By Phil Creed of Halifax, NS
We arrived in Newfoundland on Thursday 1 September 2005. After picking up our rental and some fuel for our stove in Deer Lake, we hit the road for the 45 minute ride into Rock Harbour, our base of operations. Rocky Harbour is a small community that is actually located inside the boundaries of Gros Morne National Park. We checked into our cottage (Mountain Range Cottages) and then quickly made our way over to Earl’s for some supper before returning to the cabins for a relaxing evening and a few “refreshments”.
Having been to Gros Morne last year, the entire pre-trail period felt a bit like we were just going through the motions of preparing for our hike. We knew what we needed to do, and just wanted to get on with doing it. We had tried the Long Range Traverse at roughly the same time of year last year but a number of factors, most importantly the terrible weather, had cut our expedition short. We had hiked up the gorge at the end of Western Brook Pond, spent the night sleeping on a very steep incline due to a missed turn and a lack of daylight, and then come back down the next day. Our decision to turn back was due primarily to the amount clothing and equipment that had already gotten wet and a forecast calling for steady rain for the next 4-5 days. To add insult to injury, the weather was so bad that the tour boat that had dropped us off wasn’t running so we still had to spend two more days and nights at the primitive campsite by the dock before we finally caught a boat out on the fourth day. Despite the end result we all had a very memorable trip, but the feeling of “unfinished business” was in the air when we got on the airplane heading back to Ontario at the end of the trip.
Although we all said we would like to come back and do it again, our busy schedules seemed to be conspiring to keep us a way for a while. Luckily, in mid-July we were able to find a window that worked for everyone (except for one of us who’s pregnancy made hiking in the mountains impractical), and we made plans for a return trip. Unlike last year, we already knew most of the equipment requirements, and we were in much better position to prepare for the trip since we had a better idea of what we were getting into. We quickly made our travel arrangements and then began the excruciating wait for our much anticipated return trip.
On Friday 2 September, we began the day by heading to our favorite Rocky Harbour breakfast spot, the Fisherman's Landing Restaurant. We spent some time going over our equipment and making final preparations before heading to the Visitors Centre at the National Park to pick up our back country passes, VHF telemetry device and speak to a park ranger. As was the case last year, we watched a brief 15 minute video on the Long Range Traverse before meeting with one of the park rangers. The ranger went over our plan for the hike and our equipment list before confirming that we knew the basics of navigating with a map and compass (there are no marked trails on the Traverse). This meeting with the park ranger also provided us with an excellent opportunity to ask him questions and confirm details from our map reconnaissance. There was a friendly atmosphere throughout the meeting, and although the ranger is “testing” your basic knowledge, the meeting provides a valuable opportunity to get up to date information on the trail. We headed back to the cottages and after doing one final equipment check, we went to bed at a reasonable hour and tried our best to get some sleep before beginning our adventure.
