Newfoundland & Labrador Online News

Trail Length: 900 km
% Registered : 98%
% Complete: 40%

The Trans Canada Trail through Newfoundland follows the abandoned CN rail line of the Newfoundland Railway from Channel-Port aux Basques on the Island’s west coast, to St. John’s on the east coast. The Trail is 900 km in length and, with the exception of a stretch between Deer Lake and Corner Brook (which was claimed for the expansion of the highway), it is continuous.

To travel the Trail is to step into the past. The first train (affectionately called the Newfie Bullet) crossed the Island in 1898 and the last ran in 1988 – and that’s when they began removing the tracks and ties. Reminders of the era are everywhere. There are relic and restored train stations, a few with museums and several with old trains. En route there are many ghost-like communities; small quiet remnants of former lively, prosperous times. The Trans Canada Trail through Newfoundland is not just a Trail, it is a long strand of Island history.

Heading north form Channel-Port aux Basques, the Trans Canada Trail travels along high coastal cliffs at the base of the Long Range Mountains. Where the Trail veers inland it enters the lush Codroy Valley and streaks through bog and alder grove. At Robinsons, high trestles span deep, wide rivers and at St. George’s, the Trail touches the coast again before crossing the mouth of St. George’s River.

Heading inland again, the Trail follows the watershed of Harry’s River to the cottage-studded shore of Georges Lake before pressing through the Long Range Mountains to Corner Brook.

From Deer Lake, the Trail steers east and skirts Grand Lake towards the Topsails Plateau. At Badger, the Trail runs alongside the largest and longest river in the province, the mighty Exploits. From there it meanders its way to the high, forested Gander Plateau.

Gambo features the geological spectacle of the Dover Fault and turning south the Trail streaks through boreal forest to the glacier gouged fiords near Clarenville. Across the Isthmus of Avalon and into the Avalon Peninsula it makes its way to St. John’s and to its end at St. John’s Harbour.

Before any segment of Trail can be built, the land on which the Trail will be built must be duly registered with the Trans Canada Trail. To register a segment of Trail with the Foundation, the group must provide letters of permission from the landowners to use their land as part of the Trans Canada Trail. In most cases, the percentage of Trail registration is higher than the percentage of Trail complete, which means that the land on which the Trail will be built has been identified but the construction of Trail is not yet complete.

The organization responsible for planning and promoting the development of the Trans Canada Trail through the province is the Newfoundland T’Railway Council. In 1997, the entire railbed (owned by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador) was declared a Provincial Park, making it the longest, narrowest park in the world!

Newfoundland is not a heavily populated province. It has three large cities and a total population of about 540,000 residents, just under half of whom live on the Avalon Penninsula. Elsewhere, the majority live in coastal communities. As a result, the Trans Canada Trail winds its way through a great deal of interior wilderness and therein lays its spectacular, natural, beauty.

Canada's youngest province - once England's oldest colony - is often affectionately known as The Rock. Of course it's Newfoundland. It's also as far east as you can go on the Trans Canada Trail. When completed, the Trail in Newfoundland will be 900 kilometres of which 885 kilometres or 98% has already been registered. One of the great experiences of hiking in Newfoundland is the Gros Morne National Park. Located on the island's west coast, Gros Morne was created thousands of years ago by the grinding action of glaciers on the ancient Long Range Mountains. This prehistoric grinding has left a spectacular and varied beauty so superb that it has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hikers are stunned by its awesome beauty where rugged mountains, ocean vista and calm fjords stop hikers in their tracks. Barren mountain ridges and tundralike slopes dramatically contrast with forested foothills and boggy coastal plains.

And the park teams with wildlife. Marten inhabit dense forest areas and moose,arctic hare and caribou can often be observed. Terns, ospreys and gulls abound along the coast and ptarmigan typify the variety of bird life of the heathlands and barrens. Areas are sprinkled with mosses, colourful lichens and pitcher plant, the province's official flower.

There are all kinds of trails suited to individual abilities and Gros Morne has two attractive and informative visitor centres where you can obtain a detailed user's guide of the park. For more information on Gros Morne, you can visit their web site at www.grosmorne.pch.gc.ca.

The Trans Canada Trail is a national path that can lead Canadians to the many natural and majestic wonders of our land. Gros Morne is one of them.

Once fully developed the Newfoundland T'Railway will have substantial economic benefits. Based on surveys of trail users in other areas, a conservative estimate of the expenditures generated on trail related equipment (e.g. snowmobiles, ATV's, bicycles, skis), clothing (e.g boots snowmobile suits) and accessories (e.g helmets, guide books, knapsacks) is $200 per person per year. Based on 80,000 users, this will amount to some $16 million annually for the province's retail sector.