Day 6 Long Range Traverse (Gros Morne National Park)

 Day 6 of our 7 day journey was very relaxing. We started hiking up from the Gros Morne Mountain trailhead and travelled north along a new area (the Long Range Traverse). This route had a defined trail that was very easy to follow. The incline was steady but it was nothing compared to the hikes that we've been on during the past 6 days. The sun came back up and it was a beautiful day.

We hiked towards the Gros Morne Mountain, hooked around the southern base of the mountain. The walk was not particularly scenic at this point but there were a lot of rocks everywhere. Our plan was to hike to the first campsite at the base of the mountain, setup our tent, hike up to the Gros Morne Mountain for the view, and return to our tent for the night.

Once we tented and dropped off our bags, the hike was much easier without the packs. I carried my ukulele up to the mountain and sang the entire time at the top of my lungs. Same songs over and over and over and over again. I didn't have many songs memorized so my crew had to endure the repetitive soundtrack for this trip.

The hike up to the mountain was steep but it was easy peasy. Some stairs and lots of board-walks later, we reached the summit. The weather was great and the sun was setting so it was a great time to take photos. We hung around the top for a while and returned back to our tent just before nightfall.

It was a relaxing day. A great way to end the final part of our trip to Newfoundland. It was more of a time of reflection and conversations for us. It rained on and off throughout the night and the tent as our primary shelter became more natural to us than it was at the beginning. It was our last night in the backcountry and all three of us were most certainly sad for the end. I will return to Newfoundland to finish this trail next year (hopefully); in the meantime, I will miss the great moments and the amazing sights we had the privilege to experience.

Day 5 North Rim Traverse (Gros Morne National Park)

From the start of day 5, we accepted that we are behind and that we cannot catch up. We had to accept it if we were to enjoy ourselves for the rest of the days. Playing catchup was stressful for us. We were there to enjoy. As much as I felt the competitive need to finish the "entire" route, we had to set our priorities for what we have come for.

Our new plan was to hike to the end of the Western Brook Pond, hike down to the water, and take the boat to where we started. Then, we were to taxi back down south to the Gros Morne Mountain Trail head and hike north along the Long Range Traverse.

I THINK these are pitcher plants?

We got up, packed our tent, had a quick oatmeal breakfast with dried prunes, and we were off. In about 45 minutes, we were at the top of the hill on the other side of the lake that we slept by. It was a rainy day. Rain poured on and off and the black flies were having a feast on my thighs. It was an easy hike. The "trails" were more or less defined and we were thankful. We didn't see any tuckamore at this point. Rain seeped through my boots and my socks were soaked within 20 minutes. It was alright though as the hike was much easier. 

Our bags waiting for us by the main "trail."

Ji-Won initially refused to come to the edge of the cliff. She was sure that the section would break off and kill us all.

Few hours into our hike, we were able to locate ourselves on the map with ease. There were many defining features in the terrain. In no time, we were at the spot where Scott said to detour. Along the hike, there was a "special spot" that you can hike to go right to the edge of a cliff. We left our bags on the trail and walked towards this "special spot." When we got there, it was just as Scott had explained. You can literally walk right up to the edge of a cliff and look down into the Western Brook Pond. The view of the fjord was amazing.

At the edge of the cliff.

After we had our fun on the cliff, we walked back to where our bags were and headed southeast towards the end of the fjord. It was a very swampy area. With the rain pouring down, it was very wet all around. For me, stepping into mud and stepping into a puddle made no difference.

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The end of the Western Brooke Pond was amazing. This is where everyone took their money shot of the park. This is the spot where people hike up to from the water to start their hike south along the Long Range Traverse. As expected, we met some hikers starting their journey south. It was their day-1 and they were fresh.

We accepted the fact that we would not be able to hike the northern part of the Long Range Traverse in the morning. However, I could not stop myself from feeling a bit of regret. Having to fly all the way out to Newfoundland, hike for 5 days along the North Rim, and not being able to finish the entire park was a bummer. But as mentioned before, we were there to enjoy. Sometimes, things don't unfold as planned. I guess I did bite off more than I could chew. I would recommend 9 days to finish both trails at a leisurely pace. That will be my plan for my next trip to Gros Morne National Park next summer. Anyone interested?

The walk down to the water...

