Are you curious about the world, always seeking out new places, looking to connect with nature? I look no further than Newfoundland, an island of stunning and diverse natural beauty! With camera in hand, I set out for the west coast of Newfoundland, where I found one of the most geologically beautiful places in Canada and, maybe, in the world. This place is Gros Morne National Park, a park designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
I knew I wouldn’t have to explore very far to find beauty when on the west coast of Newfoundland. The incredible beauty of the Humber Valley, with its pristine outdoors, the Humber River meandering along the banks of the communities of Deer Lake, Pasadena and Steady Brook, the stunning panoramic view of the valley from the zip line at the top of Steady Brook Falls fill the camera’s lens in splendour. About one hour and a half hour drive north of the Humber Valley, western Newfoundland’s spectacular natural world, Gros Morne National Park, explodes the senses. Gros Morne Mountain and the Tablelands are two landmarks that sparkle for my camera and lift my spirits. In the words of John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist, long since departed from this natural world, “I go to NATURE to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order”.
As I entered Gros Morne National Park, the absolute beauty surrounding me made the well-known words “Leave only footprints, take only pictures, and kill only time” almost sacred. As I looked around, my senses and my camera captured the extraordinary in the ordinary mountains, glacier-carved fjords, pristine lakes, waterfalls, the sandy beaches and the sand dunes! After a three to four hour strenuous trek to the top of the rounded, flat top Gros Morne mountain which dominates the park, my camera captured the ancient geological wonder surrounding me. With much adherence to the words “Take only pictures and Kill only time”, my group stuck to the trail with the intention of preventing any damage to the sparse arctic vegetation. The view of Ten Mile Pond from the top of the mountain is the picture perfect view seen in television and magazine ads.
The Tablelands in the southern part of Gros Morne, between Woody Point and Trout River, is a picturesque geology lesson in itself. Capturing the ‘alien landscape’ of the 260 million year old piece of rock called the Tablelands reveals a bare-naked reddish-brown moon-like mountain created when tectonic plates collided. Through the lens of my camera, I captured the contrasting colourful landscape on the opposite side of the road where ‘green gardens’ and ocean views presented themselves.
I love nature and stay close to it. My camera enables me to remember and cherish moments in time as I capture the beauty of Gros Morne’s wildlife and plant life including caribou, moose, ptarmigan, black bears and many of its flowering plants, mosses, liverworts, lichens and odd shaped coastal tuckamore.
I celebrate the beauty of our world. See for yourself a photographer’s possibilities in Gros Morne National Park!
