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Trail · from Deer Lake (YDF)

The Green Gardens Trail

Mapped path
4.6 km
One way — the two ends lie 2.75 km apart, so the way back is this path again unless you have arranged a lift.
Climbing
88 m
To the trailhead
1h 10m

easyderived: 4.6 km + 88 m of climb ≈ 5.3 effective km — the rule is stated in code, not opinion

Drive: 79.8 km from the Deer Lake (YDF) terminal door to the trailhead — not the town. OSRM driving profile, terminal door to the trailhead, checked 2026-09-03.

The trail itself: 4.6 km, 88 m of climb — the line is coloured by elevation, green at 8 m up to red at 255 m.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

The trail, measured

Green Gardens Trail: the mapped path is 4.6 km with 88 m of climbing, from 8 m up to 255 m. Walked back the other way, the same path climbs 300 m — downhill out is uphill home. How long that takes is yours to know; what it climbs is not a matter of opinion.

01002003000 km1234
to ~8% grade8–15%steepervertical stretched ~4×

Every cited segment →OpenStreetMap way/137401716; elevation from AWS Open Data Terrarium tiles (z14), sampled ~30 m, ascent over a 3 m noise threshold.
The shape is the fact worth reading: a climb that descends to a different low is a loop, not an out-and-back.

terrain from open elevation data — the same source as the profile above

Today's trail conditions and seasonal closures are Parks Canada's — check before you climb →Park bulletins →

Drive it with your own nav:Organic Maps →OsmAnd →Apple →Google →Waze →The first two run on OpenStreetMap and don't track you — the same map this site is built from.

Download the GPX → works in Organic Maps, OsmAnd, Garmin and Strava alike — it's just a file, no account, nothing tracked.

No one has sent a recording of this walk yet.Be the first — send the track →

Getting here

  • 1h 10m from Deer Lake — 79.8 km to the trailhead.

The measured drive is YDF → Gros Morne (Rocky Harbour) — 2 stops on it, with the road numbers, the surface and where to eat along it.

What has been recorded near here

Species reported within 50 km of Green Gardens trailhead and shared to GBIF, the international record of species occurrences. The useful column is when — the months the reports cluster in.

  • Northern gannetseabirdMorus bassanusReports cluster in August, July, June543 reports on record
  • Minke whalewhaleBalaenoptera acutorostrataReports cluster in July, June, May34 reports on record
  • Atlantic puffinseabirdFratercula arcticaReports cluster in August, October, December11 reports on record
  • Fin whalewhaleBalaenoptera physalusReports cluster in October, May, July10 reports on record
  • Humpback whalewhaleMegaptera novaeangliaeReports cluster in July, August, October3 reports on record

What this is not

  • Not how many there are. A report means somebody looked, saw and wrote it down. A busy harbour with tour boats reports more than an empty coast with the same animals in it.
  • Not a sighting you are promised. Nothing here says you will see one.
  • Not complete. Only species we ask GBIF about appear, and only where somebody reported them.

From GBIF, queried 2026-09-14 — their record, not a copy of it.

Eating, when you come off

Everything the open map data records within 20 minutes' drive of the trailhead, measured by road and ordered by nothing but how long it takes to reach. 1 of 10 has a position two independent maps agree on.

  • Seaside Restaurant263 Main St · (709) 451-34615 min · 4.2 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
  • Riverside Takeout Trout RiverMain Steet · (709) 451-32075 min · 4.4 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
  • Knead Pizza?101 Main St · (709) 451-21015 min · 4.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
  • Blue Whale Convenience & Diner93 Main St5 min · 4.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
  • The Outback Restaurant + Pub31 Main St · (709) 931-28406 min · 5.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
  • The Shed20 Cox's Ln · (709) 453-722414 min · 13.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
  • The Old Loft Restaurant8 Water St · (709) 453-229414 min · 13.6 kmnavigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · Waze
  • Galliott Studios and Cafe8 Water St · (709) 638-240914 min · 13.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address

No opening hours anywhere on this site, for anywhere — the open data holds none, which is an absence in the source rather than caution on our part. The telephone number is the only reliable answer to whether a kitchen is serving. Built 2026-09-14.

No photograph yet — the profile and the map are the honest visuals until someone who has walked it sends theirs.

Getting to the trailhead — Deer Lake (YDF) to the start of the Green Gardens Trail: 79.8 km, about 1h 10m by road.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

The trick of Green Gardens is in the profile above: it starts at 255 m on the Tablelands’ barren shoulder and walks DOWN to meadows, sea stacks and cliff-top pasture at the water — which means the 300 measured metres of climbing happen on the way home, when your legs already think the day is done. Budget for that honestly and it is one of the park’s great walks; forget it and the last hour writes the trip report.

4.6 mapped kilometres each way, every segment cited, trailhead 70 minutes from the YDF door on Route 431 past the Tablelands themselves — this page pairs naturally with the Tablelands trail for one day on the strangest rock the island owns.

The full drive, with stops, moose notes and road links: the Deer Lake (YDF) route this trail hangs off →

Measured September 3, 2026. Trailhead: OpenStreetMap way/137401716 — trail start off Route 431.