Trail · from Deer Lake (YDF)

The Gros Morne Mountain Trail

Mapped path: 12.1 km; One way — the two ends lie 3.27 km apart, so the way back is this path again unless you have arranged a lift.
Climbing: 837 m
To the trailhead: 49 min

challengingderived: 12.1 km + 837 m of climb ≈ 18.8 effective km — the rule is stated in code, not opinion

Drive: 64.5 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: 12.1 km, 837 m of climb — the line is coloured by elevation, green at 17 m up to red at 807 m.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

The trail, measured

Gros Morne Mountain Trail: the mapped path is 12.1 km with 837 m of climbing, from 17 m up to 807 m. How long that takes is yours to know; what it climbs is not a matter of opinion.

to ~8% grade8–15%steepervertical stretched ~3×

Every cited segment →

OpenStreetMap way/1018931462 + way/420891004 + way/1018931463 + way/1018931467 + way/1018931466 + way/1018931465 + way/1018931464 + way/1018931461 + way/168941770 + way/168941775 + way/168941772 + way/168941768 + way/168941769 + way/168941773 + way/1434980375 + way/355574182 + way/1018932299 + way/1018932298; 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

49 min from Deer Lake — 64.5 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 Gros Morne Mountain 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, June491 reports on record
Minke whalewhaleBalaenoptera acutorostrataReports cluster in July, June, May30 reports on record
Atlantic puffinseabirdFratercula arcticaReports cluster in August, December, January9 reports on record
Fin whalewhaleBalaenoptera physalusReports cluster in July, October2 reports on record
Humpback whalewhaleMegaptera novaeangliaeReports cluster in June1 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. 2 of 20 have positions two independent maps agree on.

Whales Back Grub Hub Sallys Cove Country StyleRoute 430, Village Crafts & Snack Shack Sally, NL A0K 4Z01 min · 1.4 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Fisherman's Landing Restaurant2129 W Link Rd · (709) 458-27116 min · 6.9 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Buoy & Arrow Restaurant and Suites(709) 458-34006 min · 7.2 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Oceans Room Restaurantgros morne national park, Morne National Park, 42 Main St S #38 · (709) 458-27306 min · 7.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Anchor Pub42 Main St N · (800) 563-98876 min · 7.6 kmnavigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · Waze
Sunset Restaurant24 Main St N · (709) 451-32006 min · 7.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
SunSet Cafe & Gift Shoppe24 Main St N · (709) 458-28076 min · 7.6 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
Fisherman's Landing RestaurantMain St N · (709) 458-20606 min · 7.4 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 Gros Morne Mountain Trail: 64.5 km, about 49 min by road.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

This is the island’s second-highest peak and the park’s namesake, and the numbers deserve respect before the view gets any: 12.1 km of mapped trail, 837 measured metres of ascent, topping out at 807 m on a plateau with its own weather. Parks Canada closes the summit route in spring for the caribou and calls the gully section serious — their trail page, not this one, carries the season’s status, and the mountain is a full day by any honest arithmetic.

The drive is the easy part: 49 minutes from the YDF terminal to the trailhead parking off Route 430. Every path segment is cited above; what the plateau is doing when you get there is between you, the forecast and the park.

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/1018931462 — the trail's start off Route 430.