Great big rock fall

One of the adventures that almost everyone who visits Gros Morne participates in is the boat tour of Western Brook Pond. Why it is called a "Pond" I'm not quite sure. But I notice that many of the other lakes in Gros Morne are called "Ponds."

In July and August four tours are conducted daily. We signed up for the first one of the morning - at 10 am. Before you can board the boat, you must hike into the lake on a 3 km trail. We had to leave the campground by 8:15 in order to drive about 20 minutes to the parking lot, hike in on a trail that took about 45 minutes and be there in time to board the boat at 10 am. 

On the trail to Western Book Pond. We had to cross basins that were mostly bogs so there were long stretches of boardwalk.

Arriving at the boat dock about 9:30 am.

Boarding the boat with about 50 other people.

Western Brook Pond is called a fjord although technically it is no longer a fjord. A fjord is salt water, which this was many rears ago before the access to the ocean closed, and now it is fresh water.

The cliffs rise about 2, 250 ft; the water temperature is about 41 degrees at this time of year; it is some of the purest water on the planet; it is 575 feet deep; and, it is one of the last ultra-oligotropic lakes in the world. (Ultra-oligotropic is from the Greek and means very low in nutrients.)

The boat trip is two hours long and the scenery becomes more and more spectacular and the boat travels down this narrow lake.

One of the many waterfalls along the cliffs.

This is a rock fall that happened in 1994 at 1:45 pm. At that time there was a boat touring the lake and the Captain of the boat reported, "Great big rock fall."

Another waterfall.

Magnificent scenery.

See the profile of a face at the very top/center?

At the very end of the lake, at 11 am, the boat let off a group of backpackers that were headed for the back country. 

Another spectacular waterfall.

When we got back we ate our lunch and drove to the trailhead of a hike to Baker's Brook Falls.  We decided to undertake this hike of 10 miles today since the weather was beautiful and there is a prediction of rain for the next few days; Bertha, I think.

The first look-out is at the upper falls.

The dramatic upper and lower falls.

Our first selfie at Baker's Brook Falls.