25.18km

I'm still not doing well at getting up and going on time. Since I was so cold last night, I had the mummy bag done up super tight. I woke up around 4:30 and loosened it so I’d see the sun and hopefully it would wake me up, and then I didn’t wake again until 7. It’s still cold and I know my clothes are wet so I don’t want to get up. 

I let myself cook breakfast within reach of the tent again. I think because I had so much wet stuff in my tent that my tent was actually colder than the outside air so I left the flap open while I got ready. I had contemplated leaving that stuff hanging up outside the tent overnight to dry but I thought it was going to rain again, and it did. After breakfast I quickly packed up my bed and put my hiking clothes back on. My clothes were dry but chilled from being in the tent. My socks were still wet but since they’re merino wool as soon as I get moving I’ll feel fine. 

It still takes me about an hour from waking up to pack up and get going. I actually think this is reasonable and more want to work on getting up earlier. I stopped at the river to get water for the day and checked out where the local guy yesterday had told me I should camp. I’m really glad I went for the spot I did and not his recommendation. Even in the morning with sunshine and less wind it was cold so it would’ve been awful overnight. There really wasn’t a spot sheltered from the wind and the sound of the waves would’ve meant no sleep at all.

Stiles Cove Path is probably the first trail I've encountered that could really use some maintenance. It’s still wide pretty much the whole way along but some of the boardwalks and what they put in to help over the rougher areas and wet areas are rotten. This isn’t really an issue in itself except they use rebar to secure them so you really have to watch your step so you don’t step on any of that. The trail is definitely easier than the others I have done and I’m back to about a 22 minute kilometer which is really nice.

As I go along I’m practicing trying to find campsites, as most of the nights I will be responsible for doing that. I really want to avoid night hiking so probably the first flat spot I see after 18:00 will be where I put my tent unless someone recommended a specific spot. This is my first multi day overnight hike, and the first time I've done a trail where I didn't know spots to camp ahead oftime.

I’m really looking towards my next trail, Father Troy, as it is rated easy. I’m really hoping that will be a big morale booster, let my feet heal a bit and pick up some pace. So far I've been going a little slower and getting less mileage in than I would like.

I stopped for lunch at the end of Stiles Cove Trail because there was a garbage can. I find most trailheads don’t have them which makes sense when you’re in a really tiny community. I think Biscan Cove had maybe five houses and no cell reception so I understand there’s no public garbage can there. However, I had a couple days worth of granola bar wrappers and toilet paper I needed to offload.

I left the solar charger in the sun for about 20 minutes and then plugged in my watch and it’s charging it but won’t charge my cell phone or the power bank. I figure something is going on with the port and maybe because the watch requires less power it works. I’m going to to continue trying to charge the watch on it and use the power bank for my phone if I can.

I’ve definitely noticed as I’ve gone along that  a lot of the locals don’t seem to support the trail. There are significant amount of no parking signs up and a lot of private property/keep out signs around spots that would look good for camping. I do totally understand that it’s your property but if you have a perfectly little flat area right beside the trail, the size of a tent really isn’t going to do much damage. I guess this really reiterates the importance of Leave No Trace camping because the signs are probably here because somebody didn’t follow the principles. Just look at this beautiful field, it would be such a nice campsite;

Father Troy proved to be significantly easier than I was even expecting. It is really wide and well maintained. There are some hills but for the most part it is significantly flatter. My feet, especially my soles, are feeling a little weary after being wet all day yesterday so the flatter softer ground feels really nice and is letting me pick up make pace quite a bit. I’ve lost track of the number of people I’ve encountered on this trail, it seems crazy popular. There’s multiple people just bent over picking blueberries in little nooks and crannies.

Two people I met really stand out to me though.

One: There was a lady sitting down picking some berries, I didn’t see her at first until I was almost on top of her. She saw my pack and start asking questions, I’m always surprised how few people seem to realize people do this hike. You think the locals would encounter a lot more people since it's so popular. I knew about it and I live in Halifax, and I've only been there 6 years. She didn’t really seem to know it was a thing was really impressed, surprised I was going alone. She told me that I should write a book and not call it wild. Which reminded me of what Justine said when I first thought of doing this this year. The woman then told me that she was really proud of me for doing something like this and doing it on my own. I know a lot of people probably think that’s a weird thing to say to a stranger but I genuinely liked hearing it. It’s kind of nice to have a little bit of recognition for the hard work I’m putting in...Although again I wonder if the guys get told this.

Two: There was a woman laying down just off the path when I paused to check which way to go. Again, she saw my pack and asked me bunch of questions. She asked where I planned on camping tonight and when I said Middle Cove Beach she asked me if I knew where the good spot was. And I said I just knew that when I got down by the beach there was a spot in the woods. So she explained to me how to find a good spot and what to look for. Which is really nice because I will always take a spot for somebody else vouch for over guessing. She said I’d pass a mansion, with a huge field and then cross a river and that’s when I should look in the woods for a rock fire ring. And if I go in the woods and a bit past that I will find a wooden wind wall. It's been pretty windy on the trail and I think that prevents me from getting warm at night so the wind wall is appealing.

I did the extra loop on Father Troy trail which takes me out to Church Cove, I’m not really sure why they have that one little off shoot but it was super pretty. Even though it said difficult I didn’t really find it hard compared to some of the other up and downs I’ve done.

After being out along the coast for probably 3 km, Father Troys trail cut in among some fields and meadows. It’s really nice and wide and flat, definitely some kind of quad trail. But both sides are completely fenced in. I wonder if the trail used to continue along the coast and there was a property dispute or if they just squeezed it in here between the properties to make it longer. The scenic views are a little further off but the soft grass and flat even trail is nice for speed.

For the most part, navigating has been super early. The trail is really well signed, even the town walks often have some guidance. Then you get spots like this, with obviously once was a sign telling me which way to go but now there’s nothing.

The rest of Father Troy and the community walk through Torbay took no time at all. I saw the mansion, the field and the river but no camping spot. Luckily there was a couple right there so I asked if they were local and knew about it. Thankfully they were and told me to try the next river. Apparently this trail has two mansions with large fields and rivers...

Here is one of them;

I found the area quickly enough and decided to set up my tent by the wind shelter. The first flat spot with the campfire ring is pretty much right on the trail and multiple people walked by while I was contemplating it.

This is the first potential camping spot there;

The second spot is pretty much hidden from the trails. Although I can hear a party and dogs barking. Let’s hope they don’t keep me up all night...

My tip for any other thru hikers is to always make time to chat with the locals!