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

Camping in the wind and rain at Kilby Park

November 24, 2021November 18, 2021 / Maria / Leave a comment

This will be a short blog post about a short trip, but it was exciting enough that I decided it was worth writing about! My friends wanted to get one last camping trip in before snow season and booked up 3 campsites at Kilby Park over the Remembrance Day long weekend. They all drove out after the Remembrance Day service on Thursday and Brandon and I joined them on Friday evening after work. It ended up pouring all Thursday night and most of Friday, so I didn’t regret my decision. The rain finally stopped as Brandon and I were driving out and it didn’t rain again until the following afternoon.

But a little bit of information about the Kilby Campground. Kilby Park is located near Harrison Mills and it was my first time visiting the area. Historically there was a mill located in the area and Kilby was the location of the train station, so people travelling between Chilliwack and New Westminster would stay in the area. At the time there was a 14 room hotel, general store, and post office located at the train station, so visitors would often stay the night. Today, the original building has been turned into a museum and a small campground developed along the river to provide revenue towards maintaining the site.

Like I said, I’d never heard of the park, but I was pleasantly surprised by it’s location. The campground is located right on the banks of the Harrison River where it empties into Harrison Bay and has gorgeous views. I would love to return in the summer and hang out on the sandy beach and go kayaking around the bay. On this particular trip though, it was pretty wet and chilly and the campground itself left a little something to be desired. The campsites are definitely intended for campers and RV’s and we were the only people staying there that were in tents. The sites have a strong parking lot vibe, with very few trees and little privacy. But the views really can’t be rivalled, so I wouldn’t be opposed to going back.

Brandon and I arrived just after sunset. The rest of our crew had been there for 24 hours already, so they had constructed a pretty good set-up, with several pop-ups over the picnic tables and fire. We’d gone on a pretty large wood finding mission before the trip and had stockpiled a huge pile of construction waste to burn through and keep us warm. Carolyn and Steve made our supper for the night and had cooked salmon and roasted veggies over the fire in tinfoil packages, which was delicious!

Unfortunately, though we had foreseen the rain, we hadn’t accounted for the wind. It’s very rare that we get wind at all in BC and as we were eating dinner, the wind started gusting up off the water and lifting up the pop ups. We tried pegging them down, but the sites are designed for campers and the ground quality was poor, so we ended up having to guyline every corner of the pop-ups as well. Fortunately that did the job and they didn’t give us any more problems after that. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the fire and the break from the rain. Carolyn recently got a Golden-Doodle puppy named Jasper, so we loved getting to hang out and snuggle with him. I decided to leave Sadie home with Seth because she is pretty high maintenance and reactive and I didn’t think she would do well in the open-concept campsites (also I didn’t want to sleep with a wet dog).

We camped in Brandon’s tent and I finally had another reason to use my -30 degree sleeping bag, which obviously kept me super toasty warm all night. I slept better than expected and we got up with the sun at 8am for a full car camping breakfast of eggs, bologna, and hash browns. We also had a fabulous view of several eagles and saw 3 of them hanging out along the beach throughout the morning. We later learned we happened to be visiting during the Eagle festival, so it was nice of the eagles to show off for us!

Having a look at the upcoming forecast, we made the decision to take advantage of the dry weather to take down the tents. We’d been planning to stay Saturday night as well, but it was calling for an insane amount of rain starting in the afternoon, as well as wind, so we figured we didn’t want to battle both elements and have to take home a ton of wet gear in the morning. This ended up being an excellent decision as this was the weather event that ended up flooding entire towns in BC. At the time, the forecast was calling for 150mm of rain in the Fraser Valley, by the end of the storm, some areas of the province ended up getting close to 300mm of rain. This resulted in heavy flooding and destruction in Merritt, Hope, and Abbotsford, as well as the flooding and collapse of several highways, causing BC to declare a State of Emergency for the third time in 2021. So if you have any doubts about climate change, please educate yourself because the effects are very real and devastating.

Around noon we decided to check out the Kilby Museum. It’s only open on the weekends in the off-season, so we walked up the road and paid the $10 entrance fee to tour the museum. They’ve preserved the old hotel and store as much as possible and added several exhibits in the old hotel rooms about the development of the Fraser Valley through the years. We really enjoyed touring around and they have a really nice gift shop that also sells homemade pies! That’s where we learned about the historic use of the site and it was nice to learn something new.

It started to rain a bit after that and most of our party took off to head home. We stayed a little bit longer and Brandon cooked up his infamous Thai chicken curry for us and Carolyn and Steve. It did start to rain in earnest then though, so we packed up as much as possible, just leaving the pop-up over the picnic table until the last minute. Unfortunately, because we had cut the trip short, we had a lot of firewood leftover. I’m the only person with a yard and fire-pit at home, so we ended up loading all the leftover wood aboard Brandon’s car and Seth and I now have a huge stash for next year!

It was around 3:30pm when we left and it was torrential downpour the entire way home. We were very satisfied with our decision to leave early and didn’t fully understand just how wise that decision was until news started to break the next evening about the devastation the rain caused. So in conclusion, the Kilby sites leave a little something to be desired, but I would love to return in the summer to take advantage of recreation activities in Harrison Bay and would totally recommend checking out the museum.