I made a stupid mistake

While chatting with the guys at the hostel I mentioned that I wanted to do an overnight on Wednesday since I did not have my online class. They told me they had wondered why I booked the hostel for Tuesday night and Thursday night but not Wednesday. I explained that I was still new to using a hammock tent and wanted to get some more practice in with it. At first they recommended that I hike Green Gardens as it was really great for hammocks. However, somebody pointed out that it was closed for maintenance (again). The next trail they suggested was Snug Harbour. I did not do a lot of research into the trails here before I came. I was hoping that talking to people at the hostel would get me the information I needed and I was about to find out if it paid off.

They showed me some photos of this trail and I looked it up and thought it would work well. AllTrails says it is a 14.5 km out and back. A lot of the reviews, especially the recent ones, say the trail is not in good condition and to walk on the shore, which is what the guys at the hostel also said. They warned me that the trail wasn’t maintained and I would get mud to my knees if I tried to take it.

Since it was a relatively shorter hike in, I decided I would do some planning online in the morning before heading out. Of course, once I started working on planning the ECT I quickly got distracted. Next thing I knew it was past 11 and I still hadn’t repacked for this overnight. I like to completely empty my bag and redo it for trips to ensure I have everything and it's where I want it.

I brought my bag and my hammock tent into the hostel. I knew I needed to pack my hammock tent since I hadn’t used it when I went to Pollett’s Cove. I emptied my entire bag and repacked it for what I would need for this trip. After that was packed, I had a quick lunch, then I packed up my belongings from the hostel. I spent a little bit of time re-organizing my car since it got hectic over the past few days. I looked at the time and realized it was after one and I really needed to get a move on.

I went to the visitor center because I knew I needed to buy another day pass to do the hike. They also informed me that we have to reserve the back country campsites now. This isn’t a usual thing it’s just because of coronavirus. I asked if I could do it right then and there, thankfully they said yes. Unfortunately, the computer did what computers do best, and did not work. After trying for probably half an hour they gave up and gave me an old-school form to fill out. But then it was done and I was on my way!

It was about a 20 minute drive to the trail head and all the signs are labeled as Western Brook. I definitely had to double check a couple of times that I was in the right spot. I find most parks have a fight trails that are the feature ones to draw people in and all the signs are for those only.

The parking lot was very full and there was lots of people around, even some getting bikes out of their trucks. I figured it had to be a scenic spot to have this many people. It was more than I saw at the Gros Morne trailhead.

The trail started off really wide and flat and nice, it made sense that it's so popular with this accessibility. I realized that this is one trail and then my trail will spout off of it later. So I had a nice leisurely 2 km walk in with tons of people around.

They have a little visitor center set up by Western Brook Lake, normally they run boat tours there but they are canceled this summer. There was still an abundance of people, and I stopped to chat for a few minutes with a gentleman and to take some photos. I have no problem with asking strangers to take my photograph, it's nice to have something other than selfies. They're always so curious about my trip too and we often chat for a few minutes.

When I registered to camp here, the woman had also warned me that the trail was really really messy. I told her that I’d been told to take the shore and she said that was good advice. Unfortunately, this is something that's happening in a lot of parks. They just don't have enough funding to maintain all the trails and infrastructure. This is one reason why I will always pay a fee if there is one, I know that it's being put to good use to support activities I want available to the community.

I jumped on the shore from this little visitor center and took off. There were parts that were super easy to walk on but then there were also parts where I was trying to climb over giant boulders.  I enjoyed walking right on the waters edge and having the uninterrupted view of the water.

After probably only about 2 kilometers I came to the river I was worried about. The guys had warned me that I would have to do a river crossing, they reassured me it wasn't too bad. I know river crossing can be common with backcountry camping but it's something I haven't encountered yet. I specifically wore my Altras so I can test how fast they dry when I get them wet. I’ve been warned that the river can get high if there's been a lot of rain, and so I decided that if it went above my upper thighs then I would turn around. I did not want to get my bag wet and told myself I didn't have to. I do have it lined with an industrial garbage bag but I would just rather not have that much wet to start the trip. The chance of me getting knocked over or stumbling in also increases when it's that high.

You can really see how wide the river is here, although it was pretty clear. At this point I was still more so on the shore and not the real trail. I heard a noise up where the real trail was and yelled out hello. I thought I heard, not a reply, but some kind of acknowledgment that somebody heard me so I went up the trail to see. There was the family I had seen getting the bikes out of their vehicle. They warned me the trail they just come on was extremely muddy and was no good for biking. I told him I’d been warned and that’s why I hiked along the shore. They wished somebody had warned them because they were now covered in mud.

We had a little chat about where I was going hiking and they realized that I planned to cross the river. I told them since I was prepping for a longer trail this was going to be good practice of my gear. They said they were having a picnic there and the dad said he'd help me if I fell in. It definitely reassured me that I wasn’t crossing what could be a waist high river all alone, so I set off.

