Green Meadows

Today we again hiked in the area of our campground. We've been fortunate to explore this part of the park as our 2nd leg is further north in the park. We would've had a long drive (everything here is a long drive!) down to this area.  See? Another bonus of the ferry fiasco although we are missing that Quidi Vidi from St. John's!

This morning we set off on the Green Meadows hike.  The first part of it was very alpine-like with the mantle rocks, periodidite, sprinkled throughout. We were just down the road from Tablelands, if you recall was an outing from yesterday.  Then it became a stunted forest as we gained altitude---filled with larch trees!  Larch trees are one of the few coniferous trees that are not evergreen; they actually lose their needles in the winter. These trees are dear to us as we had three around our pond in NH.  They are not all that common in New England so we note the ones we see. But back to the trail.  We then moved into a forested area keeping a keen lookout for moose especially in the blow down areas where they are reputed to munch on the new growth to the detriment of the forest. Found droppings but no moose!! The forest then opened up to a meadow area (hence the name!) which overlooked the ocean. It was so scenic!!  Around on the point were Adirondack chairs overlooking the beach way down below. It was like something out of promotional literature!  The park is so well-maintained and user friendly.  Can you even imagine hiking in chairs over 2 miles???!!  We saw these yesterday too at the very top of Lookout!!  Each hiking trail also has platforms and seating at some of the more scenic views.  Very impressive.

We went down to the beach where we saw the above rock formations. Okay, so listen to this...these were formed out of pillow and columnar lava 480 million years ago when there was a hot spot!  We have found some surprising connections to our Hawaii trip. This, of course. But also Captain Cook explored parts of Newfoundland and mapped the bays. That and the olivine (which made up the green sand in Hawaii) which are found in some of the rocks.  Who would have thought!

After the hike, we headed to one of our original bookings at a hotel in Deer Lake.  On our way out of the Trout River area, we saw signs warning when lights are flashing that the roads are closed.  Trout River is a small fishing village out on a peninsula on Bonne Bay.  There are not any commercial areas. We started imagining what it would be like during the winters when the road closed. Talk about being isolated and needing to be self-sufficient!  We were talking to a local ranger last night who said he lives off the land--jams with the local berries and 300 lbs of moose in the freezer. Guess that helps, but wow!  Can you imagine? We've heard that snowmobiles are common in winter, but I feel a little spoiled as we can usually get around at home after the plows come through.

Well moving on---we had dinner tonight at Jungle Jim's which is a Newfoundland chain restaurant featuring mostly pub grub.  We tried out poutine. It is french fries covered with melted cheese curds and gravy. This has been on the menus we have seen from Montreal to here but our first taste.  It was met with "like it not love it."

Off north tomorrow on the Viking Trail...