Two best friends. Eight days of hiking. One amazing location. Welcome to the East Coast Trail Adventure!

Pre-Trip:

Eric's trip started back on July 28th when he flew to Saint John, NB. He's been venturing through the maritimes (and is sitting in Halifax as he types this!) to see the natural beauty and meet the people. Prior to this, he was in Quebec for some French Immersion, and working as a Program Assistant with Shad Valley.

Patrick will be meeting him in St. John's, Nfld on Aug 12th. Patrick is working this summer to bring together music and special needs children to achieve incredible results. A full time music student, he's also been kept busy these months with practicing and writing a musical production for next year at University of Toronto.

This is a blend of Epic and Rookie as well. Patrick is a long time canoe tripper, but he only got Eric hooked on camping a short year ago. While they've both done multiple trips (and undoubtably hundreds for Patrick!), this will be the first overnight, strictly hiking trip, and Eric's first major trip. To stay safe and prepared, Patrick's huge experience in canoeing is being complimented by Eric's medical background and compulsive research, planning, and preparation.

The Trip:

Day 1: We met up at the airport, and took the city bus down to the downtown core. There we rejigged our packs in the tourist info building, and gathered the last of our supplies. We hiked straight from downtown, and only got to the trailhead around 5:30pm. We still managed to make about 3.2km up to a "popular swimming hole", where we pitched our tent and enjoyed the last big meat meal of the trip. It was a steep climb up, but so great to be back out in the big wild.

Day 2: Our late start on the first day led us to catching up some distance on this day. We pushed 16.2km, which is not at all bad for a pair who had never really hiked before this trip. We were up and down through forests and bays, passing through Cape Spear mid afternoon. We camped out on a ridge just a km beyond, but discovered it to be a windy location during the night. Eric, being on his first non-"treed sites only" trip, was fairly concerned with the wind, but the gear held. Thanks, MEC!

Day 3: We decended along a wind swept coastline (photo is from previous night's site, looking along the beginning of this day's hike). Passing through Petty's Harbour and Maddox Cove, we were given some water by the mayor of the town, who seemed fairly interested in our hike. Lunch was on a hill top with summer sausage, and we settled in at a nice pond for a swim, dinner and the night. With the previous night's experiences in mind, we found a big rock to pitch the tent behind, blocking the wind - until it shifted 90 degrees over night! Both of us had some frightful moments (even Patrick, the tundra experienced camper!) when the tent started bending in, but it held strong all night long. Score another for the Gemini!

Day 4: Little Bald Head Campsite was our check-in milestone for the trip. It provided us with a tent platform and thunder box, and a bit of extra time to do some cooking and prep for the next few days. We spent some time at the Spout, a cool feature of the coast that lets waves in under the shore, and funnels them dozens of feet up into the air. We spent the evening hanging with some well supplied single night campers from St. John's, who had brought lots of food and alcohol, but a wonderful welcome with them too.

Day 5: A bit of rain greeted us, just enough to remind us how great the weather had been up until that point. It cleared up by mid day, and we headed out into the second leg of the hike. This was just a generally uneventful, but really wonderful day. However, the mostly uneventful day was shattered when Eric had a late evening encounter with a moose. Luckily, he was just as scared as Eric, and took off running into the bush.

Day 6: A great day of hiking put us within striking distance of the goal. We camped out on what could virtually be called a campsite (a sweet meadow tucked into the forest just off the path), and did some wash and baking, thanks to lots of water from the ocean.

Day 7: The last day took us into La Manche Provincial Park. It was a wet, wet slog, involving a 3km hike along roads through varying fishing communities (escorted by one very kind and eager newfie dog). Yet, nothing beat getting to La Manche's suspension bridge at the end, and eventually finding our site and running water!

Day 8: While this wasn't an official hiking day, we took a cab back up to St John's. There we discovered that the university was closed for the season, and no longer renting out rooms. In a typical Newfie act of kindness, a friend of Eric's Dad opened up his house for us to shower and spend the night. What a way to end the trip!

Reflection (Eric's):

I used to be afraid of being outside. As a kid, I wouldn't even eat outside for fear of the bugs. Patrick got me hooked on camping thanks to a Gr 12 canoe trip, and it has been wonderful to get outside as much as possible since. Taking this trip was a huge risk, but it was full of incredible memories, experiences and great times. I learned a lot, but more than anything, I can't wait to get out into the Big Wild again. Once it gets into your blood, eh?

I wish I could tell so much more of what I experienced, but time is short. If anyone has any questions, or just wants to share their stories, I'd love to hear from you (kennedy.eric@gmail.com).

Financial note: I'm still tallying trip costs, but once I get those in, we'll be donating the rest of the budgeted money. Most of this will likely go to the East Coast Trail Association so that they can maintain the trails that gave us so much, but we're looking forward to passing whatever we can to the Big Wild too.