Travel

The Alexander Murray Trail, Kings Point

Located in Green Bay, in the north central region of the province, this trail crosses forests and bogs before climbing steeply to an elevation of about 1,000 feet. It covers eight kilometres and will take three to four hours to complete, forming a loop so there’s minimal backtracking. Stairs on the steep and long sections of boardwalk over the bogs help you to navigate the terrain—it’s clear that a lot of effort has gone into building the trail. Be sure to include the various side trails: you’ll see impressive waterfalls. Start early enough to stop for lunch at the summit lookout, providing scenic vistas in all directions. To the east you can see down into Green Bay and King’s Point: rolling hills stretch out to the west.

  Located in Green Bay, in the north central region of the province, this trail crosses forests and bogs before climbing steeply to an elevation of about 1,000 feet. It covers eight kilometres and will take three to four hours to complete, forming a loop so there’s minimal backtracking. Stairs on the steep and long sections of boardwalk over the bogs help you to navigate the terrain—it’s clear that a lot of effort has gone into building the trail. Be sure to include the various side trails: you’ll see impressive waterfalls. Start early enough to stop for lunch at the summit lookout, providing scenic vistas in all directions. To the east you can see down into Green Bay and King’s Point: rolling hills stretch out to the west.

  The trail, which is well marked and starts in the community of King’s Point, across from the softball field, is named for Alexander Murray, the first director of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland (1864-1883). He wrote glowingly about the area: “To anyone in search of the picturesque, this great inlet has many rare attractions, in the varying outline and diversified scenery it presents on all sides. It’s bounded on the north side by a succession of lofty and near vertical cliffs… and to the south by gently swelling hills and valleys richly carpeted by a luxurious growth of mixed forest. All provide a landscape an artist might revel in, with scenes to charm the tourist or traveller…”

Fine words from someone who, as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, had seen much of the world and wasn’t prone to lavish praise—and they’re as true today as when they were written, many years ago.
           
Keith & Heather Nicol

Eco-friendly hiking tips:

  • Pack out what you pack in. Use the waste receptacle at the start/end of the trail.
  • If you take your dog keep it on its leash, so it won’t harass the wildlife.
  • Stay on the trail to avoid trampling fragile, low-lying vegetation.

GPS coordinates

  • 0558152 N
  • 5492107 E
  • NAD. 83
 
 

The East Coast Trail, Avalon Peninsula

The East Coast Trail Association began in 1994, with a vision for a world-class hiking trail that would connect 30 communities—providing accommodation, dining, and entertainment en route—along North America’s easternmost coastline. By 2001, 220 km had been completed, stretching from Fort Amherst, near St. John’s, to Cappahayden. The entire trail is 540 km, from Topsail to Trepassey around the Avalon Peninsula, providing hikers with paths ranging from easy rambles to wilderness adventures.<

The East Coast Trail Association began in 1994, with a vision for a world-class hiking trail that would connect 30 communities—providing accommodation, dining, and entertainment en route—along North America’s easternmost coastline. By 2001, 220 km had been completed, stretching from Fort Amherst, near St. John’s, to Cappahayden. The entire trail is 540 km, from Topsail to Trepassey around the Avalon Peninsula, providing hikers with paths ranging from easy rambles to wilderness adventures.

You can do individual sections in a day or hike a couple of sections on a weekend. There are many access points; get dropped off in the morning with your lunch in a backpack and have an overnight bag transported to a B&B a day’s trek away. Or if you prefer to camp you can take it all with you.

The trail takes you through boreal forest; past towering cliffs and headlands, sea stacks and deep fjords. It provides access to abandoned settlements, lighthouses, ecological reserves, seabird colonies, the world’s southernmost caribou herd, a 50-metre suspension bridge and two active archaeological dig sites.

One of the most popular sections is to the “Spout,” a natural wave-driven geyser that shoots water 20 metres into the air. This path makes for a long day trip or a good overnighter, starting in Petty Harbour, near St. John’s, and ending 22 km later in Bay Bulls.

The only distractions from the natural wonders along the trail are the rare times you meet another person. No sooner had we finished the hike in Bay Bulls than we were invited in for tea and a molasses bun!

