Aug 17 - Hiking the Skerwink Trail

Our luck with the weather continued. It was another warm day. As the morning progressed, the light covering of clouds got burned off.

Our activity for the morning was to hike the Skerwink Trail. This moderate to difficult loop coastal trail features sea stacks, whales (not today), icebergs (not today) and eagles as well as views of the communities of Port Rexton and Trinity. This trail was selected by Travel and Leisure Magazine as one of the top 35 walks in North America and Europe in its August 2003 World Best Awards issue. It's probably still on the list more than 20 years later. It is quite spectacular.

Signage here is Newfoundland is minimal, and that’s being kind. We eventually found the parking lot for the trail head. Over the course of the next almost 3 hours, we walked on flat areas; we climbed up; we climbed down; we walked along boardwalks, and along narrow paths covered in exposed roots. It was a real workout. And it turned out to be more like a 7.5-mile trail, not the 3-mile trail in all the literature. Now some of that may have been due to a wrong turn or two. Signs were few and far between and didn’t indicate which direction we were going. Cell service out there is very thin, and GPS is non-existent. We got a little freaked out at one point, especially given that we had theatre tickets at 2:00 p.m. We prevailed, but we were two sweaty, tired hikers when we finally got back to the car.

But for our efforts, we were rewarded with spectacular views of rock formations, sea stacks, rugged cliffs, Dry Cove Beach. Enjoy the pictures.Read more