ECT Series: Sugarloaf Path

December 8, 2021November 18, 2021 / Maria / 1 Comment

I’m going to kick off my East Coast Trail series with a post about the Sugarloaf Path, which runs from Logy Bay to Quidi Vidi. It’s the most accessible trail from St. John’s and has many beautiful views along the coast, though it is rated as difficult on the ECT website.

From my experience, the website slightly overestimates trail lengths and this 8.9km trail tracked as 8.5km on my GPS when I did it. Personally I don’t think it’s a very difficult trail, certainly it’s well maintained and easy to navigate, but there are two climbs throughout the trail, which is what I think contributes to the “difficult” rating. You can do the trail in either direction, the difficulty is approximately the same either way, with both directions starting with a big climb. I’ve done the trail twice, both times starting at the Ocean Science Center in Logy Bay and ending in Quidi Vidi. I like this direction because you end with a beautiful view looking down into the gut. But, the view into Logy Bay is also gorgeous, so you can’t go wrong with either direction!

Like I said, from the Ocean Science Center, the hike starts with a climb up to the top of the bluff. I don’t find it too bad and often hike up and back just for the view. It’s a great area for blueberry picking in the Fall, but popular and often picked clean. There’s a great view down into Logy Bay from Devil’s Point and looking out towards Cape Spear at Sugarloaf Head, which is the highest point on the hike. After that, it’s a pretty gradual descent through the trees around Robin Hood Bay.

Robin Hood Bay is the only real downside of this hike. For those from St. John’s, you’ll know that this is the location of the town dump. In past years, this has created a lot of debris and plastic garbage that’s blown across the trail, but thanks to a ban on plastic bags and capping at the landfill, I couldn’t believe how much the trail was improved on my last hike here in July 2021. I visited with Sean and my Mom and we were quite impressed with how much nicer the trail is through this section now!

You reach Small Point at around the halfway point in the trail, breaking out of the trees into a gorgeous meadow! It has beautiful views and makes for a great place to stop for lunch, which is what we did on our visit. The East Coast Trail is a trail that definitely benefits from nice weather. The first time I did the trail was in 2013 with Seth and it was a super foggy day, meaning that we could barely even see the ocean, despite being right next to it. On this visit, we started in the fog, but it quickly cleared out and we had a lovely view of the Atlantic from Small Point, it was honestly like a completely different trail for me!

There’s an old bunker located along the cliffside in this stretch, which Sean informed us was an old lookout for U-boats and that there are many of them scattered along the trail (he works for Parks Canada). We did a little bit of poking around, but it’s dug out of the cliffside and the ladder is busted, so I wouldn’t recommend going inside. We got lucky though and saw a bunch of whales fishing off the coast while we were hiking along the exposed sections.

After Small Point, the trail meanders in and out of the woods. We could still hear the whales spouting while we were in the trees and then every now and then we would pop out of the trees to catch up with them. There’s a nice little river crossing at Bobbies Cove, shortly after which you reach an old road, which is the low elevation point on the hike. You start the second climb of the trail after that; it is a bit steep, but like most of the ECT, there are stairs on this section, so you can just take your time and it doesn’t take too long to get back up to the top of the bluff.

Shortly after Boulder’s Cove, you reach the top of the climb and have the most gorgeous view looking down towards Quidi Vidi. Then it’s only a short walk back down towards the gut. Pay close attention to the trail markers in this section though – it’s frequented by mountain bikers, so there are a lot of other paths crisscrossing the ECT. It is easier to follow the path up from the other direction, which is one of the benefits of doing the path in reverse. It looks like any of the paths should get you down, but there is one tricky section where there’s a bit of a ravine and only one path across, so if you get off the official ECT, you might miss it and then have to climb back up. Me and Seth got super lost when we did it, but we knew to pay attention when I did it with Sean and Mom and we didn’t have any problems.

The fun thing about the ECT is because NL is so rocky and barren, you often have to look down for trail markers, which are affixed directly to the rock. Watch for arrows engraved and painted in the rock, or the wooden trail stakes, which are painted striped black and white. The universal symbol along the trail for the ECT is a white triangle.

Eventually you reach the end of the trail along Cadet Road, right before the village. You can leave a second car parked along the road, otherwise you’ll have to go back to Logy Bay or get picked up. The trail ends right next to the Plantation and Brewery, so check out the local artisans, have a pint, or see if the local ice cream truck is open for a sweet treat if you’re there in the summer!

East Coast Trail Hiking Series

December 1, 2021December 24, 2021 / Maria / 2 Comments

I’ve decided to branch out a bit with a new series about hiking the East Coast Trail. I’ve done a ton of hiking (and blog posts) about my adventures in BC and my travels abroad, but I haven’t taken the time to write about one of my all time favourite trails. I grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland and have spent lots of time hiking this unique trail over the past 10 years or so. I figured it was time to share it with the rest of you!

