Getting off the beaten path in Gros Morne

Off the Beaten Path

Gros Morne is known for hiking, and it boasts some amazing hiking trails including;

Gros Morne Mountain ✓

Tablelands ✓

Western Brook Pond ✓

But, the truth is you’ve only scratched the surface of the trails on offer in Gros Morne National Park! Check out these spectacular experiences that are a little off the beaten path but totally Instagramable.

• Trout River Pond Trail
  14 km return, 4-5 hours
  The trail begins in the Trout River day-use area and follows the north shore of Trout River Small Pond. The first half takes you through shaded boreal forest, but then the vegetation dwindles to larch scrub and serpentine barrens. Arctic-alpine plants grow here, in the midst of patterned ground, erosion fans, and calcium springs. This trail provides magnificent views of the Narrows where two ponds meet, and of the glacial-carved valley of Trout River Big Pond.

• Lomond River Trail
  6 km one-way, 2 hours
  Located 16 km from Wiltondale, west on route 431. The start of this trail begins in the parking lot of Stuckless Pond. The trail leads a walk through forest and fen, with spur trails that lead to the Lomond River. The trees here grow taller than anywhere else in the park! Beneath the quiet of the mature forest canopy you’ll find views of the river and its forested slopes.
• Old Mail Road Trail
  2 km one-way, 1 hour
  This path was once part of the only overland route up the Northern Peninsula. Every winter from 1882 to 1952, mailmen travelled it by dogsled to deliver mail along the coast.

  The trail starts at the Shallow Bay day-use area in Cow Head and follows the old winter mail road along the edge of the campground, and north to the Slants River. The mail road parallels the shoreline in the shelter of dense coastal forest. For a short loop, you can use the boardwalk to cross the dunes at the campground and then return along the beach.

• Mattie Mitchell Trail
  5 km loop, 0.25 hr
  A short and sweet interpretive trail tells the story of Mattie Mitchell and the Mi’kmaq in Newfoundland. Mattie Mitchell was a renowned Mi’kmaq hunter, guide and prospector. He made an exceptional contribution to the exploration and mapping of the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland and to the development of the emerging Newfoundland economy of forestry and mining in the 20th century, earning him recognition as a person of national historic significance.
• Stanleyville Trail
  4 km return, 2 hrs
  This trail begins at the day-use area playground in Lomond campground. The trail climbs over a ridge and down to a cove at Stanleyville, a small community that was active in the early 1900s. Although abandoned for 80 years, garden plants still grow at Stanleyville! The trail follows the old road through a second-growth forest and past a present-day domestic cutting area.