7/28/14 – Gassed up and filled propane before heading into Gros Morne on the 430, since all park campgrounds are no services. They do have showers and wifi, however. We stopped at the entrance station to get our park passes, and discovered we could have saved money had we done this before entering Fundy or Cape Breton Highlands National Parks. Instead of day passes, this time we bought nationwide season passes, good at all National Parks in Canada, for one calendar year, at the senior rate of  $58 each. This also gets us a 25% reduction in park campground rates. I had been worried about getting into the campgrounds without reservations, but the helpful lady attendant assured us it was no problem. We continued into the park, taking the southern fork of the road, the 431, past the Lomond area, stopping at the Tableland trailhead. The Tableland is one of the most significant features of the park, a pretty barren, boulder-strewn remnant of the collision of the North American and African tectonic plates that created the Appalachian mountain range. The barrenness is because this is one of the few places on earth where the mantle has protruded through the earth’s crust, and this dense rock is unfertile and toxic. Many streams flow down these well-watered cliffs, however, some glacier remnants still visible, and low-lying hardy vegetation hangs on over this wind-swept terrain.

We drove on over a steep pass thru the community of Trout River and back into the park at the Trout River campground for the evening. We wanted to take the trail up the other side of the lake, but decided to wait until we leave camp in the morning. Instead we walked a short trail down to our side of the river/lake, and enjoyed the scenery walking along the shore, before heading back for dinner.