The East Coast Trail is approximately 300km of trail that runs down the entire coast of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. It’s hard to determine the exact length of the trail because it stops in many communities as you travel down the coast and can be completed either as a thru-hike, or much more popularly, as section hikes. According to the East Coast Trail Association, which maintains and manages the trails, the trail is comprised of 25 paths that connect more than 30 coastal communities. It you opt to do the trail as a thru-hike it would be more than 300km with all the road walking between communities. The longest section of trail is 23km, so most Newfoundlanders opt to do the trail as a series of section hikes, either with 2 vehicles or as a round trip. You are permitted to camp anywhere along the trail, but there are 5 official campsites along the larger sections of trail if you want to do some sections as an overnight.

The trail is entirely coastal, though of course it does go through large sections of wooded areas where the coast is not directly accessible. While it’s not mountainous, it is still a very strenuous trail as it will take you up and down through many beaches, coves, and headlands over the length of the trail. Some trails are more well maintained than others, making for some pretty technical hikes along some of the longer and less travelled paths. But the trail passes through some of the most beautiful coastline and rural communities and I love hiking there on a sunny day, with the wind blowing at my back, eating copious amounts of fresh berries and watching the whales fish along the cliffs.

I’ve slowly been working on tackling this trail over the past 10 years and currently I am about 60% complete. However, the ECT association is always working on continuing to expand the trail and have added 4 trails down the northwest side of the peninsula over the past few years, so the trail is always growing! There’s some variation in paths and I have 28 to complete on my list. My plan is to list all the trails here and then work on individual blog posts for the sections I’ve completed and link them back here as I go.

Trail	From	To	Distance	Time	Rating
Long Shore Path	Topsail	Portugal Cove	17.2km	6-8 hours	Strenuous
Piccos Ridge Path	Portugal Cove	Bauline	14.5km	7-9 hours	Strenuous
White Horse Path	Bauline	Cape St. Francis	18.2km	8-10 hours	Strenuous
Biscan Cove Path	Cape St. Francis	Pouch Cove	7km	2-4 hours	Moderate
Stiles Cove Path	Pouch Cove	Flatrock	15.1km	5-7 hours	Difficult
Father Troy’s Trail	Flatrock	Torbay	8.9km	2-4 hours	Moderate
Silver Mine Head Path	Torbay	Middle Cove	1.9km	1-2 hours	Easy
Cobblers Path	Outer Cove	Logy Bay	5km	2-3 hours	Moderate
Sugarloaf Path	Logy Bay	Quidi Vidi	8.8km	3-5 hours	Difficult
Signal Hill Trail**	Quidi Vidi	The Battery	3km	1-2 hours	Moderate
Deadmans Bay Path	Fort Amherst	Blackhead	10.5km	4-7 hours	Difficult
Blackhead Path	Blackhead	Cape Spear	4.4km	1-2 hours	Moderate
Cape Spear Path	Cape Spear	Maddox Cove	11km	4-6 hours	Moderate
Motion Path*	Petty Harbour	Shoal Bay Road	20.1km	5-8 hours	Difficult
Spout Path*	Shoal Bay Road	Bay Bulls	22.5km	7-9 hours	Strenuous
Mickeleens Path	Bay Bulls	Witless Bay	7.2km	2-4 hours	Moderate
Beaches Path	Witless Bay	Mobile	7.1km	2-3 hours	Easy
Tinkers Point Path	Mobile	Tors Cove	5km	2-3 hours	Easy
La Manche Village Path	Tors Cove	La Manche	7.8km	2-3 hours	Easy
Flamber Head Path*	La Manche	Brigus South	12.9km	5-8 hours	Difficult
Brigus Head Path	Brigus South	Admiral’s Cove	6.4km	2-3 hours	Moderate
Cape Broyle Head Path*	Cape Broyle	Calvert	18.3km	7-10 hours	Strenuous
Caplin Bay Path	Calvert	Ferryland	5.6km	2-3 hours	Easy
Sounding Hills Path	Ferryland	Aquaforte	5.4km	2-3 hours	Moderate
Mudder Wet Path	Aquaforte	Aquaforte	2.9km	1-2 hours	Easy
Spurwink Island Path*	Aquaforte	Port Kirwan	17.1km	7-9 hours	Difficult
Bear Cove Point Path	Port Kirwan	Renews	11.9km	4-6 hours	Moderate
Island Meadow Path	Renews	Cappahayden	10km	3-5 hours	Moderate
Total			285km

*Campsite located on trail **not official ECT section

Adventures along the Coast

September 22, 2021August 27, 2021 / Maria / Leave a comment

In case you missed it, I recently spent 2 weeks home in Newfoundland (Part I, Part II). After spending the long weekend in Twillingate, we returned to St. John’s for the rest of my holiday, but not without a quick stop into Dildo on the way home. That’s right – if you’re not from Newfoundland, the name might sound strange to you, but Dildo is a vibrant coastal community on the Avalon Peninsula that was recently made popular by none other than Jimmy Kimmel. My interest in visiting was to stop into Dildo Brewing. Like I mentioned in my last post, a lot of breweries have been popping up in NL, but Dildo Brewing was definitely one of the earlier breweries and boasts a gorgeous view of the ocean.

