no matter how tempting the B-line seems to be.

From here on, according to the topographical map, there was minimal elevation gain. Naturally, I underestimated the terrain ahead of us. It turned out, we had to walk through hours and hours more of tuckamore with no end in sight. We had no time or the mental capacity to take photos while we were walking from here on. It was mentally and physically straining us to our limits. I felt lost 90% of the time and tuckamore would just not end.

With no more water we started panicking even more. We managed to locate some marked trails but with so many caribou and moose trails in the park, it was difficult to know if we could trust it. As I was walking ahead of the group trying to find our way, I heard a stream trickling in the distance. We walked a few hundred meters north and I found a small stream running through a mini-valley. We took a 15minute break filtering and treating our water and had some Clif Bars. 
By 19:30, we found a clearing from hours of tuckamore that we fought through. The sun was setting and the view was amazing. Nobody knew the troubles that Helena has seen and she looked like she was about to cry. At the center of the small patch of clearing was a big boulder. We sat on the boulder and discussed our options. The sun was setting, we need more water, and we had to find a place to stay overnight. Finding water is not a big problem but there were some risks that we had to consider when camping in a non-designated area. Our biggest fear is wildlife getting to our food. We in the end, decided that we should tent right by the closest pond that we could see. After another few hours of fighting tuckamore, we managed to arrive at the end of a random lake/pond a few kilometers off the cliff.

Despite my complaint, the two ladies insisted that we shouldn't cook a warm meal; it might attract bears. We tried to scout the place out around the lake to find an ideal place to tent. Unfortunately, the thick tuckamore came right up to the edge of the lake. As we were trying to decide where we were going to tent, it got very dark and dangerous to keep walking around. Helena touched a "poisonous" mushroom and almost "died." In the end, we tented on top of the tuckamore. The trees were so thick that we managed to tent right on it; we were about 3 feet off the ground and right on the edge of the lake. The night was rough. Because we were so close to the cliff, the wind was very strong. The tent was slanting the entire night and the flapping tent fabric was extremely loud. Nobody really slept well that night.

This was by far the most difficult hike and our morale was rock bottom. Yes, Ji-won was at a constant alert for a fatal bear attack. Yes, Helena felt that her life was endangered throughout the night. But in the end, we kept it together and helped one another stay calm and positive. The information center was not wrong about this day being the most difficult hike.