Day 4 - North Rim Traverse (Gros Morne National Park)

We are a campsite behind but with Scott's advice, we felt confident that we may be able to play some catch up this day. We are supposed to hike through minimal tuckamore but elevation gain and loss was supposed to be quite dramatic. Also, we are expecting some rain on-and-off for the next 3 days.

As usual, we got up, had some warm oatmeal with dried prunes, packed our tent, and set to go. I was more confident with the map and the compass at this point and the terrain was not as difficult to navigate through. For the first several hours, there were many ponds to take reference points from. We just had to match the ponds we see in our surroundings with those on the map. Scott was right. We were able to walk around tuckamore with ease and it was just a never ending hike through the rolling hills. Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down... the hills were not high but it was very repetitive. As advised by Scott, you always want to go against the "grooves" of the hills. 

The ground was very damp and rain started drizzling down on us on-and-off. It was difficult to take photos because of this but our rain gear was decent. Except for my boots. My boots are nearly (perhaps over?) 10 years old. It is a pair of North Face suede boots that used to be water resistant. Within 30mins of walking, my socks were entirely soaked and the boots had no support for my ankles. There was not much I could do and after several hours, it didn't bother me too much.

Pond after pond after pond after pond after pond.

Since early morning, fogs came in an out of our path. Sometimes visibility was limited to the point where we would just sit at the top of the hill waiting for the fog to blow over. Visibility is key when you are navigating by compass and map. I think it's a big drawback from a handheld GPS units, but we managed without too much difficulty.

By late afternoon, the ponds became too small to accurately identify on the map, fog was getting worse at many points, and the path was nothing but rolling hills. With my limited orienteering skills, I could not locate myself on the map any longer so we just kept going "against the groove." Once we reach the top of a hill, we could see endless hills ahead of us in the far distance. As long as we continued to go up and down, we were supposed to see a big lake. This first big lake that we run into was supposed to be the campsite for the third night in the park.

The plan in the morning was to go past this lake campsite and try to make it to the next campsite that would be only several hours more into (finally) the Long Range Traverse. For hours and hours we walked through the hills hoping and hoping that we would see the lake. Every hill that I climbed I kept saying that, "once we're on top, I think we would see the lake!" 3 hills in, nobody believed me. We were fed up and daylight was dimming slowly. 

One thing about wilderness orienteering is that your mood is rarely medium. You are always either extremely happy and mountain high or you are feeling insecure and feeling endangered of being lost and killed by a bear. We climbed a particularly steep and high hill hoping that it would be the last hill before the lake. We got up and looked ahead and I was wrong. Our mood was starting to crash. Then suddenly, at that moment, it started pouring rain. We stood on top of the rocky hill looking at each other in silence for a good 15 seconds listening to the rain drops hit the rocky surfaces surrounding us. Ji-Won suggested that we should take a break by "that rock over there." We walked about 5 meters towards the rock and right under the hill, there was a huge lake! I took out my map and in 10 seconds the three of us were yelling and dancing in the rain in joy. The lake was only about 1.5-2km away from where we were and it was a down-hill route.

I guesstimated about 15-20minutes to get down to the lake. Another 3 hours and we could arrive at our planned destination by 19:00. We were walking down the hill feeling extremely happy and confident. It turns out, the hill is a very rocky jagged one. We walked around in circles and back-tracking whenever we hit dead end (usually a cliff drop). It took us over 2 hours to get down and we were pissed as we got closer to the lake. The route down was a very dangerous steep rock face. Walking on wet rock with a 30-40lb pack is mentally stressful. One slip can set you back a long way in the mountains.

Finally we arrived at the site. We found the toilet, the bearbox and and ideal place for our tent. We decided that we should not go on much longer because we won't be able to make it to the next campsite before sunset. We were still very happy to be able to have a warm dinner and get inside our warm cozy tent. I was especially happy to take my wet boots off. Then...as it got cooler and the sun was setting, bugs started acting up. There were these small flies that would swarm on my bare knees and just sit there. I observed their behaviour and assured the ladies that "it's okay, they don't bite!" I was never more wrong. In 15 minutes, my legs were dotted with purple bite marks. In hours, they were starting to swell a lot: they were black flies. I didn't bring any long pants so I expected to suffer for the next 3 days.