To be honest, I didn’t enjoy Dildo Brewing as much as Split Rock in Twillingate. It was super busy in the restaurant and the poor wait staff was run ragged, making for a bit of a lengthy and chaotic experience, but I did really enjoy sitting out on the patio and watching the water at least. We couldn’t get into the restaurant, so instead we enjoyed a surprisingly good fish and chips from the local gas station!

I spent a lot more time visiting with friends and family; eating seafood, strolling the waterfront, and searching for the best ice cream. I returned to Signal Hill to hike it properly (not in debilitating fog) on Regatta Day and then met up with friends for a swim at Sunshine Rotary Park. The St. John’s Regatta is a pretty unique event – it’s the longest continuous running sporting event in North America – celebrating more than 100 years of races on Quidi Vidi Lake. The only times it’s been cancelled was during the War and last year because of Covid. It returned this year, though spectators were discouraged and no vendors were allowed along the lakefront. But what makes the Regatta so unique is that it’s actually a civic holiday. Most provinces have the first Monday off in August as a provincial holiday, as is the case in the rest of NL, but in St. John’s, businesses take the Regatta off instead. It’s the first Wednesday in August and a weather dependent holiday. So if you wake up to wind or rain on Wednesday, you still have to go to work and wait until Thursday to get your day off (as was the case this year).

Otherwise, I continued my hiking tour of the East Coast Trail. I did another solo hike, this time along Mickeleen’s Path, which is the section that runs from Bay Bulls to Witless Bay. I wasn’t expecting to like this section that much because I’d heard it was mostly forested, but I ended up having a really good time. There were a lot of trees at the beginning, but when you reach the end of the headland there are lots of beautiful views, which continue into Witless Bay. It was incredibly windy when I hiked the trail, but I managed to find some blueberries and see one whale hanging out in Bay Bulls. It’s a 7km trail and since I was alone, I had to hike back, but my friend gave me a head’s up that there’s an old ATV road that cuts across the headland through the woods, so I took that instead to save myself a bit of walking.

I really wanted to do an overnight hike while I was home. A few years ago I brought all my gear home with me, only to get rained out, so I’d brought all my gear back with me again in hopes of getting out on the trail overnight. Since Emily was working during the week, we decided to try for the last weekend I was home. She’s already hiked a lot more of the East Coast Trail than me, so we decided on Cape Broyle Head Path, which is one of the few sections she hasn’t done. The only problem, it’s an 18km trail and over an hour drive away. So we convinced Mom and Dad to join us for the first section of the hike and then Mom returned again the next day to pick us up.

Cape Broyle Head Path runs from Cape Broyle to Calvert, but the campsite is located at km 7 of 18, so we decided to hike it starting in Calvert to do the bigger distance on the first day. The first part of the hike is really scenic and looks out towards the Ferryland Lighthouse. It was super windy, but it was a nice day and we had a good time. We continued on for a few kilometers hoping to find somewhere nice for lunch, but it seemed to mostly be a forested trail, so we ended up having our lunch in the woods before saying goodbye to our parents. They hiked back to the car while we continued on.

The trail continues on through the trees before punching through at a few viewpoints and one lone picnic table, something I’ve never seen on the ECT before! It took us awhile to wind our way along the trail before finally coming to Lance Cove. It was a beautiful looking beach, but we didn’t think we’d be able to access it from the trail and were thrilled when we found some steps descending down to the beach! We had a quick swim before continuing on to the Campsite at Freshwater River.

We thought we’d have the campsite to ourselves, but were surprised to find someone else had set up a tent too. So we picked a tent pad up on the bluff, set up camp and had a delicious dinner of chili fettucine. It mind sound weird as it was a mix of whatever dried foods we could find around the house, but it ended up being delicious! The forecast had been a bit dicey all day and we were lucky not to have been rained on yet, so we crawled into our tent hoping it would be dry in the morning.

Sadly it was not to be. While we tried to fall asleep we could see lightning across the bay and the rain eventually rolled into our campsite some time during the night. My tent held up well to NL’s rain and wind, but it was sadly still wet when we got up. We made a hasty tent breakfast before departing to hike out. Fortunately it stopped raining shortly after we starting hiking, but it didn’t help us at all as the trail is super narrow and the forest was extremely wet. In no time we were both soaked and blundered our way along the rest of the trail.

Fortunately Mom showed up to get us with a change of clothes and we were none the worse for wear. But sadly it also meant I’d reached the last day of my trip. I spent the rest of the day hastily trying to dry out all my gear to transport it home and we finished off the trip with one of my favourite meals and a few rounds of cards. I really wish the trip could have been longer, but fortunately my family had plans to visit less than a month later, so it was goodbye for only a short time.