2016/08 Newf'land trip - Barachois Pond |
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The highway took us back past Deer Lake, where we’d exited the Northern Peninsula a week earlier. We were now in the Long Range Mountains, the northern extension of the Appalachians, a scenic section with massive lakes between the peaks. We passed Cornerbrook, the island’s second largest city, and the highway there was lined with high moose fences.
At lunch time we pulled into Barachois Pond, another provincial park. This one looked more interesting with a backdrop of cliffs and 
mountains. “Find a campsite you like and come back and pay for it”, says the ranger. Except that by the time we drove back a couple of miles somebody else has just paid for it. Luckily we’d found two others that were OK. We found somewhere closer to park for now as we wanted to hike up to Mount Erin, far enough without the walk to and from the campsite.
The trail began as a nicely groomed slope to the first overlook, but soon became a mixture of rocky scrambles and wooden steps. This frog was on the trail.
Sandie counted 870 steps before we came out on the clifftop. The trail continued with steep ups and downs through chest-high shrubs with the occasional hidden root to give us excitement. We came out to a cairn and a lookout over the pond and the distant Gulf of St Lawrence. 
By now it was a rare hot and sunny afternoon. We’d met other hikers on the trail but now we had the mountain to ourselves. It was a long walk down and we were glad we’d parked nearby. Our campsite was dark under the trees but still pleasantly warm.