Thursday to Western Brook Pond

One of the things we wanted to do while near Gros Morne National Park was to take the Western Brook Pond Tour. This is a boat tour into the Western Brook Pond, a former fiord, now a body of freshwater surrounded by stunning scenery. Dwayne and I had done this tour back in 2016, and I knew that it could be beautiful. I had booked a tour for Saturday, when we planned to be at a campground that would be closer to the pond location, but, looking at the weather, it was predicted to be pretty cold on Saturday and maybe rainy... probably not a good day for a boat ride. Thursday was predicted to have highs in the 70s, and while not "sunny", was only to be "partly cloudy". On Wednesday morning, I tried to change the date online, but Thursday appeared to be unavailable. I called, and the lady in the office said that they were contemplating putting another tour time on for Thursday as the one tour for that day was sold out -- but the office was waiting to hear from the captain on whether he would have a crew for a second tour -- they should know in about an hour. While we were driving up toward Gros Morne on Wednesday, we stopped for fuel in Deer Lake, and while there, I called -- they had decided to run a second boat on Thursday at the same tour time and could change our reservations. We were very grateful!

When we got our Gros Morne National Park pass, we got information about the park. One of the things I noticed was that bikes were allowed on the Western Brook Pond trail. To get to the boat is about a mile and a half walk. Normally this is not an issue, but I seem to have damaged two of my toes when we were walking in the cities in Europe -- like a strain or sprain -- not the little toe, but the two next to it. I have been trying to rest my toes and walking definitely irritates the injury. Biking does not seem to irritate, so we decided to ride our bikes. Just as in National Parks in the US, we could not use e-bikes with a throttle (pedal assist is okay); we had disconnected the cable in Acadia, and it was still disconnected, so we were fine.

It was about an hour drive to the parking area, and we wanted to allow an hour to walk - just in case we got there and something indicated that we could not take the bikes.

On the trail to the boat dock. The gap in the mountains to the right of the road are the entrance into Western Brook Pond.

We were riding over a bog on our way to the pond.

A view of Western Brook Pond and the two boats which would be going out on tour.

Information about Western Brook Pond

We were told that, although most freshwater bodies of water "turnover" the water they contain 4-6 times a year, Western Brook Pond only turns over its water about once every 15 years. There is only a small outflow into Western Brook. It is a glacier carved lake, and is not called a fiord because it is not exposed to the ocean (not salt water).

To give an idea of perspective -- this is looking into the entrance of Western Brook Pond -- the mountains that were in the picture when we were biking across the bog...

This is a zoomed in view of that picture -- the small white thing at the base of the mountain is the other tour boat that had left just a little before our boat left -- it isn't a huge boat, but it has two passenger decks, and looks like a speck compared to the massive mountains, 2000' high.

Before there were lighthouses and other means for vessels on the sea to determine their location, the seagoing captains would use these massive mountains to help in their navigation.

We started the trip standing in the bow of the boat -- Carl took a picture from up on the second level to give perspective. This is entering the pond.

One of the many waterfalls we would see -- this one emptied directly into the pond.

Another waterfall -- coming down from water sources way up on top.

After staring the trip standing in the bow, we decided to move to the back of the top level. Not only were we getting some water spray (very COLD water spray) in the front, but, for some reason, it appeared that the exhaust came out of the front of the boat, and there was a strong diesel smell that was a bit upsetting to our stomachs. This is looking back toward the entrance of the pond from our new location on the top back deck.

We were now at the back of the upper deck, where there were many rows of seats. This is looking forward toward the eastern end of the pond, with a number of our fellow passengers in front of us.

A selfie of where we had been and the wake behind us.

Another waterfall -- this one has quite a spray as it comes down.

And this one was more straight down -- further in near the end of the pond.

Lots of our fellow passengers up taking pictures.

Though not seen in this picture, Carl noticed that a LOT of the passengers had DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras - nice looking cameras with nice lenses. He figured that it was unlikely that it just happened that there were just that many DSLR users on one boat tour, and, in conversation with two of the DSLR users, found that it is a tour group of photography folks visiting Newfoundland.

A view of the other boat that was exiting the end of the pond ahead of our arrival

The end of the pond. You may be able to distinguish a small dock on the left side -- sometimes the boat tours will leave hikers off who have back-country permits. The hike goes up this valley and across to Gros Morne (south) -- a 4 day hike, on unmarked trail, so map and compass skills are essential.

Another waterfall

A selfie at the end of the pond

Looking toward the entrance to the pond

This young lady main narrator on our tour. While she read some of the text, she was enthusiastic and enjoyable to listen to.

Looking back into the pond.

Arriving back at the dock

The boat that we toured on

Both boats at the end of the dock

Getting our bikes ready for the ride back out to the Jeep

Another view of the bog

While it was not the bright sunshiny day that would have been ideal for the boat trip, one of the crew on the boat said that it was the best day that they had had so far since they started mid-May. It certainly appeared to the be the best day for the time that we'll be spending in Gros Morne - and we're glad we were able to go!