East Coast Trail - Hot Enough to Bake Anchors at Middle Cove Beach

Look at me, showing up after a 6 week hiatus!  We were a bit busy moving into our new home, which I'll tell you about tomorrow.

Middle Cove Beach, Logy Cove

But now that the majority of the work is done and the rest can wait a little while, it is TIME TO HIT THE TRAILS!

Silver Mine Head Path Trailhead, East Coast Trail

I'll soon be gathering a list and making organized plans, but I finally had time the other on Tuesday  after running errands in St. John's to spend my afternoon hiking.  Of course the true summer weather is finally here this week and it was a scorching 26C/80F.

Not really what you want for hiking, setting out uphill in the mid-day heat and sun with 20 pounds of camera equipment on your back, but beggars can't be choosers.

I took my time and prayed that once I got up the hill I would catch a breeze.  In the meantime at least there was shade!  And I couldn't help noticing lots of Bunchberry and Blue Bead Lily plants too. I'm sure I'll find other trails lined with them, hopefully when their red and blue berries make their appearance.

Blue Bead Lily plants, lower left

They call Bunchberry "Crackerberries" here.  They are edible, but I wouldn't say they are tasty.  I found a link to a list of edible berries of Newfoundland so I'll have to brush up on some new treats to identify out there in the wild.

Relief!  A breeze!  And a view!

Even though I was dying to see what was next I spent about 10 minutes just cooling down and enjoying the solitude.

For some reason everyone else kept to the woods and didn't take the fork out to the cliffside.
Ah, well, more views for me!

I kept an eye out for gannets, cormorants or puffins, but only seagulls were hanging about.

After a quick detour through the woods I was back in the open and splashing cool water from Houlihan's River on my neck, face and arms.

I quickly shucked off my backpack and started out toward the waves.

I don't know if it was low tide, but it sure wasn't high tide with a few tide pools visible. 

I saw some small fish and one tiny starfish but the good pools were probably under the waves still.

Every time I moved a few feet over to a new spot and then looked up the view was different.

I was so busy watching the waves and looking for starfish that I was a little startled when I looked up and saw that I hadn't even noticed these guys taking a bath.

They were so well camouflaged that I still can't identify them, so a helpful comment below if you know the answer!

I had missed them because I was busy doing the tight-rope walk across a strip of weathered rock.

Back at the river I looked ahead at the tempting trail going off in the distance...

...but decided it was better to wait for a cooler day and come at it from the other end.

Won't it be wonderful to end up at the same spot again and see what is blooming alongside the river and what birds are visiting the tide pools on a different day?

The walk back was a bit less strenuous than coming in had been, and I was able to enjoy the views of the cove.

I'm sure that earlier in the summer there's a chance of an iceberg passing by, but the massive parade of icebergs has passed Newfoundland by for the season for the most part now.  If you want to see those on your visit make sure to arrive in June!

And remember, it's not just the big views that make a hike fun...keep looking down and around, you never know what you might find.

Quick video below - details about our new home tomorrow!