Gros Morne National Park is a world heritage site located on the west coast of Newfoundland. At 1,805 km2 (697 sq mi), it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada (surpassed by Torngat Mountains National Park at 9,600 km2/3,700 sq mi).

The park takes its name from Newfoundland’s second-highest mountain peak (at 2,644 ft/806 m) located within the park. Its French meaning is “large mountain standing alone,” or more literally “great sombre.” Gros Morne is a member of the Long Range Mountains, an outlying range of the Appalachian Mountains, stretching the length of the island’s west coast. It is the eroded remnants of a mountain range formed 1.2 billion years ago. “The park provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth’s mantle lie exposed.”

The Gros Morne National Park Reserve was established in 1973. It wasn’t until October 1, 2005 that the National Parks Act was applied to the reserve, thereby making it a Canadian National Park.