The Long Pond Hike in Pippy Park

Friday, July 7, 2023 

Hi Blog!

On Wednesday, we drove from Lumsden to St. John's. The drive was long, but uneventful. These past few days, we had noticed Dusty wasn't feeling well, so we scheduled an appointment with the local Jeep dealer in St. John's on Thursday. After a complete servicing, Dusty was given a clean bill of health. The rough idle was probably just some watery gas from one of the remote outports we had stayed in. 

We are excited to be back in St. John's in time for the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. The events start Friday evening. 

The last time we were in St. John's, we were so busy being tourists that we really didn't get a chance to explore Pippy Park where we are camped. So, Friday morning, we set out on a voyage of exploration. We planned a five mile hike around Long Pond.

Just across the street from the campground entrance is the Fluvarium. The word Fluvarium is derived from the latin root “fluv” meaning flowing water. Fluvarium literally means “windows on a stream,” and aptly describes the nine large viewing windows that allow guests a glimpse into a natural, freshwater habitat.

Since the Fluvarium wouldn't be open for several hours, we had to do our viewing from the surface of the stream. The bullfrogs were in fine form. We caught this fellow in mid croak.

The ducks were enjoying a quiet morning.

Small feeder streams keep Long Pond supplied with fresh water.

We couldn't resist climbing up the stairs next to one of the cascades. Once we reached the top, we turned around and looked back. The smell of fresh spruce is amazing.

We met several dog walkers on our trek. One lady in particular ended up walking with us for quite a while. She regaled us with stories of St. John's, and gave us lots of tips on where to shop and where to hike. We parted ways at the Pantry Cafe and Gardens. The restaurant is run by the ASNL (Autism Society of Newfoundland and Labrador). The proceeds help fund their programs.  We decided not to stop there and contribute our patronage because it was too early for lunch, and we had our sights set on the Botanical Gardens for lunch.

As we turned to continue up Mount Scio, we passed the Rotary Harmony Garden, which opened on October 6, 2010.  The garden, located next to the Elaine Dobbin Centre for Autism, contains giant, outdoor instruments. The Rotary Club of St. John's Northwest provided the funding for the project. Kathy was eager to try all the instruments.

Pippy Park is one of Canada's largest urban parks. The park contains 3,400 acres of land reserve, and a nature conservation and recreation area within minutes of the downtown St. John's.. Established in the early 1960s, Pippy Park has two golf courses, the largest campground in the province and miles and miles of hiking trails.

On the advice of our dogwalker friend, we decided to leave the Long Pond Loop Trail and head up Mount Scio and over to the Memorial University Botanical Gardens. But first, we needed to make it up and over the mountain. Lucky for us, the Newfies provide stairs!

We only stayed on the summit a few minutes, as we could see fog rolling in.

While it took a few months for spring to arrive, the flowers have wasted no time in springing to life.

Once we arrived at the botanical gardens, the first order of business was lunch. While we waited for our meals to arrive, we admired this quiggley fence. Since building materials are hard to come by, Newfies use whatever is handy. Willow branches between a couple of two by fours make a great fence.

The folks at the Botanical Gardens are very excited about the blue poppies. As it turns out, the Japanese Blue Poppy only blooms every other year. We just so happen to be visiting during their blooming year. Timing in life is everything.

The 110 acre Botanical Gardens property offers 3.5 km of nature trails, a large cultivated garden area with multiple themed gardens, a public greenhouse and an alpine house, special events, workshops, public art, camps, and so much more. We only had time to walk around the themed gardens.

Pictured below are just some of the amazing flowers that we saw.

We finished our garden tour and hiked our way back to Long Pond. By the time we got back to camp, we had walked over six miles. Luckily for us, all we had to do the rest of the day was sit in our camp chairs and enjoyed good folk music at the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival. More on that in our next blog!