Gros Morne National Park consists of 1,805 square kilometres of wilderness on the west coast of the Great Northern Peninsula.

It stretches inland from the Gulf of St. Lawrence coastline through lowlands where waterways snake towards the Long Range Mountains, an outlying range of the Appalachian Mountains, and the Tablelands.

The flora and fauna are an exceptional mixture of temperate, boreal, and Arctic-alpine. Natural beauty and a unique, geological showcase earned Gros Morne UNESCO World Heritage status in 1987.

One can see clearly on display evidence of the forces that shaped our planet, from shifted tectonic plates to rare expanses of exposed earth's mantle.

The park is easy to access as a roadway passes through the park's varied terrain and coastal villages that are scattered along the coast. According to the Parks Canada website there are more than 100 km of trails in the park, ranging from half-hour strolls to strenuous day hikes.

According to information contained on the Wikipedia site, the park, established in 1973 and made a national park on October 1, 2005, takes its name from Newfoundland's second-highest mountain peak, Gros Morne which is located within the park.

The mountain is 806 m (2,644 ft) high and its meaning, as mentioned before, translated from French, is "large mountain standing alone," or more literally "great sombre."

The geological history stretches back millions of decades ago. It is the eroded remnants of a mountain range formed 1.2 billion years ago.

The park provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth's mantle lie exposed

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/GrosMorne