Gros Morne, Day 3

I am writing this early before I fall over from exhaustion!  Before I start, I should explain that we had a great time today and are both sort of alive and well ....... relatively speaking ... LOL.

We set out just after 9 this morning determined to conquer the famous Gros Morne Mountain. It is the second-highest peak on the "Rock".

As we approached the parking lot to the trail, we could see the mountain rising in the distance, and that, friends, should have been our first clue. The trail starts a fair distance, 4 kilometres, from what we considered to be the mountain!

So with lots of enthusiasm, Karl, Max, and I set out. We passed some hikers heading back who had started at 4 a.m. and got close to the summit, but got lost on the trail in the morning fog at the top.

We thought that it would be a gentle stroll to the base camp but as it turned out, we immediately seemed to be climbing, some kind of foot hills. Would you believe that my fitbit (actually Mel's) gave me credit for 100 flights of stairs!! And not just stairs, folks, very few of those. Mostly climbing rocky slopes on a narrow one-person pathway, often over big rocks, carved through the hilly, rocky, thick woods.  I have always considered myself (and Karl) to be in reasonably good shape, but this was a REAL workout!! The fitbit checks your pulse and I nearly passed out when I saw the number! Some things are better left "unknown".

On the way up, we met so many great people. Most were determined to succeed and make it to the top, but a few like us were just enjoying the hike and hoping to LIVE long enough to see the basecamp at the foot of the mountain. 

At the rest stop along the trail and at the base camp, we got a chance to chat with a few of the other hikers. There were a few families with young teens, some with dogs, some experienced hikers, etc. One young couple from Ottawa made it just past the base camp and turned back when the signs warned that it was the point of no return and suggested they should turn back if over-tired or didn't have enough daylight to finish. Anyway, the fellow had meant to ask his girlfriend to marry him at the peak, but, unable to go on, proposed half-way up and turned back!  Another couple from Toronto told us that they were married last Friday and had been conned into going on this hike by their bridesmaid, Jacelyn Holmes, who told us she was a singer and fashion designer for large events for entertainers. She was sooo nice, and we got pictures with her. Not being country music fans, we had no idea at the time that she is a very famous Canadian Country singer! 

( www.jacelynholmes.com )

We were very close to the base camp when we turned back.  It was a large deck with info about the rest of the climb (for those who wished to continue). Lots of opportunity for gorgeous pictures. We could easily see the hikers climbing up the mountain. It looked seriously steep (looked like 45-degree slope), rocks all the way up.  And, a long way up. The info on the deck warned that the other side of the loop down the back of the mountain is more arduous than the front. So ... naw, not for us today and certainly not for Max ....... but maybe in a few years with some serious workouts, who knows?

The return trip down the mountain (the base camp is a fair ways up) was faster. We brought water, but no food since we didn't think we would be walking for 4 hours.  God provided for us though, because there were ripe blueberries along parts of the trail - we had more than our fill! They were genuine wild blueberries, the little ones, hundreds of bushes in the couple of more open areas along the trail.

We finally made it to the car at 2 p.m., over 4 hours from when we left it, and headed back to the KOA.

We had lunch at 2:30, stumbled over to the showers, planning to recover for at least a few hours. Max is sleeping now of course. But you know, he did well today. The only times he slowed down were to look back (sometimes quite the distance) to see if I was still following.  Sweet dog.

The old bones are creaking right now and we are are "done" for the day!!!