The Rock

Finally - the Rock Earl Plato

a repeat - Have you been to the Rock? Elaine and I finally made it to Newfoundland. For ten days we saw the flora and the fauna all across our tenth province. Gros Morne National Park provided most of the flora. July is Orchid Month in Newfoundland. Plenty of them were in this amazing and spectacular park. We spent two days at Gros Morne. You could spend easily two weeks there. I first saw the orchids of the west coast of Newfoundland via the late Dave Marr’s slides at Fort Erie Centennial Library. They were world class shots. Now we saw them first hand at Gros Morne Park. Western Brook Pond Trail starts at the large parking lot. In the far distance were the fjords nestled in the 2,000 foot high mountains. The boardwalk trail crosses bogs and low limestone ridges to the shore of the Pond. Just into the Trail were beautiful White-fringed orchids. At the top of each leafy stalk was a dense cluster of pure white flowers with deeply fringed petals. Just then a call went up for out in the tableland a bull moose and cow were seen feeding. Two other orchids that grow here are the Yellow lady’s slipper and my favourite the Showy lady’s slipper. Beautiful specimens. Back at the new Interpretive Centre we were told again that the first three weeks of July were the best weeks for orchid sightings. It was July 10th a perfect time. I stayed at the Centre to see two informative movies. Elaine took the 45 minute hike up the rocky hillside where my gimpy knees might find some difficulties. Her guide was very informative. Elaine took photos of Pitcher plants, the province’s official flowering plant. Yes, I had to buy a t-shirt with the Pitcher plant embossed on it. Further on up the coast at the Norse settlement of L‘ans aux Meadows we saw three small bog flowering plants. The guide pointed out Partridgeberry also called Mountain cranberry, Black crowberry, and Bakeapple or Cloudberry. This last plant would soon have bright yellow berries we were told. Easy to see the various colours - red, blue/black, and bright yellow. All of their fruits were edible and must have provided those Norse people of 1000 A.D. some necessary sustenance during the rugged winters. The bog areas here along the interpretive trail were covered with our traditional blueberries not yet ripe. Earl, don’t eat them if they were. It too is a national heritage site.
Next: The fauna of Newfoundland