ECT Series: White Horse Path

April 11, 2026March 13, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

White Horse Path is one of the newer sections of trail on the East Coast Trail, and locally it has developed a bit of a reputation. The trail is located on the northwest section of the ECT, running from Bauline up to Cape St. Francis. It’s 16km long and is listed as “strenuous” due to the repeated hills running across the length of the trail. The net elevation is 0m, of course, but I tracked almost 700m of up and down on my GPS.

I’ve been wanting to hike White Horse Path for a long time, but I’ve always been a little bit intimidated by it. The East Coast Trail seems like it would be easy compared to some of the mountain hikes I’ve done in BC, but I’ve been humbled on the ECT more than once. The Spout was by far the hardest section of the trail I’ve done. I hiked it with Emily and we both hobbled out at the end of the trail. The repeated up and down of coastline trails is really hard on your knees.

So I was a little anxious about hiking White Horse Path, but I was determined to finally do it on my most recent trip home in 2025. We had really nice weather, so me and Emily decided to tackle the trail the day after we hiked Bear Cove Point. This was a good strategy in that we were training for a bigger hike later in the summer and it was good practice to hike two days in a row. But also a bad strategy because we started a bit late and it was really hot.

Like I said, White Horse Path has a lot of big climbs and descents along the trail and runs through pretty remote terrain. We didn’t want to end with a big descent, so we decided to start in Bauline and hike to Cape St. Francis. We dropped Emily’s car at the lighthouse and our Dad dropped us off at the trailhead in Bauline. The trail is really beautiful and it starts with a big climb out of Bauline. Emily was definitely struggling right off the bat with the incline, but I’d been having a pretty good hiking season and was feeling strong.

This really is a stunning section of trail and I think it’s mostly the length that contributes to its difficulty. There’s a mix of forest sections and exposed coastal bluffs along the trail, but I would say it’s one of the more scenic parts of the East Coast Trail, with lots of views along the way. The morning was challenging for us because it was so hot and there was a lot of climbing. Normally I like being in the trees for shade when hiking on a hot day, but it was nicer being on the bluffs on this trail because of the breeze.

There is a trail connection to Marine Drive Park around 3km into the trail where we saw a family out for the day, but other than that, we didn’t see anyone until the end of the trail. We stopped for lunch around 6km, which left a lot of trail for the afternoon. There’s not a lot of options for water along the trail and the streams were running pretty low, so I’d advise packing all the water you need for the day.

We hit the campsite at the 9km mark. There’s two brand new tent pads and a bit of flat space for camping, but not a lot of room. There is a small stream that is flowing, but you definitely want a filter. At this point in the trip, Emily was feeling tired, but still powering through. I really enjoyed everything that came after the campsite and I think this is the more scenic half of the hike. There’s a small uphill section after that campground, and after that you hike across exposed flat rock for a while. It was really nice and breezy, so we decided to take our last snack break to enjoy the view.

The last part of the trail was worrying to Emily because there’s a lot of downhill and she finds that hard on the knees. After leaving the bluff, we had the biggest downhill section of the trail as we climbed down towards Cripple Cove. I don’t think the trail follows the most economic route to Cape St. Francis. It follows the coastline rather than the most direct route, which makes sense, but is a little frustrating when you’re tired. Once you get down towards Cripple Cove, you can continue to a viewpoint up on the rock, which looked pretty cool, but we skipped it. It’s not that far a hike from Cape St. Francis, so I might come back one day to check it out.

Instead, we started our last climb back up towards the Cape. All day, it felt like we were moving pretty slowly. We didn’t start the trail until almost 11, which was really too late for a trail like this. So I constantly felt like we were behind the pace we should be at, but we ended up finishing the trail in just over 8 hours, which was our goal, so we were moving at a pretty reasonable pace all day. We did slow down over the last couple of kilometres though. There’s one more downhill as you wind your way back to the Cape and this was the section of trail that really did Emily in. She’d been wearing one knee brace most of the day, but her second knee started tweaking, so she borrowed my knee brace as well, which I wasn’t using. She really struggled for the last kilometre and similar to the Spout, she had to hobble her way out the last section of trail.

The trail is not easy on you at the end. We could see the lighthouse as we winded down through the last section and it felt like we were pretty much done, but you have to climb around Back Cove at the end and this part of the trail was surprisingly technical. You scramble across some narrow rock and then there is one section of trail with chains to hold onto, followed by a lot of stairs. I’m glad we were hiking north because that meant we did the chain section uphill – it looked like it would be a lot scarier going down.

Technically, the trail winds back to the lighthouse after Back Cove, but we’d been to the lighthouse before and we were able to find a shortcut through the brush back to the car. We came out of the woods on the road and even though we were only 50m from the car, Emily made me go get it and come back to pick her up! When I got back, she was sat down on the grass nursing her knees and the last of her snacks! So I guess the trail association is right to call this hike ‘strenuous’.

It’s not all pain though. Personally, I had a great time on the trail. I did think it was a challenging trail, particularly because of the heat. I was surprised we were able to finish in 8 hours at our pace, but I think I definitely would have done this trail at least an hour faster on my own. It’s nice to take your time and enjoy the views. I think me and Emily both had different perspectives on the trail. My friend asked me how it was afterwards and I told him I had a great time (which I did) and that the trail wasn’t too hard. But then Emily told him not to believe a word I said!

So if you’re a frequent hiker, I don’t think this trail is as intimidating as it’s made out to be, but it’s definitely not to be underestimated. Emily is thrilled to have checked it off her bucket list, but has vowed she’ll never do it again. Personally, I would return for round 2. I think it could be fun to camp on the trail, but I’m not keen on doing it again with a full backpack, so maybe it’s better as a day hike. Either way, I’m glad that I can finally check this section off my list. Only one section left for me to complete and I’m be damned if I don’t get to it next summer!!

