Climbing Gros Morne

There are two main features in Gros Morne National Park which seem to follow one everywhere. First is the Tablelands with its brown colour, so different from the lush green seen everywhere else. Then there is Gros Morne mountain, a huge grey dome overlooking Bonne Bay opposite the Tablelands. Both were begging to be climbed. As the Tablelands required a long drive , we opted to head up the latter.Driving a few miles down the road towards Deer Lake, we pulled off at the trailhead, parked the car and headed up the trail...

Then we climbed and climbed...

And we went up stairs and more stairs...

Until, finally we arrived at the last stage of the climb, the grey dome itself. We could see the path leading up the skree delta at the base into the gully heading to the summit. Once we arrived at the gully there was a sign written in small print: Do Not Pass This Point. Breeding Ptarmigan and Arctic Hare Need Privacy or words to that effect! Although a few other climbers ignored the sign's request and continued up, we stopped, ate our lunch and then headed back down the trail.

We'll finish to the summit another time. As it turned out, the climb did not take us the predicted the "6 to 8 hours" mentioned in the guidebooks, so we're ready to do it again.