Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 43

MUN’S OCEAN SCIENCES CENTRE TO WWII FOXHOLE ON SUGARLOAF HEAD Although it had been calling for rain (and although we hit rain right up to Stavanger Drive on our way to Logy Bay), the trail was nice and dry. We prepared for the rain nonetheless – Amélie put her raincoat on and Évangéline was bundled up in her snowsuit. The hike up Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 43[…]

Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 42

WATER COVE TO PORT KIRWAN’S BELLE MAISON (minus Kingman’s Cove Rd.) Heather was teaching today, so I (Sébastien) decided to do an easy hike with the girls. Since the northern section of Bear Cove Point Path is a solid ATV trail, I felt it was a great place to go. This is a BEAUTIFUL woodland section of the ECT. Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 42[…]

Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 41

CALVERT WHARF TO LANCE COVE It’s been raining and drizzling all morning, but since it’s so nice and warm out – about 20 degrees – we decided it was too nice an opportunity to miss. Getting out of the car, we zipped the girls into their rain suits (with better base layers this time), and started our hike. Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 41[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – 100km

AMÉLIE’S HIKE: The First 100 Kilometres While on a day hike in Witless Bay five months ago, we asked ourselves a question which has led to a whole new project: “Can a toddler hike the East Coast Trail… BY HERSELF?”  Obviously, the answer to this question depends on what we mean when we say “by herself.” A fully unsupported Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – 100km[…]

Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 40

DAY 40: MOTION PATH WITH THE CBC/RADIO-CANADA, THEN A CAKE! A while back, CBC/Radio-Canada’s Philippe Grenier got in touch with us to ask a few questions about Amélie’s ECT thru-hike project. He asked to do a segment on it for the news, and we happily accepted. After a few email conversations, we decided to meet him at Petty Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 40[…]

Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 39

BLACKHEAD PATH’S LOOKOUT POINT TO FLOWERS POINT We only had a couple hours to devote to the hike today, so since we were already in Town (Séb was teaching at MUN this morning), we headed for Fort Amherst. We’d attempted the steep climb starting from the Blackhead Path trailhead twice before, and had met with failure Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 39[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 38

RENEWS BRIDGE TO SHIP’S BOTTOM As we’re putting our backpacks on in the Renews bridge parking lot, we see a lone hiker coming towards our direction. A long-distance hiker from France who’d just started her journey in Cappahayden the day before, Justine immediately accepts to help the fairies encourage Amélie by leaving little “presents” on the Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 38[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 37

BEACHY COVE TO THE RIVERSIDE RESTAURANT We had not expected to be able to go on a hike today since news of Hurricane Nicole’s impending arrival in our region was all over the Web. When we checked the weather this morning, the now-downgraded tropical storm was still over 500 nautical miles from the coast of the island. Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 37[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 36

TORBAY: LITTLE BEACH TO LITTLE GALLOWS COVE  Starting out from “downtown Torbay,” Father Troy’s Trail is one of the most “civilized” sections of the East Coast Trail. It’s more of a “nature trail” than a “wilderness trail.” Walking through long-abandoned pastures and alongside current cow pastures, the long-standing human occupation and transformation of this landscape is immediately obvious. Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 36[…]

Why we Hike – A Family History

WHY WE HIKE: A Family History “Who are you?” asked the little prince, and added, “You are very pretty to look at.” “I am a fox,” the fox said. As organizers of the graduate student orientation, my friend Jed and I were serving hot dogs to the incoming class of Memorial University grad students when I first Read more about Why we Hike – A Family History[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 35

ISLAND MEADOW PATH COMPLETED!  In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, a number of Newfoundland municipalities declared a State of Emergency, with road washouts completely cutting them off from other parts of the island. The only link through the island, the Trans-Canada Highway, was cut in half at Terra Nova Park, and restoring the link took days. The Avalon was Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 35[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 34

CALVERT WHARF TO CASTLE HILL Since we had a few hours to kill this afternoon, we decided to do a bit of the community link between the Cape Broyle Head Path and the Caplin Bay Path. Lucky for us, two fellow gammybirds (people from Witless Bay) were also sightseeing in Calvert, so we got a ride Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 34[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 33

COMPLETING THE BRIGUS HEAD PATH  Brigus Head Path is one of a handful of East Coast trail hikes that can easily be hiked as a loop, adding two kilometres of hardened ATV trail to the hike. Since Amélie had already done the first 2.2 kilometres of the trail last week (starting from Brigus South), we felt it Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 33[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 32

FLAMBER HEAD TRAILHEAD TO HARE’S EARS POINT, BRIGUS HEAD A beautiful late afternoon hike despite the very windy day. It was past 3pm by the time we made it to Brigus South, but Amélie was so excited about the hike that we managed to put more trail behind us than we’d imagined would be possible today. We met Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 32[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 31

CHAFE’S LANDING TO CAPE SPEAR PATH TRAILHEAD  Amélie’s godfather is visiting us again, so we decided to bring him along on another one of her hikes. This time, we did half of the community link between the Bear Cove Point Path and the Island Meadow Path. It takes us an hour to walk a little less Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 31[…]

Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 30

ISLAND MEADOW PATH TRAILHEAD TO RENEWS BRIDGE Amélie’s godfather is visiting us again, so we decided to bring him along on another one of her hikes. This time, we did half of the community link between the Bear Cove Point Path and the Island Meadow Path. Renews is a beautiful spot, full of fun things to Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 30[…]

Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 29

CHAFE’S LANDING TO PETTY HARBOUR’S BIG HILL Another great berry-picking day! Just as promised in the East Coast Trail Guide, the trail going up Big Hill is dotted with great berry patches. Amélie was not the only one to be excited about the berries – from the pouch carrier, Évangéline took to pointing them out Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 29[…]