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I’m just starting to sketch out a plan for a possible trip to Newfoundland in ’20 with the goal being to make a loop out of the East Coast Trail and an off trail traverse of the Avalon Wilderness Reserve. As I was putting this plan together each of you came to mind as the sort of folks who might appreciate this trip. I thought I’d toss it out there now as something to think about. It definitely would require a lot of planning. Getting there is a bit of a challenge…either fly in from Toronto or take a ferry from Nova Scotia.

Enough about that though, take a look at the map below. Assuming a flight into St Johns I thought clockwise, starting with the ECT, made sense. The ferry arrives from the south so counter clockwise might make more sense in that case. My thinking is to do the AWR section after the ECT either way. The tracks are random length and aren’t meant to denote camps. Detailed plans will be made later once I know how many days I’m aiming for, though from my research it appears that weather may dictate where you camp more than distance. Some pretty spots are very windy at times.

Based on good data from a ’16 ECT thru hiker who also provided his AWR traverse track I’ve put together this loop. The section from the north end of the AWR to the start of the ECT to the north seems like sort of an urban road walk, though a new section of trail has been added to the ECT making this section shorter than the 34 miles listed. Thinking a well placed hotel might make it a slack packing opportunity, but I can also see the case for saying to heck with it and not worrying about closing the loop.

As mapped it is roughly 300 miles. At the southern end of the ECT I’ve mapped both a highway road walk and a coastal bog hop to link up with the bottom of the AWR. That coastal section looks very remote but I’m not sure about finding ground to camp on heh. It may all be bog. Need more research, but would prefer to stay along the coast.

Check out these videos when you have time to get an idea of what this hike is about. The ECT is coastal with lots of little up and downs. Some tree cover, but also some great wide open camping. Iceberg and whale viewing are possible camp activities depending on the time of year. The interior section through the Avalon Wilderness Reserve is mostly treeless, small hills and bogs. Both are some really unique environments in terms of beauty and exposure to the elements.

I’m just planting seeds here. Lots of time between now and then, but I’d be curious to hear if any or all of you folks might be interesting in such an adventure. Plans would be based on what works for everyone so can’t tell you when or how many days at this point. I can tell you it looks like it would be a special sort of adventure and that they say there are no bears 🙂

Let’s talk…