Gros Morne is the second-highest mountain in Newfoundland, a bald dome of about eight hundred metres, but the name is also used for the whole national park that surrounds it on the island's west coast, and the park is the point. UNESCO made it a World Heritage Site in 1987, largely because of its geology: here the deep rocks of the Earth's mantle have been pushed up and exposed, and you can see the process that is usually hidden miles below the surface. The Tablelands, a flat-topped massif of orange-brown rock that looks more like Mars than Canada, are the best example, and almost nothing grows on them because the rock is toxic to most plants.
The Viking Trail, Route 430, which runs north along the coast to L'Anse aux Meadows, passes through the park and is the main road for riders. It is smooth and wide, with long views of the sea on one side and the mountains on the other, and it dips in and out of fishing villages with brightly painted houses. Bonne Bay, a fjord-like arm of the sea cut into the park, is crossed by the road, and Rocky Harbour and Norris Point on its shores have fuel, cafes and places to sleep. The fuel is the part worth planning, since distances on the island are large and stations in the park are few. Deer Lake, to the south, has the airport and a wider choice of services.
Weather is a character of its own. Fog rolls in from the Atlantic with no warning, wind can be fierce on the headlands, and rain showers sweep through even in summer, so the layers go on and off through the day. Moose were introduced to Newfoundland in the nineteenth century and now number in the hundreds of thousands. They stand in the road and walk out from the trees, particularly at dawn and dusk, and a collision is serious, so riding at night is unwise.
A boat trip on Western Brook Pond, a freshwater fjord cut off from the sea and enclosed by cliffs that rise six hundred metres, is among the best excursions, reached by a walk of about three kilometres over a boggy path. The fishing villages serve cod, mussels and lobster, and local bakeries sell partridgeberry jam and bread. The riding season is short, from about June to September, and the best months are July and August.