           
Keith & Heather Nicol

Eco-friendly hiking tips:

  • If you plan to cook, bring a stove instead of cutting firewood to make a fire.
  • If you are camping, set up for the night where your impact will be minimal (beaches are preferred.)
  • If you are travelling on some of the more challenging sections of the trail, bring the appropriate maps, a compass and GPS.

GPS coordinates

Parking area for “Spout” geyser from Bay Bulls: 

  • N-5241359m
  • E-365278m
 

The Skerwink Trail, Bonavista Peninsula

Skerwink Trail, on the southern coast of the Bonavista Peninsula, is ranked one of the top three hiking trails in Canada—and for good reason. We hiked this coastal loop recently for the first time, and wondered why we hadn’t explored it years ago.

The trail is a classic meeting of ocean and land, winding through wind-swept spruce and fir forests, bogs and open grassy meadows. There are great views of Port Rexton and Trinity.

But it’s the coastline that will stop you in your tracks, with its memorable beaches and sea stacks (eroded rock formations)—the latter having names such as Music Box because of the sound produced when the wind blows. 

The 5.3 kilometre trail is rated easy to moderate (there’s an optional, more challenging four-km loop for “serious” hikers.) Many times trails are part of a vast network of foot and cart paths from years gone by—retracing four centuries of settlement and subsistence, where early pioneers gathered berries, hunted seabirds and travelled to neighbouring communities. 

On our hike in early June we saw several icebergs, including a magnificent one just in front of the lighthouse in Trinity. When I stopped at a lookout to take pictures of the berg I noticed abundant moose droppings, realizing that moose must like a good view as well!
           
Keith & Heather Nicol

Eco-friendly hiking tips:

Don’t feed the foxes, and be sure to watch your step near fox holes.

If you are hiking this trail after a rain, wear waterproof shoes.

Pack a lunch or a snack and plan to rest at the grassy meadows on the headland.

    GPS coordinates

    Trail starts and ends at Trinity East (next to church), off Route 230

    48º 22.746’ N
    53º 20.398’W

       

      The Boney Shore Trail, Southern Labrador

      There are few trails in Atlantic Canada as steeped with the history that’s found in this region of Labrador. The kilometre-long Boney Shore Trail, near the town of Red Bay, covers the same ground that Basque whalers used 450 years ago.

      The Basques came to Southern Labrador from France and Spain in the mid-1500s to hunt bowhead and right whales, whose oil in turn was used to “light the streets of Europe.”

      As you walk the trail you can see why Red Bay was such a popular port for the Basque whaling operation. Saddle Island, sitting just offshore, provides a barrier to wind and waves sweeping in off the Atlantic Ocean. Across the bay, the gently sloping land made an ideal shore-based location for the whale blubber to be rendered into oil and packed into barrels.

      The mostly flat, gravel trail is suitable for walkers of all ages and levels. It starts out—at the end of the road to Tracey—in a stunted fir and larch forest, then morphs into a tundra-like groundcover of Labrador tea, bakeapples, crowberries, lichen and mosses.

      As you get close to Boney Shore’s cobbled beach keep an eye out for whitish-grey whale bones, dating back to the 16th century (but leave them in place so others can “discover” them as well).

      If it’s a clear day you can go down to the beach and look for whales just off shore. On our most recent trip this past July, we saw a couple of minke whales feeding on herring. Local fishermen told us that two weeks prior to our visit, Red Bay was filled with whales following the annual capelin run.

      Keith & Heather Nicol

      Eco-friendly hiking tips:

      Please leave historic whale bones where the Basque left them (don’t take a souvenir home).
      Please stay on the trail. Plants have a hard time growing here and if you step on them, they may take a long time to recover.
      Please use the trash cans at the start of the trail for any refuse you might have.

      GPS coordinates

      Starting and end locations
      51° 44.079 N
      56° 26.461 W
         

        Atlantic Canadian World Class Attractions

        Atlantic Canada is blessed with world class attractions that do not take a back seat to any other place and demonstrate that one doesn't  need to venture far from home to enjoy 'the best'. Here is a description of just a few.

         

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