HIke Preparation for the East Coast Trail

East Coast Trail

Inception and Preparation

 

As we began making travel plans for 2018 we came across a number of options including the Way of St. Francis in Italy, the Camino Norte in Spain, and the John Muir Trail in the United States. However as the year moved on, job requirements, rising monthly bills, and limited time off from work led us to consider trails closer to home. It was also during this time that we began developing our plan to hike the Trans Canada Trail, also known as the Great Trail, from St. John's, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia to Tuktoyaktuk, Nunavut from 2019-2021 (Come Walk With Us). Canada's East Coast Trail, which stretches over 300 km along the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, seemed like a great choice!

The results of our situation and my future plans lead us to investigate medium to long distance trails in Canada's East Coast to better acquaint ourselves to the environment and define our expectations.

When we began planning and looking at navigating Newfoundland several things became immediately clear. First that the landscape and wildlife are beautiful, second that the cultural mix that makes up the province was great, and third that we knew very little about the practicalities of hiking on Canada's extreme east coast. As such, in order to be better prepared for our three year long adventure crossing Canada, and to test our new lightweight hiking equipment we chose the first 300+ kilometres of the Trans Canada Trail also known as the East Coast Trail.

 

ECT Trail

The East Coast Trail or ECT is located on the eastern most portion of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland Canada. Though a singular Trail system it is composed of a series of 26 + pathways which move along the coastline from Portugal Cove northwards to Cape St Francis prior to turning southwards down the coast crossing through St. John's the provincial capital (and home to the eastern terminus of the Trans Canada Trail) and continuing onward to Cappahayden. While several path sections of this trail system are undeveloped, the complete trek currently exceeds 300 km in length.

It is our understanding that the majority of the trail remains close to the coastline, coves, cliffs, and beaches of the Avalon Peninsula and proceeds along natural ridges, though forests, fens, and meadows. In addition to which, the trail passes through several villages and towns en route as well as over a suspension bridge, through historical settlements, past lighthouses, to North America's eastern most point, rare bird colonies, provincial parks, Important Bird Areas, ecological reserves and past countless sources of natural beauty.

The ECT, is advertised as a developed series of trails, which are well signed and provide a number of established camping sites as well as access to filterable water sources along the route. In addition given that the ECT passes through a number of towns and communities there are opportunities for thru hikers to resupply en route as well as affording the luxury of being able to stop at local Bed and Breakfasts, or take guided birding and nature tours.

 

Planning our thru-hike along the ECT

 

The first stage in our advance planning was to contact the East Coast Trail Association directly. After answering our initial inquiries we were directed to purchase the available resources on the trail including Guide books 1 and 2 for the ECT as well as a complete set of trail maps which we later laminated. While the maps are comprehensive they lack particular details (water sources, resupply options, grocery availability, postal offices, alternative accommodations) and are rather dated (2002). Similarly, while the Guide books are well written, they only currently cover part of the trail.

With this basis of information we turned to the internet and soon came upon a vast and comprehensive blog by Randy Best (www.ectthruhike.com). Mr. Best has scientifically broken down the entire trail, creating and providing extensive spreadsheets noting water source locations, camping sites, town resources, walking distances including community connectors, and noting GPS Waypoints. In addition, Randy Best has posted a complete set of YouTube videos which highlight each section of the trail in which he notes key points to be aware of while planning your hike. It is fair to say that much or our preparations for this hike have been based on and planned around his advice.

While our online searches did lead us to a number of other thru hiker blogs on the ECT, most directed readers back to Mr. Best's site and highlighted their use of his data. 

 

Time of Year

 

During our previous hiking trips on the Camino Frances in Spain, on the Via Podiensis in France, and on the Bruce Trail in Ontario Canada we typically preferred to avoid the warmer summer periods and trek either in the Spring months of May and June Fall months of September and October. However, past experience in Newfoundland and research into weather trends indicated to us that both of those times would likely be cooler but also more susceptible to more dramatic changes in temperature and weather conditions. By comparison the months of July and August would likely given us warmer periods less prone to the cool wind off the Atlantic. In addition this Summer period would let us hiker longer as they provided for longer periods of daylight allowing us more time to trek per day. In addition to all of these practical reasons for deciding to travel in July was the fact that icebergs, whales, puffins and seabirds are all in season and possible to view during this period.

 

A few weather related points to note for those unfamiliar with Newfoundland. First that fog, rain storms, and even snow squalls can often quickly appear with little warning. Second, especially for those not familiar with Newfoundland, hikers need to be aware of the strong winds throughout the province and along the coastline – which can make hiking along coastal paths difficult if not dangerous at times. Finally, even by local standards the weather and wind are known as unpredictable. 

 

See you on the trail!

Remember to follow our entire adventure here : www.comewalkwithus.online