Gros Morne Part 2: Saving Starfishes and Poking Moose Carcasses at Green Gardens

We had just two full days dedicated to hiking in Gros Morne, so we took some time to consider our options. Fortunately, our second choice after the mountain was made easy: our hosts for the weekend all wanted to hike Green Gardens, and I was told it was one of those “not-to-be-missed” dealios.

Enroute.

Enroute.

Lunar landscape – Arctic tundra – surreal forest – beach. Nine kilometers, and four entirely different types of environment.

The Green Gardens hike starts out in the Tablelands, on a rocky, rusty surface. Like Gros Morne mountain, the barren land is a result of continents colliding. It’s like being in an alien world, the red rocks and orange boulders being contrasted next to the hills of balsam fir and boreal forest. You’re warned to not step off the path, otherwise you’ll crush tiny rare plants.

Walking on the moon.

Walking on the moon.

I didn’t really feel like we were getting anywhere until we reached the tundra, when we turned the corner and the world transformed. Here the landscape is more like the mountain: low shrubs and rocky terrain, and lots of marshland. It’s the Newfoundland I know, where you’re hopping over small puddles of black, soft mud and avoiding getting tangled in branches.

Moving on.

Moving on.

I made a comment to Natalie, the most upbeat, tireless girl I know, about how much easier the hike was compared to the mountain. She replied, “Oh yeah, just 9 kilometres, all downhill!” Then she added, “Except when you’re coming back up.”

We paused for pictures on a giant rock looking out over the forest and the ocean, then proceeded with a steep descent down a hill. We were almost immediately in the forest, where the trees block out the sun and squirrels chatter everywhere. Fallen logs block the route at points, and the floor is soft with moss.

Im pretty lame.

I’m pretty lame.

Tree-scape, courtesy of Maggie.

Tree-scape, courtesy of Maggie.

But finally when we broke through the densest part of the forest and onto a yellow meadow lined with crooked tuckamore, we were met with sea stacks jutting up out of the ocean, and one hell of a long, deserted beach. We ate our trail mix and lunches with our backs against an oddly cone-shaped hill covered in grass in an attempt to block the wind, and then took the steep staircase to reach the beach at the bottom.

Oooh, aaaah.

Oooh, aaaah.

The beach was nothing like any other I have seen in Newfoundland: one entire cliff-face (shown above) is shaped with bubbles caused by volcanic activity from millions of years ago. The drop-off is so steep, we found not one but TWO moose carcasses rotting just below them, including a little calf. We poked at the bones until we feared moose would start raining from the sky, because surely there’s no worse death than being crushed by falling moose.

Then we scrambled over a hill, and found this waterfall.

Glassman photo bomb.

Glassman photo bomb.

My highlight of the trip? Retracing our steps along the beach, and finding tiny starfish dotting the rocks where the waves break. My first ever starfishies! Yes, really. I picked one up, ecstatic about my find, and showed Heather’s biologist friend.

“Ah,” she said. “It’s dead.”

She must have seen how devastated I was.

“I mean it’s ALIVE! It’s alive! Throw it back, SAVE ITS LIFE!”

And that’s how I, Candice Walsh, saved the day.

I need more than two days to do everything I had hoped to accomplish at Gros Morne. I still have to get up close with the Tablelands and search for Snug Harbour. How strange it is to have lived somewhere your whole life, to be as rooted to this place as the tuckamore bent by the wind, and find you hardly know anything about it.

  • November 26 2010

    Awwww poor starfish!
    I’m surprised those were your first ones though, there are tons of alive ones at my cottage haha
    Also such big words, I almost need to google: crooked tuckamore and what the heck is a sea stack? haha but I love the use of “boreal forest” that reminds me of one of those ducks unlimited commercials….
    Such a pretty place, sad about the moose jumping off cliff, but cool that you can see the ancient bubbles! :)

    • December 02 2010

      Sea stacks b’y, those rocks just jutting up out of the ocean! Haha. I think “tuckamore” is a NL thing, it’s not really found in the modern dictionary. Lol.

  • November 26 2010

    Extremely beautiful territory, Candice. I love your descriptive writing here too. Two moose carcasses? I’ve never even seen a live moose in my life. You’ve got it good up in your part of the world, I think. I would love to see a moose.

    • December 02 2010

      Hehe, so funny, because they’ve become deadly here. Lots of people lose their lives in moose/vehicle collisions, especially since the height of a moose is just perfect for crushing a windshield. But they’re delicious!

  • November 26 2010
    Alana

    beautiful piece.

    I want to go to there.

    • December 02 2010

      It’s right up there with Cape Breton!

  • November 26 2010

    All I can say is… you are a hero! for saving thats dead starfishes life!

    • December 02 2010

      Thanks! I can die happy now.

  • November 26 2010

    I still believe that you saved the day!! The landscape around you looks spectacular.

    • December 02 2010

      Thanks, Elise! I totally saved it.

  • November 27 2010

    I think I heard somewhere that if you really believe, when you throw a dead starfish back into the ocean it’ll return to life. So good on you. Gros Morne is looking pretty incredible. Before your posts I just thought it was some sort of pretty valley in Newfoundland. I love the closing line of your post as well.

    • December 02 2010

      Thanks, Alouise! I’m a hero through and through. Hah.

  • November 28 2010

    @Poi: IT IS ALIVE OKAY?

    Go you for saving that cute starfishies LIFE. <3 Looks like an amazing hike.

    • December 02 2010

      Hahahaha, I’m loving these comments. Thanks!

  • November 28 2010

    you may be lame, but you were in excellently lame company! ;D what’s the point in hiking all over the place if you can’t take cheesy lame photos? ;)

    also, those are some pretty dead looking starfish ;D we found some that seemed alive…ish… ;D

    • December 02 2010

      Yeah, it was the only pic I had, hahaha.

  • November 28 2010

    Wonderfully written story, it puts me right there, or wanting to go.

    • December 02 2010

      Linlah, I think you’d love this part of the world. :)

  • November 28 2010

    Catchy Title ya Whacker. What were you poking dead mooses for? Anyway, I was Googling dead moose carcasses and that’s what brung me here!

    • December 02 2010

      Curiosity, poor baby moose.

  • November 30 2010

    Everyone can talk all they want about how beautiful the scenery is and yadi yada, but really, let’s give due diligence to Candice’s beanie. Just look at the craftsmanship on that thing. Makes nature look insignificant.

    • December 02 2010

      Man, nothing screams “fashion” like a beanie from a beer box.

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