22 August 2019, Thursday

The morning is breezy and cool as we drive to the Tablelands trailhead for the guided hike. A large group gathers. We are from all over the world, mostly Canada and the US, but also from China, Poland and Sudan. We are divided into Francophile and Anglophile groups.

Our guide is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable geologist who is also very familiar with the natural history of the Tablelands. She begins with a brief history of how a bit of earth’s mantle, usually found beneath the crust and outside the core, ended up on top of the crust in this area. She notes that before the theory of plate tectonics was known or accepted, this part of Newfoundland would make geologists scream and run away. How could the ancient granite of the Canadian shield exist a stone’s throw from exposed mantle? What could explain such a phenomenon? The answer was proposed by J. Tuzo Wilson who hypothesized that the Atlantic Ocean had closed and then opened again. The work of geologist Jack T. Wilson and others confirmed his hypothesis. The tremendous forces caused by continental plates colliding with each other as the Iapetus Ocean closed during the formation of Pangaea, the most recent supercontinent, caused a part of the mantle which had frozen to the overlying crust composed of oceanic sediments, to be lifted high above the subducting layers. Over the ensuing millions of years the resulting mountains and sedimentary layers were worn away leaving this extraordinary outcropping of earth’s mantle.

Because these reddish rocks come from earth’s mantle they have a very high content of metals such as iron, magnesium, chromium and others. There is also a deficit of lighter minerals such as potassium, phosphorous, and calcium which are essential for colonization by plant life. We are left with high, flat-topped, barren red mountains right across a U-shaped glacial valley from a more classic northern landscape of spruce, fir, and deciduous trees on mountains underlain by granite and gneiss. Over time the Tablelands have been eroded by glacier, wind and water. It is a stunning landscape. Our guide points out that this is not the only place where mantle was uplifted. Along the Appalachian chain mantle was lifted but then metamorphosed into soapstone, talc, asbestos and serpentinite. The serpentine got its name because it looks like snakeskin.

Our guide next turns to natural history. Generally animals do not live on the Tablelands, but caribou and moose pass through. Incidentally, she tells us that caribou is a Mi’kmaq word meaning “digger” because they use their shovel-like hooves to dig for roots. Moose means “twig-eater,” a name chosen for obvious reasons. Moose are not native to Newfoundland. They were introduced from New Brunswick as a food source in 1904. Over time the herd within Gros Morne increased to over 8000. They have been very destructive to the ecosystem, destroying forests. With current population control methods Gros Morne’s herd is now down to about 2000. Also wolves are now known to have migrated across the ice from Labrador, another means of population control. Newfoundland as a whole has over 100,000 moose!

Plants are the next item on the agenda. Wormwood is able to absorb the toxic metals and thus can grow on the mantle rock. Mi’kmaq used a mixture of this plant with cod liver oil to treat worms. It is apparently very effective. We are shown moss campion, an alpine flower, which is not a moss and which has beautiful pink flowers in spring. Blue harebell was believed by Europeans to turn one into a rabbit if you ate it. Sweet gale is also found here. It was used by Vikings in making beer and eventually replaced by hops because it caused quite a headache and hangover. The classic plants known to grow in areas poor in nutrients can also be found in boggy areas of the Tablelands: pitcher plants (the provincial flower of Newfoundland,) sundew and butterwort.

The beauty of the area and our guide’s interesting talk almost makes me forget I am only 3 days out of my cast on this 4 km hike. O and I proceed next to the Discovery Center where there are excellent exhibits about plate tectonics and the formation of the Tablelands.

After dinner there is a fire circle at our campground. Tonight it is held in the kitchen shelter because of rain. The ranger leading the circle is of Mi’kimaq and Acadian descent. He speaks of the importance of taking care of Mother Earth. We have another smudging ceremony and a Mi’kimaq woman, who drove here especially to attend the fire circle, helps with drumming and the singing of Mi’kimaq songs. The theme of the evening is “take only what you need.” The circle leader tells stories about learning from his grandfather and grandmother as a child and about understanding the earth and our environment through observation, especially through watching the behavior of animals. A pleasant, thoughtful and relaxing evening!