It was a dry day, a day of sunshine and moving white clouds, a day (probably) packed with too much activity. After all I needed to get some wandering done before the sun disappears behind water once again.
I started with a hike up Gros Morne, the second highest mountain on the island. I went up with the thought that I would turn around at the rock gully instead of sliding up the scree slope to the top of the mountain, and that's exactly what I did. Up, up, stopping to capture images, to chat with other people, to enjoy being surrounded by mountains. I even had a short conversation with a chipmunk who insisted on playing a game of hide and seek arounnd a tree trunk. Oh! and I saw two moose off in the distance – a mama and her calf. And here I thought I was going to be one of the few people to visit Newfoundland without meeting one of the many moose who live here!
When I finished my Gros Morne jaunt, I hopped in the car and headed for a repeat of the Tablelands Trail. It's an hour's drive from my home away from home in Rocky Harbour to the Discovery Center and Tableland trail outside of Woody Point, slightly less from the Gros Morne trail. It's really too bad that I couldn't just pedal across the South Arm of Bonne Bay... how about a bicycle that converts into a pedal-powered boat? That would be so much more efficient than driving around all of the water.
It was well worth the drive though – it satisfied my curiosity, my urge to see the Tablelands in bright instead of dim light. I still find it amazing to see how the color of rocks changes so much under direct sunlight. Rocks that appeared reddish on that misty morning just two days ago lit up with a yellow-orange color this afternoon. The rock is peridotite and is thought to come from the earth's mantle.
At one point I stopped and tilted my head back to take in the wispy cirrus clouds. I'm sure the clouds weren't standing still but they also weren't visibly moving across the sky. A funny thing happened as I was standing, looking up. I almost felt lie I was moving, floating, instead of standing on a patch of very solid ground. What an interesting feeling!
I left the B&B at 9 this morning, and returned just afer 6, tired and hungry (in spite of snacking all day!) but happy. I walked to Java Jack's and picked up a sandwich for dinner. A very nice veggie wrap hit the spot – after I showered off the sweat of the day.
Overdoing it on a good weather day felt like a good thing to do, especially with the high possibility of a wet day tomorrow, and with Hurricane Bill planning to visit Atlantic Canada soon. Rover is right, yikes!
As of right now, Environment Canada is showing the storm reaching the Atlantic Coast of Cape Breton Island at midnight Zulu time on the 24th (9:00pm local time), and reaching the east coast of Newfoundland at noon Zulu time (9:30am local time) on the 24th. (Remember, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are half of a time zone away from each other...)
I'm scheduled on the 4pm ferry on the 23rd. Will it leave? I don't have a clue! I might make it to Sydney as planned Sunday night, or I might be sitting in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland waiting for the seas to subside. Only time will tell.
If you're curious, and if you're reading this entry while Hurricane Bill still lives, click to jump to the Canadian Hurricane Current Conditions page.
