22.97km

I didn’t sleep all that great last night, I think it was the sound of the river that kept waking me up. Campsite is called Roaring Cove so it’s probably not a quiet place in the first place. But the river was definitely overflowing and making a lot of noise. It was also quite windy and that woke me up a few times. Adjusting to being back on the trail probably plays a part into it as well. I ended up waking up in the middle of the night and reading for at least an hour because I just couldn’t sleep.

I was still able to get up and get going pretty fast this morning. But the the cabin is definitely very motivating. Unfortunately my socks and shoes were still wet from crossing the river yesterday. Which only makes me want to get to the cabin even more knowing that I’ll have warm clothes to put on tomorrow morning because I can leave them hanging by the woodstove.

The hike out from the tent platforms took a little bit because the trail was difficult to navigate with all the water. The road walk to the next trail was super easy as I could pretty much see it from where I was. That hike was a little bit harder than I expected though, it started off really nice as an ATV trail but then seem to go uphill forever after that stopped. Near the end of it I ran into three people and their dachshunds . I was super impressed that the dogs could handle walking on this trail, not just normally but also with all the mud. They weren’t carrying them when I ran into them but I imagine there are sections that they will have to.

This trail wasn’t super exciting either, it was in the forest a lot which is far less exciting than a beautiful coast. It’s also still pretty chilly and overcast. It’s nice not to be roasting while I hike but it’s far less beautiful when gloomy. I was making a really great pace by the time I got to my super long road walk, I was thinking I would definitely have time to relax at the cabin tonight.

This was my longest road walk yet, almost 8 km. There were a lot of hills so it definitely was hard work even though I’m going so much faster. I had a gentleman pull over and offer me a ride probably kilometre in but I declined. I’m already going to be arriving at camp probably early today so I don’t really need to arrive any earlier. I told them I wasn’t expecting go deep into the trail today so I still have plenty of time. He told me I would pass through his garden on the trail and then said where it was. So he is actually the 4-5 km past the cabin campsite I was contemplating aiming for. A lot of people seem to put up fences and private property signs to keep hikers out. Then you have this guy, he keeps a garden out there with a picnic table and let’s hikers use it. I told him I’d heard about it and it was really nice of him to do that but I didn’t think I was going make it that far. He wished me luck and carried on. 

I made a quick stop at the gas station/grocery store, it let me ditch some garbage and grab some treats for tonight. I figured since I only had 7 km or so to go and plenty of hours of daylight I wouldn’t mind a little bit extra weight. I got a chocolate bar, a bag of chips and some sidekicks for dinner. I contemplated buying some more fuel but they didn’t sell what I need. I’m not entirely sure how many meals I get out of the canister yet. I was testing it before I left for this trip and I think I got 14 or 15 but it wasn’t empty. I did notice last night it seem to be taking longer to boil than the previous nights so I thought maybe that meant it was getting low. They didn’t have what I need though so I just carried on.

As I was getting near to the trail I saw a Wilder Experience, I had heard that they were great place to stop in on rainy days and warm up. However, it’s a beautiful day out and don’t really need to dry off or charge anything. 

A bunch of them were outside though and yelled out and asked me if I need anything so I was just like well do you sell fuel. Thinking that maybe if they had a can it just might be worth grabbing. They didn’t but a guy, I’m guessing is the owner, came down and asked me what kind of stove I had and what I needed and then grabbed me a can of his and said I could just have it. He explained that they only opened this summer but he really really wants to be a hub for thru hikers. It’s his plan to carry fuel and other hiking gear because after St. John’s they can be really hard to get it. I thought this was absolutely amazing, because part of why I chose not to do a lot of resupplies was because of how limited they are. He topped up my water and said if there’s anything else not to be shy and I can go inside and sit down for a bit if I wanted. I really wanted to get going though because this cabin and wood stove is very enticing. I said thanks and they wished me the best and I carried on.

This hike is rated strenuous but I had been told it was more because of the distance than the trail. I will admit it was not as hard as the strenuous ones I did on day one and day two. However, I was moving almost as slow as on those. It seemed whenever I wasn’t going up or down a steep muddy hill that I was just walking across a swamp. There was no way on earth I could keep my feet clean and ended up getting wet and muddy almost my knees. 

I did end up getting to the cabin about 4 o’clock and had a big internal debate. I still had enough daylight that I could probably get to the meadow to camp. And this would make tomorrow significantly easier. Tomorrow is going to be a long day with another strenuous trail and limited options of where to camp. However, this cabin has been a goal of mine since I set out on the trail.

Even though I just had two days off trail this is different. I went inside and checked it out and it’s way better than I expected. Someone had told me they found it creepy and didn’t want to spend the night but I thought it was actually great. It’s just a classic homemade hunting cabin but very spacious. I don’t want to post a whole lot of pictures because this is someone’s private property, but I do have them if you want to see, send me a message. It just has two bunkbeds on the far wall, two smaller single beds up front. There’s a kitchen area where it does look like they have a gas stove and a water hook up. They have some food, pots, pans and cutlery. They have a table with a bunch of chairs. The decor is very mismatch, dartboard, half naked women, fishing advertisements...However the main feature is the woodstove. The first thing I did was get it going and put my socks and shoes in front of it. And then I set up my sleeping pad and sleeping bag on one of the beds. I use the term bed loosely, they’re just wooden boards made into a bed with foam on them. There are a bunch of blankets and sleeping bags and pillows around but I would rather use my own. I chose the bed that is the closest to the woodstove so that I will be cozy all night. 

I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that I even have service here. I do like checking in with people so they know I’m safe. I quickly made dinner and then snuggled up on my bed to read and enjoy my treats until bed.

Since tomorrow will be such a long day I really want to hit the trail early. I’m hoping that since I will be somewhere warm, it will be easier to get up and get ready in the dark. That’s definitely one thing that has made it hard for me to get up and getting going. I find doing everything when I’m cold in the dark before the sun rises really hard. But if I am in the cabin and it’s still kind of warm it might be easier. Plus no wet clothes!