Community hiking trails to try in Trout River- Gros Morne Nat'l Park

by Keith and Heather Nicol

    The next day (Sunday, September 29) the weather was again perfect for enjoying the out of doors so we decided to head to the nearby community of Trout River to check out their community hiking trails which we had never fully explored. We stopped at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre to get a map of the park and talk to the staff about some of the trails in the Trout River area. We headed first to the Hummock Trail which is located on the right just as you are entering the community. There is a large parking area with picnic tables and this trail climbs steeply for 200 meters to a lookout back to Trout River pond and toward the community of Trout River. 

Stop at the Discovery Centre near Woody Point to get information and see the displays

      From there we headed to the Eastern Point Trail (21 U 0418761 E and 5481830 N) which is located at the northeast side of the community. There is a small parking lot and you need to walk through someone’s yard to reach the trail which starts off very steeply up a series of steps. Once the top of the terrace is reached the trail levels off and then travels toward the headland. Hikers will get good views of the rugged shoreline as well as good views back to Trout River. This trail is about 1.2 km long and ends at cliff at 21 U 0418501 E and 5482760 N. 

Heather near the start of the Eastern Point Trail

 Next up was the Lighthouse-Old Man’s Trail which is on the western side of Trout River and you need to take the bridge to the trailhead at 21 U 0418042 E 5481221 N. Like the preceding trail, this one also climbs steeply up stairs to the top of the terrace but then is mostly flat to the light. This 800 meter trail also has very good vistas of Trout River and the fishing boats as well as of the rugged coastline. There is a 140 meter side trail to the Old Man which is a pinnacle shaped rock formed when sea levels were higher at the close of the last ice age. 

The colourful fishing buildings of Trout River make for great photos from the Lighthouse Trail

    For our picnic lunch we headed to the Parks Canada day use area at scenic Trout River Pond.  Before heading back to Corner Brook, we drove to one of our favourite lookouts in this area which provides an excellent view of Trout River Pond. The coordinates of the lookout are: 21 U 0418535 E and 5479155 N. There is still lots of good hiking left this fall so plan a trip to see the fall colours. 

The Trout River Pond viewpoint is one of our favourites