Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guide for Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland - Newfoundland Purple Travel Guide
This is the itinerary for Day 2 of our Gros Morne National Park tour we will see some old rock formations and tour a landlocked fjord. We provide detailed information and a self-guided tour with the best things to see and we show lots of photos so you know what you can expect.
Table of contents
Green Point Geological Site
About 500 million years ago, at the boundary between the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, the rocks of the Green Point Geological Site formed. Fossils like trilobites and graptolite from that period have been found in the various layers that you can see. The best time to view the site is at low tide.
It is also recommended to join a guided tour, as there are no signs or boards with explanations and the area may look like ordinary cliffs to most people.
To get to Green Point Geological Site, drive to the parking lot – don’t go any farther as the last part of the road leads to private properties without any public parking. Then either take the marked trail that brings you to the top of the bluff and you can take the stairs to go down to the beach level, or walk down the street to the beach and then turn right and walk to where the stairs are that are part of the official trail.
Western Brook Pond
Western Brook Pond is a landlocked fjord that was carved by glaciers during the ice age 25,000 to 10,000 years ago and has steep rocky walls that are about 2,000 ft (600 m) tall. After the glaciers melted, the underlying land lifted and cut the fjord off from the ocean. Over time, the salty sea water got flushed out and was replaced by fresh water.
The soil layer on the adjacent igneous rock mountain range is thin, so the run-off that gets caught by the pond and the water that comes from the stream and waterfalls that feed the pond is poor in nutrients, leaving the pond nutrient deficient.
The lake is accessible via an easy 1.9-mile (3 km) gravel hiking trail that takes 30-45 min to complete. Mobility-impaired people can be driven to the dock on a golf cart if they have booked a cruise on one of the two tour boats that operate on the pond.
The boats operate from mid-May through early October and the boat tour takes 2h.
This concludes your tour for today.
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