Mooose!

I woke up a few times in the night as the wind was absolutely crazy and kept flapping my rain fly. The moon was super bright and I had great visibility, I could see lots of toads around my hammock.  However, I gave up on sleep around 6am as I started to wonder if I’d damage the hammock exposing it like this. I really should have taken a video because it was trying to fly away.

Getting up this early meant that I got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise breakfast. I decided to attempt the trail on the way back to avoid the cliffs I had encountered on the way in. Walking on the shore hadn't been as easy as I expected and the wind was much stronger today. I was surprised to find the trail wasn’t as awful as I had been warned. Yes, it was muddy and would probably be really hard without trekking poles but I found it manageable. 

I came to the river in no time, I really wasn't slowed down walking through the thicker growth of the unmaintained trail. I was a little more worried about crossing it this time since the wind was so much stronger. I made sure to just take it one step at a time and use my trekking poles for balancing.

I only saw one person while I was on my way out and they were just at the beginning, it was still pretty early. I drove to the visitor center to use the Wi-Fi and update the employees that I'd made it out safe. The women who had been working the day before had asked me to come back and let them know I made it out. They said they like when people do that especially when they go alone. However, when I got there I was surprised to see it was different people working. I told them I was safe anyways and we had a good laugh and she said she’d let them know when she saw them.

I told her that I had about two hours left on my day pass, I didn’t want to buy a new one as I have class that night so a new one would be 10$ for only six hours of use. I still wanted to make use of those two hours I still had. I asked her what trail she would recommend that would take two hours or less and was super scenic and I shouldn’t miss it. She recommended I do Bakers Brook Falls so I went there. 

It started raining by the time I got to the trail head so I put on my new rain jacket. I have a Gore-Tex one from MEC but it’s a little heavy so I was hoping to use a lighter one on the trail. I got this one at MEC too, I told the woman what I was looking for, that I'd be hiking extensively in Newfoundland, and she said this one would be great. However, I realized pretty quickly into this hike that it was not going to work. My arms got wet first but then it slowly travelled and by the end of the two hours I was soaked through.

Thankfully I had on my puffy underneath it so I was still warm especially since I was walking. I was uncomfortable and I now know I cannot bring this coat on my long hike. I'm glad that I've had opportunities to test my gear out in advance and learn. I'm not sure why this coat was recommended to me though, I don't think it would even handle minor rain well.

The hike is really nice and easy, the majority of it was boardwalk and what wasn’t was a lot of gravel. It was really flat as well which is a relief since my calves still were sore from climbing Gros Morne mountain. Apparently this is a great trail to see Moose on, and I was excited when I was informed of this. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have much luck as I saw lots of fresh foot prints but no moose.

The waterfalls were nice enough but the foliage is quite over grown so you don’t actually get to see great deal of them. For how much she hyped up the falls, I was a little disappointed. It's definitely a great trail as far as accessibility goes though. Anyone with children or physical challenges could complete it.

The trail was surprisingly cool though for an educational aspect, there were lots of signs with information on them as I went. There was even a moose exclosure there. They designed this so you could walk through and see how a forest looks when moose do not eat it in comparison to what they do. It was quite the difference and now I was able to learn how to identify if moose are eating in an area.

Today I also learned that moose are not native to Newfoundland. I feel like I should have learned this before but I don’t remember it. Back in 1904, they took 4 moose from New Brunswick and brought them to Newfoundland. They were hoping that they would breed and give the remote areas an animal to hunt and eat. It’s strange to think they’re not native since they’re so iconic to Newfoundland. I also can’t believe that it only took 4 moose to populate the whole island. 

By the time I was done the hike I was thoroughly soaked and uncomfortable so I decided to head to the hostel to dry off. Every single thing I was wearing was wet. I knew my socks, shoes and pants would dry relatively quickly, and hung everything up in the bathroom. It’s a good thing there weren’t others in the room and I could take over all the hooks and space. 

After a quick shower, I laid down to type up my blog and catch up online with friends and social media. Of course once I was warm and cozy I drifted off. I really haven’t had a proper night sleep in a while so I needed it. 

Once I woke up I had time for a quick dinner before class. I also got to meet the two other guests! They are both from Halifax too, we chatted for a bit and then I was late for class. After class, I went back out to the main area to socialize and they were watching a movie. I joined to be social but caught up with blogging on my phone while watching.

It was pretty much time for bed after that as I was heading to L’anse aux Meadows next which meant a 6 hour drive in the morning.

Did you know moose aren’t native to Newfoundland?