Gravels Walking Trail in Port au Port, Newfoundland

Like the Skerwink Trail in Port Rexton, NL or the Middle Head Trail in Ingonish, Cape Breton, the Gravels Walking Trail in Port au Port, NL is noted for its striking views.  It's not far from where we are camped in Corner Brook, so we took a gorgeous day to drive over and take the hike.

The trail begins on an isthmus that connects the Port au Port Peninsula with the mainland.  It is believed that Jacques Cartier landed on this beach in 1534, but the settlers here are predominantly English, not French:

In 1951, a flood covered this beach and severed the Port au Port Peninsula from the mainland, destroying the buildings that were located here; but, as is evident, the beach was rebuilt, and it certainly looks, from the stone piled along the causeway, that the residents are serious about avoiding the 1951 disaster again.

As with the locations for most of our hikes, the Port au Port Peninsula is located on the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains that run along Newfoundland's western coast - here called the Long Range Mountains. The Lewis Hills, a formation of peridotite (former Earth mantle that was heaved up on top of the Appalachians and stranded there millenia ago when North America separated from Europe), lie to the northwest of this location. The Lewis Hills are part of the same formation as the Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park, which we hiked when we were staying at Deer Lake.

This area was at one time called, "Aguathuna" (meaning "white stone") in the local indigenous Beothuk language.  The name "white stone" arises from the limestone and gypsum formation evident along the shoreline.  More on that later.

The trail starts gently, inviting leisurely exploration:

Within a quarter mile, we started to realize, however, that we were not in Kansas anymore.  The rock formations hinted to us that we would be seeing some new sights:

The coves were gorgeous, with crystal-clear, blue-green water lapping happily onto gravelled or rocky shores, with steep cliffs capped by spruce, tamarck and birch trees:

Summer is ("finally!", as the locals will hasten to add) in full flower.  We'll indulge ourselves to include some of our flower photos so you get an idea what blossoms here in Newfoundland:

These new tamarack (aspen) cones aren't wildflowers, but their rich scarlet/purple colors were very striking as they swayed gently in the breeze along our trail:

Perhaps the stars of the wildflower show were the ladyslippers that popped up trailside along the way:

Another cove, in case you didn't get enough with the last one.  Be assured that there were many more we didn't include:

This view back along the coast from where we had hiked shows a series of rocky points, some interesting rock formation, and a little tuckamore (windblown krumholz or dwarf tree) that couldn't resist echoing the shoreline above him:

About halfway along our trail, the trail joined a gravel road, and where we crossed drainages, some superb, primitively engineered walking bridges helped us on our way.  No vehicles are allowed on these (but we believe that the people who maintain the trail do drive ATV's over them):

Our destination for this hike was the abandoned limestone (gypsum?) mine at Jack of Clubs Cove, which was built by the Dominion Iron and Steel Company in 1911.  Our first view of the quarry site looked like a scene from some post-apocalyptic movie, with rusted hulks strewn about a huge, flat, quarried area, covered in what looked like snow from a distance but was actually small granules of limestone or gypsum:

Fragments remain of what look like they were massive structures:

Piles of gypsum were left standing, as if the owners just woke up one morning and left:

This looks like some Stonehenge monument to space and time:

This structure perched out near the edge of the cliff, which prompted us to wonder how the powdered limestone/gypsum was transported out:

We later learned that huge ships pulled up to a massive dock alongside this cliff and were loaded from here.  Bound for North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the limestone was used in the company's steel making.

On our return hike, we took a side trail to the top of the hill to visit Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church --

-- whose former rectory houses a museum of local history.  It was here that we learned the history of the limestone mine and that this community had been formerly named Aguathuna.

All in all, we got a lot more than we bargained for on this hike.  Yes, we got beautiful coastal scenery, but we got heavy doses of geology, wildflowers, history, a cool abandoned mine, and another unique and beautiful church.  The only thing we didn't get was a lighthouse -- but don't worry, that will come shortly.