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: Flamber Head Path

February 14, 2024July 11, 2024 / Maria / Leave a comment

I hiked Flamber Head Path for the first time in July 2023. Flamber Head seems to be a relatively popular section of the East Coast Trail, so I’m surprised it took me so long to finally hike this section. I was hoping to do the 14km section as an overnight trip, but the weather and dates didn’t really line up, so I opted to day hike it with Mom and my friend, Sean.

Flamber Head Path runs from Brigus South to La Manche. The trail maps are a little deceiving, because it lists the trail as 12km in length, but doesn’t account for an additional 2km of hiking from the parking lot to La Manche suspension bridge. If you want to extend the hike to Bauline South, you could knock out 2 sections of the trail at once and avoid the access road. I’ve already done the section from La Manche to Bauline a few times, so we just hiked back to our car.

We started the hike at Brigus South and it took us 6.5 hours in total to complete the 14km hike. We did all the side trail viewpoints, stopped at Flamber Head for lunch to do some whale watching, and went for a swim near the bridge. The net elevation gain on the hike is only like 70 metres, but there is a lot of up and down, so the total elevation gain is actually over 400 metres, which definitely adds up!

The trail out of Brigus South is nice and scenic along the coast, so it doesn’t take too long to reach the campsite, which is located at the 3.5km mark. It would make a good overnight trip after work on a Friday night in the summer, because you don’t have to walk too far on the first day. Unfortunately, the campsite has really fallen into disrepair. There’s a lot of sketchy trees that look like they’re about the come down, and almost every tent pad has boards missing.

I found this to be the case at the Cape Broyle campsite as well, which is really sad, because I don’t think the ETCA has been keeping up with maintenance for the campsites. To be fair, it’s a very long trail that needs constant maintenance every year in clearing blowdown and repairing boardwalk, so I know they are likely strapped for cash and time since Newfoundland summers are very short. I know the ECT sees a lot more traffic from day hikers than campers, but I think the ECT could really turn into a cool thru-hiking destination if the campsites were better kept and more plentiful. At the moment, it’s a more rugged experience, which is fine, but a little sad to see the limited number of campsites in such rough shape.

The campsite itself is in the trees and not very scenic, so I think people have taken to camping on Flamber Head instead, which is another 1km past the campsite. There is a stream with drinking water just past the campsite, which poor Sean fell in trying to cross, so it’s easily accessible from either the campsite or the Head. The main issue with camping on Flamber Head would be the wind, as there’s no shelter out there. So I’d only attempt it if I had a robust tent and the forecast was good.

The view from Flamber Head is gorgeous though! We hung around for a while, eating our lunch (including mom’s homemade cream-cheese brownies) and watching for whales. I’d say it’s probably the best viewpoint on the trail, but there are nice views at Gentleman’s Head (km 7) and Gull Rocks (km 9) as well. Gull Rocks requires a bit of extra hiking uphill, but it’s a stellar (albeit windy) view of the coast. Me and Mom hiked up it, but Sean was having a rough day, so he waited us out at the bottom.

Hiking on the East Coast Trail can be incredibly draining, because there is a lot of up and down and the trail can sometimes be pretty technical. Overall, the constant uphill hiking in BC has aided me a lot in my endurance for hiking on the ECT, but exercise caution, because it is a very different type of trail and the variation can wear you out. When me and Emily day hiked the Spout, we pretty much hobbled out the trail at the end.

The La Manche suspension Bridge is located at the end of the official ECT section and is a fun highlight of the trail. The suspension bridge and surrounding stairs underwent a full upgrade in 2023, so they’re in great condition now! But the highlight of this section for me is swimming in the little river pool before it discharges to the ocean. I’ve swam here on several occasions and even though it was a chilly day, the water was super warm! Mom joined me and we had a nice little refreshing soak in the pool before doing the final 2km back to the car.

We nearly killed Sean on this hike, but I had a great time exploring a popular part of the trail that I’d never done before. I’d definitely recommend giving yourself a full day to explore, because there are lots of different highlights along the trail. Bring your binoculars for the viewpoints and your swimsuit for the river!