DAY 52 While we did manage to go hiking a bit since early winter, I haven’t taken the time to do the write-ups because we got busy with “life in general.” The East Coast Trail is a wonderful place to spend time in Winter, but it’s often a challenge with the little ones! After Séb Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 52[…]
A TITLE when we got there, crews were finalizing the pre-winter grading. AMÉLIE’S PROGRESS DAY 1: 0.15km (Our house to Alder Hill) DAY 2: 1km (Alder Hill to Bears Cove Inn) DAY 3: 1.65km (Bears Cove Inn to Tobin Memorial) DAY 4: 1.5km (Tobin Memorial to Otter Cove) DAY 5: 1km (Otter Cove to Upper Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 45[…]
CAPE ST. FRANCIS LIGHTHOUSE TO BIG COVE SOUTH Given the fact that the road leading up to Cape St. Francis is only maintained by the Department of Fisheries to ensure the functioning of the lighthouse, very little is spent on its upkeep. We got lucky – when we got there, crews were finalizing the pre-winter grading. Cape St. Francis is one Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 44[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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’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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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 “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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
BRIGUS SOUTH TO HARE’S EARS Amélie’s hiking project was put on pause for over a month because Séb hurt his heel and wasn’t able to walk. He didn’t hurt his heel hiking – he fell off the roof of the house. Our first day back on the trail was a great one, since it’s berry-picking time! Read more about Amélie hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 28[…]
DEADMAN’S PATH WITH A DISTINGUISHED ENTOURAGE Three people walking into a bar: a political blogger, a stem cell biologist, and a Supreme Court justice. Ok. So they’re not walking into a bar. They’re hiking the East Coast Trail with Amélie. One of Séb’s Action Canada friends, Ben Paylor, was in Newfoundland for the week, so we Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 27[…]
CAPPAHAYDEN TO ISLAND MEADOW/RENEWS ISLAND This is by far the quietest hike we’ve seen on the East Coast Trail. If this is one of the paths less travelled, the reason isn’t that it’s not beautiful (it is). Or challenging (it is). Or scenic (it is). Or worthwhile (it most definitely is). The reason probably has more to do Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – DAY 26[…]
Two months ago, we asked the question, “Can a toddler hike the East Coast Trail… BY HERSELF?” So that her efforts count as a supported through-hike, “The Rule of the Hike” is simple: Amélie has to take every single step of the 316 kilometres of coastline separating Cappahayden from Portugal Cove. When we’re done walking for a Read more about The First 25 Days of Amélie’s East Coast Trail Thru-Hike[…]
BURNT COVE BEACH TO THE BAULINE EAST WHARF Another very hot day. The car’s thermometer reads 27 degrees. We only had a couple hours to spare, so we decided to do the rest of the community link between Tinkers Point Path and LaManche Village Path. The two kilometres we had left we spent picking wildflowers along the roadside. In Read more about Amélie Hikes the East Coast Trail – Day 25[…]