Report of the Arthur Casement party August 7 - 11, 2003   We originally intended to do both the North Rim and Long Range Traverse all in one shot, last year, in July 2002. However, with a combination of bad navigation, leading to some unfortunate experiences with Tuckamore, and some really bad weather - not to mention the Black flies and Mosquitos - we had to bail out, climb down the gorge, and take the boat tour back, leaving the Long Range traverse uncompleted. Over the next 6 months or so after returning, the feeling of not completing the job started to weigh on us and we decided to go back and finish the Long Range this year. Armed with the lessons learned from last year's ordeal we set out on our hike on Aug. 7. The first day we had amazing weather, and since we had previous experience in the gorge (we did have to do one backtrack though) we got to Little Island Pond just before 5 p.m. (the boat tour dropped us off at about 9:45). One thing I noticed in your webpage is that the ranger told you to stick to a bearing while in the gorge. Ours didn't say that at all - he told us to follow the stream up the gorge or at least be on a trail that was always within ear-shot of the stream. After doing the gorge twice now, in both directions, I would suggest this is the best way. The second day was supposed to be the easiest day but with sore legs from the first day it seemed to be the worst day. One of the lessons learned from last year was get an early start! There is nothing worse then setting up camp in the dark. We got to Hardings Pond just after noon, set up camp and relaxed the rest of the day. After recharging our batteries we were ready for the very technical third day. Rain and some fog made the hike a little interesting but by mid-day the fog had burned off and we got to the Green Island Pond campsite - the best campsite - by 1:30 p.m. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the waterfall and watching caribou wander by the campsite. One thing I'd like to recommend is swimming in the waterfall just to the north of the campsite! Later in the evening the dreaded fog rolled back in and would be the story for our fourth day. The fourth day was nothing but fog and rain. Our plan was to camp at the Ferry Gulch campsite and summit Gros Morne. The most difficult part of the hike came as we were about to descend down into the Gulch. We met up with some hikers who were trying the same thing. They explained how they tried to find the way down and our mistake was that we listened to them. We were having such a great hike until we met up with them... In the end we decided to follow a game trail down into the Gulch - obviously the wrong one because there was nothing but tuckamore and, as we got lower, dense forest all the way to Ferry Gulch Campsite. By this time, after rain, fog, and tuckamore, we had decided not to camp and to head for the cars - leaving the Gros Morne part of our hike, one minor part of our hike, unfinished... One thing I want to point out is this year the bugs were no where near as bad as last year! If you would like to see pictures of our hike, one of the people I went with has it posted on his website. He left out some of the other good pictures, but, just like my brief explanation above, it'll give you an idea of our hike. I'm the one in the orange in the first couple of pictures. Our updated navigation tools, for the hike, included a Garmin GPS receiver. I had it 'on' the whole time recording our every move (it also helped us navigate) so here is just a highlight of what I downloaded from it when I got back home: Total distance hiked: 41.6 km Day 1: Distance: 8.9km Highest Elevation: 1954 ft (596 m) Lowest Elevation: 82 ft (25 m) Day 2: Distance: 9.3 km Highest Elevation: 2055 ft (626 m) Lowest Elevation: 1536 ft (468 m) Day 3: Distance: 8.3 km Highest Elevation: 2333 ft (711 m) Lowest Elevation: 1513 ft (461 m) Day 4: Distance: 15.1 km Highest Elevation: 2386 ft (727 m) Lowest Elevation: 68 ft (21 m) Mr. Casement lives in Toronto, Canada. Comment on this page Web Design by InkFist.Com © 2003.