Trail · from Deer Lake (YDF)
Tablelands Off-Trail: the plateau traverse, measured
Serious undertaking
This is not the family walk below it. The route crosses unmarked serpentine barrens where you find your own way: no blazes or boardwalk, weather that closes in on an exposed plateau, and a descent to a different road-end than you started from. Parks Canada runs guided off-trail walks on this ground. Start the day at their Discovery Centre, and file a trip plan either way. The numbers on this page describe the land. They do not say go.
Parks Canada — Gros Morne guided experiences and Discovery Centre →
Scan with your phone to open this page there. Then tap Keep for offline before you lose signal.
- Mapped path
- 9 km one way
- 18 km there and back, unless you have arranged a lift at the far end.
- Climbing
- 501 m
- Every up added together; the highest point is 670 m.
- To the trailhead
- 71 km
Type of trail
Not confirmed
No park, town or trail guide we could find says whether this is a loop, an out and back or a point to point, so we don't guess. On the map its two ends are 1.22 km apart.
Walked it? Tell us which.
strenuousRated on the whole walk: 18 km there and back, about 1045 m of climbing. How
Access: the rating measures effort only. The map records the surface as earth 9.1 km. Step-free access isn't recorded; ask the park before you go. Easier access in Gros Morne, from Parks Canada →
Drive: 70.7 km from the Deer Lake (YDF) terminal to the trailhead — not the town. OSRM driving profile, terminal to the Tablelands Trail parking on Route 431, checked 2026-10-11 — then 2.0 km on foot up the marked trail to where this line begins.
The trail, measured
Tablelands Off-Trail (plateau): the mapped path is 9 km with 501 m of climbing, from 191 m up to 671 m. Walked back the other way, the same path climbs 541 m — downhill out is uphill home.
Every cited segment →
OpenStreetMap way/449547372 + way/449547373; elevation from AWS Open Data Terrarium tiles (z14), sampled ~30 m, ascent over a 3 m noise threshold.
Today's trail conditions and seasonal closures are Parks Canada's — check before you climb →Park bulletins →
Use another map app
Apple Maps · Google Maps · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeTake it on your phone or watch
Only useful with a hiking app or a GPS watch. Just heading to the start? Use the directions above.
Save the track for a hiking or watch app (GPX)- Garmin: import it as a Course in Garmin Connect, then send it to your watch.
- Apple Watch: open it in a route app that runs on the watch, such as WorkOutDoors or Footpath.
- Suunto, COROS, Polar: import it as a route in the watch's app, then sync.
- Phone, offline: open it in Organic Maps or OsmAnd and download the map area before you lose signal.
Just a file: no account, nothing tracked.
No recorded track yet.Walked it? Send yours →
Getting here
To Tablelands Trail far end — where the marked path stops from every airport and ferry, measured by road.
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
Wildlife people have reported within 10 km of Tablelands Trail far end — where the marked path stops, and the months they saw it. Tap a name for everywhere else on our drives it turns up.
- Northern gannetseabirdMorus bassanusReports cluster in August, July, May42 reports on record
Reports, not counts: busy harbours report more. No sighting is promised, and the list covers only the species we look up. Source: GBIF, the international record of wildlife sightings, checked 2026-10-07.
Eating, when you come off
Places to eat within 25 km by road of the trailhead, nearest first. 1 of 10 has a confirmed position.
- The Shed20 Cox's Ln · (709) 453-72244.4 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
- The Old Loft Restaurant8 Water St · (709) 453-22944.5 kmDirections →
Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Galliott Studios and Cafe8 Water St · (709) 638-24094.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
- Merchant Warehouse Retro Cafe and Wine Bar16 Water St · (709) 453-24164.5 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
- The Chocolate Moose Bakery & CafeTableland Drive, Birchy Head (upstairs at Roy Young Ltd, watch for the big Moose!) · (709) 458-85299.8 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
- Seaside Restaurant263 Main St · (709) 451-346113 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
- Riverside Takeout Trout RiverMain Steet · (709) 451-320714 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
- Blue Whale Convenience & Diner93 Main St14 kmunconfirmed — go by the address
No opening hours: the map data for these places has none. Phone ahead. Built 2026-10-11.
No photo yet. Walked it? Send yours.
The mapped Tablelands Trail below this page is 2.0 km of boardwalk and gravel anyone can walk. This page is the other thing: the “Off Trail Hike” line OpenStreetMap carries beyond the marked path’s end (relation 15976461, drawn by someone who walked it). It runs 9.0 measured kilometres up onto the plateau and down the far side.
Read the profile first. It starts with a steady 430-metre climb off the marked trail’s end to the 670-metre plateau, crosses four kilometres of near-level barrens, then makes a long 480-metre descent to a different point on the marked trail. You need no shuttle: the line rejoins the marked Tablelands Trail 0.7 km above the parking, so the day is a loop from the car. That is 2.0 km up the boardwalk to where this line begins, 9.0 km over the top, and 0.7 km of the same boardwalk back down. Both ends are on the Route 431 side; the Bonne Bay water shuttle plays no part. (The marked trail is OpenStreetMap ways 349593018, 500283888, 500283889 and 500283892, stitched and measured 2026-09-06: 2.0 km from the parking to the off-trail start, 0.7 km from the parking to where the line rejoins it.)
Take the advisory above seriously. The Tablelands are serpentine rock where almost nothing grows and nothing marks the way. In cloud, common on a 670-metre plateau ten kilometres from salt water, the barrens give you no edges to navigate by. Parks Canada guides walk this ground for a living. Go with them, or with skills equal to theirs. The numbers here describe the land; whether to go is your call and the park’s.
The full drive from Deer Lake (YDF), with stops and moose notes →
Measured September 6, 2026. Trailhead: OpenStreetMap relation/15976461 — the off-trail line's start at the marked trail's end.