August 2005 Long Range traverse in Gros Morne NP, NF, Canada

Harding Pond (from the next ridge)

Tree

Caribou

Moose

Harding Pond (from the campsite)

Rock Ptarmigan

View of the Western Brook Pond from the boat

Walk to the boat

View of Ten Mile Pond from the Long Range

Two of us hiked the Long Range traverse in Gros Morne national park in Newfoundland, Canada in August 2005. (It's not us in the photo ;-)

I am posting a brief description of the trip here to share our experiences and help others to plan.

The hike was very nice. The weather sucked though ;-) Locals say July and first half of August are usually very nice. Second half of August rain starts.
Bugs were not bad at all (except in the first camp in the woods).

The biggest thing I can say about the hike is wildlife viewing is exceptional. Hikers are guaranteed to see moose and caribou, may be other animals as well. We saw moose, caribou, rock ptarmigan and arctic hare.

One advice about navigation - follow game trails only when they go in the
direction you need to go according to the bearing. As soon as the trail goes another way do not hesitate to leave it and go cross country.

Allow for some time to be tent bound - if the weather is bad - you're advised to stay put. GPS helps a lot. You have to know how to use it with UTM coordinates. UTM zone for the area is 21U in case you're trying to input campsite coordinates found on the park's official web site into your GPS before you actually get there.

Our boots were soaked all the time. Gaiters are a must. The terrain is very wet - water just seeps everywhere. I was tempted to bring low cut hiking shoes rather than my very heavy leather Salomons, but I don't regret wearing the latter even though they weigh like a ton each when wet.

We flew into Deer Lake and we didn't rent a car.

Pittman's taxi service is the only taxi in the area 709 458 2486 There are lots of Pittmans in the area - most of them must be related...
The guy is very nice, but sometimes they forget, so have some contingency plan if you make arrangements with them ;-)

Here's our itinerary. All costs are in Canadian dollars.

Day 1
Flew into Deer Lake at 4 pm
Took (pre-arranged) taxi to Rocky Harbour $60 (alternative is shuttle bus $14 from Big Stop at 5:30 pm, $5 taxi to Big Stop).
Stop on the way at Gros Morne (Callaghan Trial) parking lot and at VC (visitors centre) to have a look.
Stay at KOA campground $20 (2 km from VC) near Rocky Harbour.

Day 1
Walk 2 km to the Visitor's Centre by noon
- view mandatory video
- pass navigation test by warden at 1 pm
- taxi ride to West Brook Pond boat at 2 pm, $32
- walk 45 min / 3km to boat dock
- buy tickets (must pay cash at the dock $38/person)
- take the boat to trailhead at 4 pm
- disembark the boat at 5 pm
- camp for the night (the hike up takes 6 hours and there's no suitable camping spot in the middle)

Day 3
Hike up the gorge, camp at Little Island Pond
The climb is very steep at the end - it's a scramble.
We did it under rain and strong winds - not a good combination.
We didn't quite know where to go at a certain point, but we managed.

Day 4
The plan was to hike to Harding Pond, camp for the night. We wanted to use the good weather, so we hiked to the Green Island Pond (8-9 hours of walking). The original plan was to do it in 2 days, not one.

Day 5
Hiked to Ferry Gulch, camped for the night. The descent from the plateau
is VERY steep, at the moment I though - this is more than I bargained for..
We planned to hike up Gros Morne Mnt. the next day.

Day 6
It rained half a day. We waited a bit, but gave up on the GM mnt and hiked out, hitched a ride and checked into OceanView motel in Rocky Harbour ($95/night for 2 people). We ate huge lunch at Fisherman's Landing and
spend the rest of the day and next morning watching TV. We tried to walk to the lighthouse, but it started to rain again, so we turned back.

Day 7
Taxi to the Deer Lake airport and fly home.
I am glad we had a spare day, because we hiked 2 days' worth in one,
if we didn't we'd have to hike last day in heavy rain and wind.

The original plan for the last day was:
Leave the camp by 7 am.
Walk out to the Gros Morne Mnt/ Callaghan Trail parking lot by 10 am
Call taxi from cell phone or walk to the VC (45 min) to make the call from there; wait for taxi 30 min; ride to the airport 60 min