foundland
had to be some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen on an
island. After staying in any number of crowded urban areas, going
to someplace like Newfoundland is like opening a door and letting
your spirit breathe. Even for those of us who were born and bred
in a city setting, being among nothing but trees and animals and
beautiful lakes is a real experience. As I had mentioned earlier
we left our 5th wheel in storage in Nova Scotia and were staying
in bed and breakfasts in Newfoundland. Fortunately, these were in
abundance on the island. Seems like everywhere we went we saw
B&B's even more so than hotels or motels. We were told by
many that we could not miss seeing Gros Morne National Park when
we got near the north-west corner of Newfoundland. After arriving
there we could certainly see 
why. One of the trails that we opted to take was
the Western Brook Pond Trail. This area has been made famous by a
picture of a man standing on the crest of a very large hill at
the end of the boat ride through the Western Brook Pond. It is
possible (not for little ole me) to take the boat to the end of
the pond and hike out on your own. This trip back takes about 3
days of backpacking. Definitely not for the faint of heart (or
should that be feet?). As we were walking back to our car after
going down to the visitors center, we encountered a couple who
were just coming back from such a trip. The lady mentioned that
her feet had swollen up so badly that she couldn't take her shoes
off the last night they slept out because she was afraid she
wouldn't be able to get them back on. We chatted with them as we
walked along the path together. They were a delightful couple
from another part of Canada who had flown in just to
"bush-whack" in Gros
Morne. Bushwhacking means that they would not
necessarily follow a path cut into the wilderness by the Park,
but would cut their own path. They were armed with the necessary
navigation equipment, but unfortunately the topo-maps available
for that area of Canada are very limited compared with what you
can obtain in the U.S. As a result it is possible to get lost
very easily. When Bob and I decided that we would travel
full-time to see North America my idea of roughing it was a less
than 4 star hotel. His idea was a nice tent and sleeping bag.
RESULT: our 5th wheel. We call it roughing it smoothly. After
checking out some of the scenery in Gros Morne we decided to find
a place to stay for the night and ended up in a small town called
"Cow Head". Yup, that's what 
I said. Cow Head. Well, it seems that Cow Head
had a motel in the town that ran a B&B as well. We checked
into their B&B for the night and found that we had one other
couple staying there with us. As we were checking in we saw a
sign advertising the Gros Morne Theatre Festival. We found out
this was a series of several different plays given in various
theatres in the Gros Morne area. As luck would have it, the motel
we were checking into was also serving as a dinner theatre and
would be having a play that very night. Unfortunately I have
become a little jaded in my travels and thought to myself,
"I'll bet this is going to be a very amateurish
production." Well, I couldn't have been more mistaken. The
dinner theatre production was put on by drama and music students
from all over the country. They came to Newfoundland in the
summer to enhance their skills. The production was about the
sinking of the S.S. Ethie in 1919. It seems
that the ill-fated vessel sailed out of Cow Head
on December 10th, 1919. The ship was a passenger ship that also
carried supplies for the people of the island. Several hours
after the Ethie left port a terrible storm struck. Captain
English who was piloting the ship had to make the decision of
what to do at this time. Did they turn back and run the risk of
crashing on the rocks? or did they try to ride the storm out at
sea? For fourteen hours the brave crew battled the forces of
nature and quickly found themselves running low on fuel. Finally,
the storm lessened and they were able to see a point of land
where they might be able to get close enough to shore to get help
and get the passengers and crew off. The actual rescue has many
variations. The one that they used in the play and that I thought
was particularly romantic was that the people on shore saw that
the ship was in trouble and had gathered on the shore. The ship
attempted to shoot a lifeline to shore in hopes that they could
use
a boatswain's chair to evacuate the passengers and crew, but ALAS
the rope fell short. There was no way that anyone on the shore
could go out into the pounding surf to recover the rope, but one
of the spectators on the shore had a massive Newfoundland dog who
jumped into the water with no hesitation, grabbed the rope in his
mouth and brought it to shore so it could be secured. After this
it was only a matter of getting the passengers and crew off the
ship. The wreckage of the S.S. Ethie can still be seen where they
came ashore halfway between Cow Head and Bonne Bay. The
production was one of the finest I have seen. What was really
unique about the dinner theatre is that the actors became the
waiters and 
waitresses before the show and during the
intermissions. They ended up doing the serving in the actual
costumes and characters that they played during the play. It was
fascinating! The next day we went out to the shoreline to see
what was left of the S.S. Ethie, but unfortunately nature and
scaavengers had both taken their toll on the grand old ship and
little was left of her except the boiler and some of the hull.
Whatever the truth of the rescue was, the production was well
done and left us with still another view of Newfoundland. We
really enjoyed our time in Gros Morne and would highly recommend
it to anyone who loves to commune with nature. It is truly one of
the unspoiled wilderness areas in North America and allows you to
get close to nature and her creatures.If you would like more information on Gros Morne and other parks in Canada, just log on to their website at: http://www.parkscanada.gc.ca.