“The East Coast Trail unites genuine wilderness hiking with richly historic communities from Topsail Beach, to Cape St. Francis, to Cappahayden. The paths of the East Coast Trail take you past towering cliffs and headlands, sea stacks, deep fjords, and a natural wave-driven geyser called the Spout. Experience abandoned settlements, lighthouses, ecological reserves, seabird colonies, whales, icebergs, the world’s southernmost caribou herd, historic sites, a 50-metre suspension bridge, two active archaeological dig sites, and many more attractions.”

-East Coast Trail Association

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Dear People of the Future: The year is 2022. The month is January. The world has been gripped by COVID-19 for more than two years. Hopefully, COVID has mutated into a harmless cold by your time, but for the past two years it’s been making me cancel one hike after another. Impossible not to preface this introduction with mention of it, and noting the context under which I hiked the ECT, and that many people have died, and that humanity fought fiercely over toilet paper.

Anyway, in August 2021, the course of the pandemic was finally looking brighter with vaccines widely available throughout Canada. I had been vaccinated in June and, while I still didn’t feel wonderful about travelling during the pandemic, I felt okay with grabbing some N-95 masks and my vaccination card and heading to Newfoundland, which was nearly COVID-free at the time. At 336 kilometres, the ECT is a shorter hike than I wanted, but it was the hike that was logical at the time, and I enjoyed it very much. I can also testify that 0% of the 336 kilometres is switchbacks.

EAST COAST TRAIL JOURNAL

– FIRST ENTRY –

– ALL ENTRIES –

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East Coast Trail website, managed by the East Coast Trail Association: https://www.eastcoasttrail.com/