This didn't stop Helena and I from going for a dip in the cold lake. It was freezing cold but we had to do what we had to do. I prefer the cold over going into my sleeping bag with all my sweat from the day. A quick dip, a nice warm dinner and we were once again safely in our sleeping bags wondering what we will have to face the the day after.

Sleeping in a tent in the wild is something I recommend everyone to try out. It's an unusual feeling. Lying in the tent in pitch darkness can give you a different perspective of our selves.

Oh. Also, I got a black fly bite right in my butt crack from going to the toilet.

Day 3 - North Rim Traverse (Gros Morne National Park)

Our second night was loud and windy. We all didn't sleep very well but when morning came, we were recharged and ready to start hiking again. In the morning, I could not have been more thankful for the awesome tent that we had. It withstood the strong wind and held together fine through the rough night. Again, we had some Clif Bars for breakfast, took down our tent, and packed our bags. With the daylight, we were confident that we were at the lake that we thought we were at. Our direction for our next campsite was clear but the terrain looked rough. A few more hours of harsh uphill tuckamore and we made it to the top of a hill by early afternoon. From this spot we were able to make out the direction for the next few hours.

Why else would I bring her?

We planned to sleep at the campsite 2. Even though we would be a day behind, we did not want to risk another night where there would be no bear box. At the time, we thought that it would be better to play catchup for the day we lost in the Long Range Traverse section of the park. It was an easy day until I twisted my ankle and fell. I just sat there on the ground and wondered what was to happen if I couldn't walk anymore. The pain was getting worse and worse by the second and it felt pretty shitty to think about the possibility of not being able to finish the hike because of me. By this time, the three layers of my boots were starting to separate (the rubber sole, the spongy cushion, and the main leather wrap); the boots really took a beating from the hike and it had less and less support by the hour. Helena had an injured ankle from the beginning so she had some bandages and tenser for her ankle. She took them off and put it on my ankle. After a 10min break and 2 ibuprofen, I was back on my feet.

Even when they are close to tears, they never fail to smile so brightly when you point a camera at them. Camera therapy.

After another 2 more hours of hiking, we found ourselves on top of another hill overlooking the our destination lake. It was a beautiful scene. We were on a big plateau with amazing weather. Since we were only about an hour away from our destination, we took a long break. Ji-Won and Helena took out their sleeping mats and took a short nap while I played with my ukulele. It was a great feeling lying down in the middle of nowhere under the sun letting the wind play the ukulele. If you hold up the ukulele at certain angles against the wind, it would ring random tones! It was a bit freaky at first but lying there in the sun listening to it was very soothing.

Our new campsite

We arrived at the campsite right by the lake. Even though we only spent 1 night at an "un"designated designated campsite, the bear box, the toilet, and the tent pads felt like 5-star luxury amenities. We were a day behind but we were in such good moods. We had instant ramyun for lunch and Japanese curry for dinner. By 16:00, I was walking to the edge of the lake and saw a couple arrive! They were setting up their tents and filtering water. It felt so great to find a fellow human being in the wilderness. I spoke with the lady and she said they lived in Rocky Harbour and that they do sections of the hike often. They promised to come by our tent after dinner and give us some tips.

This is where we met Scott Taylor. Scott works as a geographical information systems (GIS) specialist for Parks Canada at the Gros Morne National Park. He knew the geographical features of the park like no other. He had the latest satellite images and a lot of different tools to survey the land. For any first-timers at the park who wanted some advice, he was the man to see. He came over to our site after dinner to give us some useful advices. The most welcome information from him was that you can eat the berries that we kept seeing them on the ground during our hikes. They were called cloud berries and they were not poisonous despite what I thought. The colour and the way it grew so low to the ground off of 1 stem looked fatally poisoning to me but I guess I was wrong. He said that we're not allowed to pick them...(?)... I cannot put into words the gratification we felt for him during the days to come; we benefited so much from the valuable information that he was so generous to provide us with. He even gave us his phone number just in case we needed a ride out from the trailhead on our last day. Scott, if you're ever seeing this, leave me a comment!

Cloudberry

Scott's satellite image map

It was a great day. Even though we were a day behind, we were well fed, we had another day of amazing swim, and we were back on track! We had a few days of rain ahead of us, but we were prepared and confident.

Feel the music