ECT Series: Bear Cove Point Path

April 4, 2026March 13, 2026 / Maria / Leave a comment

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’re probably aware that I’ve slowly been working towards section hiking the entirety of the 300km long East Coast Trail. In summer of 2025, I knocked out two new sections of trail that I’ve been wanting to do for a while, one of which was Bear Cove Point Path.

Bear Cove Point Path is one of the last sections on the southern end of the trail. It runs from the town of Fermeuse to the town of Renews, although we did it in the opposite direction, starting from Renews. The trail is approximately 12km long and has a nice mix of forest walking and coastline. Despite it looking like a relatively flat trail, there is 250m of elevation gain across the length of the trail.

If you begin in Renews, the start of the trail is very scenic. The entire first section is along exposed coastal meadows. You can take in a bit of history looking at the old cannons scattered along the coast as you hike the trail out of Renews, with beautiful views looking towards Cappahayden. We made a short stop along Northern Head to have a snack and enjoy the views, before continuing on along the trail.

The trail is pretty evenly split in two by the Bear Cove Point lighthouse. I thought the southern half of the trail was more scenic, and there are several viewpoints along the way to the lighthouse. We opted to take our lunch break at South Point rather than Bear Cove Point, but I think this was a good choice as there wasn’t really anywhere to sit and enjoy the view at the lighthouse. The lighthouse is really more of a tower with a light than a lighthouse, but it wouldn’t be a bad place to camp if you were doing a thru hike. Just watch out, there was lots of thistle around (which growing up I always called it “stinger-needle”).

The second half of the hike went by a little bit quicker, mostly because it was in the forest. Once you start hiking in towards Fermeuse, large sections of the trail head inland. I didn’t note a lot along the second half of the trail and it ends when you hike into Kingman’s Cove. We parked 1km further along the road at the viewpoint on Kingman’s Cove Road, which is where the ECT instructions say to park, but I don’t think this trail gets a lot of visitors (we went on a Saturday and didn’t see a single person on the hike), so you could definitely get away with parking on the road near the trailhead. It was particularly annoying having to hike uphill on the last kilometre on what was a pretty hot day.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trail. I did it with my sister, Emily, and my friends, Karen and Grant. So we had two cars, which made it a lot easier because we could park a car on either end. I’ve struggled to do the last few trails on the ECT because they’re such a long drive from St. John’s and it’s hard to get two vehicles to do it. I did a lot of the shorter hikes as there and back hikes to avoid the second car. You could do Bear Cove Point with one car, as there is an inland shortcut trail that crosses the headland, but I’m glad we didn’t have to! As of right now, I only have the final path to Cappahayden left to do, so I hope to return against next year to finish it!

ECT Series: Cape Spear Path

March 5, 2025February 27, 2025 / Maria / Leave a comment

Cape Spear Path is such a classic on the East Coast Trail that I’m surprised I haven’t already written about it. The trail runs from Cape Spear to Maddox Cove and is approximately 11.5km long. I first hiked the trail in full in 2013, but doing an out-and-back trip from Cape Spear to North Head is one of my favourite day trips when I’m home for a visit. It’s ~9km to North Head and back, but it’s really easy and flat hiking, so I recommend it to visitors a lot.

When I was home in Summer of 2024, I decided to do a re-do of the thru hike with my parents and Brandon. The first time I did it, I hiked from Maddox Cove to Cape Spear, but this time we did it in reverse. I don’t think you can really go wrong, but the Cape Spear side of the trail is definitely easier, so knocking out the Maddox Cove section first has its benefits. The trail from Maddox Cove is mostly in the trees and winds up and down the coast, so it’s a little more tiring. Eventually you pop out of the woods and the rest of the trail is exposed along the coast and incredibly scenic.

Overall, there’s barely any elevation gain in either direction, just a small climb up over the bluff at Herring Cove as the trail continues to North Head. North Head is pretty much the halfway point (distance wise, but maybe not time-wise), so it’s a great place to stop for lunch. My favourite thing is to walk out to the viewpoint and watch for whales. You don’t need to be constrained for whale watching though, it’s rare that I hike this trail and don’t see whales in the summer! On this occasion, we were shocked to see flying tuna jumping out of the water! I’ve never seen tuna in Newfoundland, but on this trip (in early September), I saw tuna jumping on two different occasions (and received a report from my uncle in Twillingate that he saw one too), so it was a very eventful trip!

My other favourite part of Cape Spear Path is the blueberries. Like I said, the trail is completely exposed from North Head to Cape Spear. There’s only low shrubs along the trail, most of which are blueberries! They get a bit picked over close to the lighthouse, but there’s lots of good berry picking close to North Head, so we stopped a few times for snacks along the way. The only downside is that it can get pretty windy along the cliffside.

So I definitely recommend this trail to locals and tourists alike. It’s a pretty good trail for beginners and if you just hike to North Head and back, it’s a really easy and scenic day. Plus, most tourists plan to visit Cape Spear (the most easterly point in North America) at some point during their visit, so it’s a fun way to tie in some hiking and make a day of it.

While I do think hiking from Maddox Cove to Cape Spear is a bit easier, the benefit of hiking the other direction is that you can finish your hike with a stop into Petty Harbour to get ice cream at Tinkers! Petty Harbour is a cute little outport community and is home to the most outrageously large ice cream concoctions. You can easily drop a bit of cash here, but it’s worth it for the photo op and the delicious snack! Enjoy your ice cream on the patio after a rewarding hike!