If you go, budget enough time

“That’s going to be your Christmas card photo,” a hiker says after snapping a shot of my kids and me standing at the start of the Lomond River hiking trail in Gros Morne National Park, backed by boreal forest, wildflowers, and Killdevil Mountain, said to kill any devil who tries to climb it.

We do look happy. Smitten, really, by this wild, exotic place—so big, so inspiring no-one leaves unchanged. For us, the love affair’s largely about hiking, seeking out trails all over this massive 1,805 square-kilometre national park on western Newfoundland’s rugged coast.

We’ve wandered by windswept tuckamore trees on a trail that looks like it’s home to hobbits; danced down unexpected stretches of white sandy shoreline, and marvelled at moose lumbering through landscape that’s among Canada’s most spectacular and diverse.

The landscape’s so achingly gorgeous it’s half the reason Gros Morne received UNESCO World Heritage standing in 1987, a rare honour since beauty is subjective. The other reason lies in the rocks. The land tells important secrets about the Earth.

That’s part of Gros Morne’s appeal. Here, a day’s adventure can include walking the earth’s mantle; clamoring over ancient rocks to cross the boundary between the Cambrian and Ordovician eras; strolling a shipwreck-laden shoreline; and in the Lomond River valley where the trees grow tall and meadows open on to soothing salt water vistas.

“The diversity of environment makes it easy to choose what kind of landscape you walk in,” says Parks Canada public outreach education officer Fred Sheppard, a master storyteller who regales our group at scheduled stops with animated tales of “Moose” and “Raven.”

Gros Morne’s trails—100 km of marked paths and hundreds more unmarked—suit a variety of visitors, from those seeking easy ambles to strenuous backcountry adventures. And from coastal settings to rare arctic landscapes, visitors choose magnificent terrain.

Perhaps the biggest draw though is the intimate engagement with nature and culture.

“People are attracted by the big, beautiful landscapes, Western Brook Pond, the view from Gros Morne Mountain, the Tablelands,” says Sheppard. “(But) when they come, they realize the story is bigger, they get into the communities, they learn the culture...they meet the people now telling the stories. That intimate interaction, that’s what makes it special, and so memorable. They come for the big, bold landscape and stay for the story of this place.”

Talking Tablelands

I can attest. My kids are amateur geologists after hiking the lower Tablelands, a seemingly barren, striking ochre-coloured series of low-lying mountains accessible off Highway 431. Standing out amidst the park’s lush green, the Tablelands is filled with orange-brown rock called peridotite—a slice of ancient ocean floor trapped on land during the crushing of the Iapetus ocean 500 million years ago.

Parks guides make this story live as they lead daily four-kilometre treks through the globally significant geology (the exposed rock helped scientists develop plate tectonics theory).

The next day, at Green Point, designated a global stratotype in 2000, while sitting on wave-washed boulders, we learn how rock reveals the ghost of a lost ocean.

“Basically, these are the pages of Planet Earth. A few chapters are pretty mind-blowing and I see them out here,” says Parks Canada interpreter Cedric Davignon, as Arctic terns screech and chase each other over rolling sea, and we saunter along for a beach walk.

Gros Morne is filled with such gems.

At Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse in Rocky Harbour, a short trail through elfin forest leads to two red Adirondack chairs (a signature park feature placed strategically at special places) beckoning visitors sit for a spell. Up the road, it’s moose and caribou you’ll likely spot on the easy three-kilometre trek into Western Brook Pond (also home to one of the park’s signature experiences, a catamaran tour through the freshwater fjord to see massive glacier cliffs.)

Find your stride

So, how do you know what’s right for you?

Myriam Lavallée, Parks Canada visitor experience manager at Gros Morne, says for relaxing strolls look for trails—like Berry Head Pond, Lobster Cove Head, Western Brook Pond—described in park literature as “easy.” These are usually rated from 0.5 to 1.5 are short and level, and can be hiked by almost anyone in from half an hour to an hour and a half. Beach walking (Gros Morne has 150 km of accessible shoreline) also fits this category.

For more of a challenge, try a “moderate” trail, usually about five to 10 kilometres, or a shorter trail with a major hill. They’re rated from 2.0 – 2.5 and Lavallée says most people should have little difficulty with trails in this category.

Muscles really get going on trails with the highest difficulty of 3.0.

These include some of the most iconic treks such as the upper Tablelands, Western Brook Pond gorge, and the national park’s namesake, Gros Morne Mountain. These trails are long, with steep sections, and Lavallée advises hikers have map, first-aid kit, extra clothing, water and food.

The toughest hike? That’d be the Long Range Traverse, named one of National Geographic’s 2013 world’s 20 best hikes.

Also worth checking out is Discover Our Secrets, a program Parks Canada piloted in 2013 to offer visitors a two-to-three hour small group hiking adventure with an interpreter on less travelled paths. Visitors sign up in advance in the Discovery Centre in Woody Point, and only learn their destination the day of the hike. The naturalist-led adventure of the week proved so popular, it’s back again for this year.