Parking
Western Brook Pond parking lot on Route 430, about 27 km north of Rocky Harbour; follow the gravel main trail to and from the shoreline loop.
Overview
About Western Brook Pond Trail: Scenic Loop
Why go
- A low-grade walk to a memorable fjord shoreline
Heads up
- The shoreline loop comes after a roughly 1.9 km approach
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Gros Morne map
Full mapElevation17–35 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
3 active Gros Morne alerts
- ClosureGreen Gardens and Wallace Brook trail sections closedDo not enter the closed sections of the Green Gardens and Wallace Brook trails.Official details
- CautionStuckless Pond Trail bridge outDo not use the Stuckless Pond Trail at the stream crossing. - The bridge is out, and Parks Canada says trail use is not recommended at this time because of high water levels at the stream crossing.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Gros Morne Tour Guide
Your drive to Western Brook Pond Trail: Scenic Loop, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Gros Morne National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Western Brook Pond and the Fjord0:00 / 0:38
“You're coming up on the Western Brook Pond trailhead. Reaching the water takes a roughly six-kilometre return walk on a mostly level gravel path through bog and forest, so this isn't a quick roadside view.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Gros Morne Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Bog’s Insect Hunters
- Why the Fjord Is Fresh
- How Moose Made Meadows
- Western Brook Beach
- 87 audio storiesacross Gros Morne’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Moose, Caribou, Black Bear, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 25 trails, 58 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Western Brook Pond Trail: Scenic Loop
The circuitThis easy 3.9-mile (6.3 km) circuit starts at the Western Brook Pond parking lot.
This easy 3.9-mile (6.3 km) circuit starts at the Western Brook Pond parking lot. A gravel approach crosses coastal bog and forested ridges to a bank-side loop; then the route retraces the approach to the car. Allow 1–2 hours. Parks Canada lists the scenic loop itself at 1.8 km; the longer total here includes the approach and return, measured along the mapped paths. It gains about 42 metres.
By the waterInterpretive signs mark the lowland landscape, and the loop reaches the bank of Western Brook…
Interpretive signs mark the lowland landscape, and the loop reaches the bank of Western Brook near the start of the Snug Harbour route. Here a glacier-carved, landlocked fjord sits below steep cliffs; waterfalls from ponds on the plateau may fade into mist before reaching the water. This is a shoreline walk, not the separate guided gorge-rim hike reached by boat.
Access and dogsFind the trailhead at Western Brook Pond parking lot on Route 430, 27 km north of Rocky Harbour.
Find the trailhead at Western Brook Pond parking lot on Route 430, 27 km north of Rocky Harbour. Dogs must stay leashed in the park and cannot join the Western Brook Pond boat tour. Washrooms, a canteen and picnic areas are at the boat dock beyond this loop, not along its bank-side section.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Gros Morne
252 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
120 sightingsCaribouMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
22 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
61 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
11 sightingsCommon Minke WhaleMost seen around noonSighting map
70 sightingsHarbor SealMost seen around noonSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Gros Morne. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
