Thursday, August 16th
 |
| One of Newfoundlands several fjiords |
Gros Morne National park is famous for Fjords, carved by the
last ice sheets, and shouldered by forests and cliffs. The difference here is that they are actually
“ landlocked” and called “ ponds”, which after being compressed by the huge
glacier then melted, the coastline rebounded like a sponge, rising above sea
level, cutting it off from the ocean.
We were told my the guide that the water here is so devoid of minerals, that it actually will not conduct electricity! ( We had never heard of such a thing, but one tends to believe the guides ).
What is also unusual here, is that they managed to get a
couple of good sized tour boats 2 miles from the road! ( which one had to walk
to get to the boat tour ) One boat they brought in by rolling it over the
frozen bogs, and the next ( because the bogs did not freeze hard enough ) was
flown in by helicopter in pieces and assembled.
The result was the very successful, very enjoyable 2 hour cruise up the
pond viewing the absolutely magnificent rock walls.
The sight reminded us very much of Milford
Sound in New Zealand, and unfortunately, the weather ( very overcast
threatening rain ) was the same as well.
Taking pictures in this lighting is
very disappointing for those of us who do not have a clue how to adjust the
cameral settings to offset the lack of light.
I will have to take some classes, for sure.
We hiked back the two miles just as it
started to rain and spent the night having dinner and watched one of our many
borrowed DVD’s we brought with us.
Friday August 17th
The Bike Ride from
Hell
We inquired at the Visiting Center of any local mountain
bike trails, and found one 10 miles in length, mostly around a pond. The staff really knew nothing about the
trail, just that it was one of only a few that bikes were allowed on. Norm was
planning to tackle the biggest challenge of the area; hiking to the top of Gros
Morne Mountain tomorrow, ( which not too many people, including me, attempt it ) so he
thought I nice little bike ride to get a little exercise, would be great for
today.
Our thoughts were that being around a body of water, it must
be fairly flat, right? We took the bikes
out of the car, assembled them, gave them some more air, then headed off on a
beautiful day. It took about 40 minutes
to get to the trailhead and by then the clouds had rolled in. Not to worry, it was cloudy most days lately.
 |
| Now, this is is pretty cool |
As we rode about 100 feet, it started to sprinkle. Gee, I wished we had throught to bring our
raincoats, but then carrying them would have been difficult ( but possible
). The trail was really awesome. It was about a foot wide, with lots of
grasses and weeds about 2 feet tall on either side. Very soon it turned into a ½ mile or so of
boardwalk with about 6 inches to ride on that was free of debris. This section was fun, but I worried that if
we came across people walking, we would be in trouble. We crossed a suspension bridge, and then
headed into the deep woods.
We seemed to be all alone in the woods, when suddenly we saw
some people heading our way. You guessed
it! Kate, the woman we have been
continuously running into! Now this is
getting too weird! Mind you, there are
over 100 miles of trails in Gros Morne, and this trail, 40 minutes away, in the
boonies, around some obscure lake, we meet!
I just can’t believe it! Her
daughter proudly showed us the incredible pictures she had just taken of a huge
caribou buck further back on the trail. They saw our bikes and were very
impressed that we were actually riding on this trail! We wondered why the surprise, after all, it
seemed harmless enough…..
 |
| Dark, thick woods on either side of trail I thought this was so cool |
We soon knew why. The
trail went up, and up, and up. I was really struggling for some reason. Anytime there was the slightest incline I had
to get off and walk, pushing the bike.
Even that was hard. There was so
much moose and caribou poo on the trail, I thought perhaps all that crap on my
tires was slowing me down. The trail
continued to go up, then have a little decent ( yeah, quick- get on and coast )
then up, and up, and still up! By this
time, we ( Norm had to get off on the steep climbs too ) had really worked up a
sweat. Watching for the caribou, and trying to stay on the trail was definitely
a challenge. We tried to huff and puff
quietly, all the while cursing under our breaths at how difficult this
was. I still could not understand my
physical incapacity.
After enduring 5 miles of hardwork, my breaks started to
squeal. I pried out all the poo and still noticed the front tire was not really
moving much. Wow! Ta-dah!
My front brake had been stuck on, this whole time! I had mixed emotions. I was so glad I was not in as bad a physical
shape as I thought I had become, then I was ashamed that I did not notice the
symptoms of a stuck brake and then the horror of my wondering what to do about
it way out here!
 |
| Just one more little hill.....I can do it! |
After we disconnected the brake, tied it up, I got back on
with a little trepidation due to the lack of front brakes, and thankfully and
with great relief, spend down the trail, and up the next incline! ( not too big ) Now THIS is mountain biking. Then it started to rain a little harder.
What was really unfair for both of us was that after walking
up all those hills, and looking forward to riding down, we found it necessary
to walk. Norm walked down because he is not comfortable riding on loose rock (
he hasn’t got the hang of going faster so the bike just bounces over them yet )
and my walking because anytime I hit the back brake, the bike would fishtail
out from under me. How unfair!
The rain became more steady as we headed
back, riding when we could ( my bike was much easier to push now )and finally
came to the parking lot once again pushing the bikes up an incline. I was pretty tired, and as soon as we loaded
the bikes, the skies opened up!
What a ride from hell.
Anytime we see “ mountain biking” now we are a bit skeptical whether it would be
appropriate for us old folks from the flat lands of Florida.
No comments:
Post a Comment