We arrived in Rocky Harbour Wednesday afternoon. The main goal was to see Western Brook Pond. Formerly a fjord, it lost that designation when it was cut off from the sea. However, for the layperson, few of the physical characteristics would suggest it is no longer a fjord.
Western Brook Pond is about a 30 minute drive from Rocky Harbour. Then there is a walk of just under 3km from the parking lot to the dock where the boat takes one through the fjord. The tour is about 2 hours. Adding this all up one can expect to spend at least 5 hours on the activity.
The walk between the parking lot and the dock is considered easy; the trail is wide and well marked; portions over bog areas are boardwalk and the remaining parts are gravel. There are only a few modest inclines. If the trail had been about a kilometre, my father could have completed the walk. But 6 km return was a bit much. Parks Canada will provide an all terrain wheelchair, but I was not able to fit it into the trunk. So Dad didn’t go.
It was a chilly and cloudy day. Good for photography, but uncomfortable otherwise. With the cold wind, it felt colder than our previous iceberg boat tour in St. Anthony, even though I wore four layers including thermo-underwear and a windbreaker. Standing on the bow section of the boat exposed one to being splashed as the boat cut through the waves.
Most of the tour is typical; a boat crossing between stone cliffs rising a few hundred meters out of the water. The interesting part is at the end of the fjord, where the waterfalls empty into the pond. It was an almost prehistoric scene that tipped the scale of the value of the tour.
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