The river had a stronger current than I was expecting so I was especially glad I had my trekking polls with me. I was able to use them to feel out the rocks and for balance. The water got to my upper thighs, but no higher. As I made it to the other side relatively easily, the family cheered me on, the encouragement felt really nice. 

I continued along the shore for probably another hour before I realized that it wasn’t going to be possible anymore. I got to a sheer rock wall and my options were to walk through the lake with what appeared to be almost thigh high water and 1-2 foot waves. Or to go across the wall. I had gone across a few shorter and less steep walls so I thought I might be able to do this one as well. However, one of the first hand holds I grabbed made a 2 foot slab of rock fall and almost sent me into the water. I decided I did not want to fall backwards into a lake and went up to the woods to find the trail. 

The trail was much easier to find than I expected since I was warned it was going to be ridiculously overgrown. It was definitely muddy but at this point I was already wet to the knees from the river crossing.

I stayed on the trail and it came to a beach. This was a really nice easy walk and I could see across to the other end of the shore and there was a couple walking towards me. I saw them for probably about 20 minutes before we came across each other. They had packs on and told me they had spent the night before out. They said it was a really beautiful campsite and much better maintained than the trail. They warned me where to look for the pole for the bear hang because they couldn’t find it when they got there at night. They said they had no issues with animals and they even left the food out since they couldn’t do the bear hang.

It’s definitely reassuring to see other people on the trail and know that other people are still camping out here. Knowing how overgrown the trail was made me a little apprehensive that nobody was using the campsite this summer. I said goodbye and carried on my way. From there on I stayed on the shore again until I got close to the harbour.

There is actually three or four little clearings for campsites here. They all have a picnic table and a fire spot. The bear hang was kind of central to all of them and tere is a toilet up the hill from as well. It was a real room with a view.

There are two Muskoka chairs down by the water which at first I thought would be a great spot to watch the sunset only to realize they are facing the sunrise.

I have been working on setting up my hammock underneath the fly. I figure this will be good preparation for rainy nights to help stay dry. I’ve been keeping my fly in the snake skins so that I can set it up first and then I set the hammock up under it. I set up the fly and then attached the hammock to it so that it would be lined up. The hammock I have is asymmetrical so the hammock fits best a certain direction with the fly. I decided that I was hungry so I ate dinner before finishing setting up the hammock. When I went to finish setting up the hammock, I had a major realization

I did not bring the tether straps.

For those of you unfamiliar with Hennessey hammocks, they come with thicker straps that you tie your hammock to. They withstand the weight better and can give you more length between trees. They resemble seat belt straps and are designed to take most of your weight. Dad had made me an extra two sets of different lengths to give me more options as well. I distinctly remember packing the large ones as they are the most versatile.

Uh oh....what now?

I ransacked my bag. I took out every single thing in there looking for them. I know I pack in an organized way though so if they weren't in the hammock bag, I knew there weren't there even if I didn't want to admit it.

I sat down and had a little moment of panic, I don't think I've ever actually forgotten an essential piece of gear before. I did watch a video when I first got the hammock of how you can set it up on the ground using your trekking poles. However, this was probably close to six weeks ago and I don’t entirely remember it. I also have no cell phone service at this campground to look it up.

It was around 6:30 PM when I realized I didn’t have them. I debated hiking back out but convinced myself otherwise. It would be about 2 1/2 hours to hike out and I wasn’t confident I could do it safely. If I went along the shore then I would be wet and have to deal with the cold wind off the lake. But I wasn’t sure what the trail conditions were like and had been warned they were poor and I could lose the trail. There was a chance I probably could have done it since the first few kilometers were such a nice wide groomed trail that getting to there would’ve been the only hard part.

There was also the part of me that would have been so embarrassed to explain why I needed somewhere to stay that night. Here I am, planning a 12+ day trek and not even handling one night!

I decided I would do my best to set the tent up along the ground. I didn’t remember enough about how to set it up with the trekking polls so I just tied it low to the trees so the small rope wouldn't take a lot of weight.

Once it was set up I let myself sit and absorb all the emotions I was going through. I’ve been having a lot of doubt about doing the East Coast Trail alone in the first place and this wasn’t exactly encouraging to me. After a few minutes of self-pity I told myself there was nothing I could do to change anything at this exact moment. So I explored around the other campsites and took some pictures of the sunset. I made sure to use my travel tripod so that I’m actually in some of them and they’re not all selfies. 

I'm glad the guys recommended this trail as it really is a beautiful spot and it's tucked away so I don't think I would have found it on my own. I think it's good I had the challenge of the messy trail and the river because I could encounter these on the ECT as well. The campsite was also perfect for hanging a hammock, the trees were in a good spot and well spaced.

I ended up climbing into my hammock at about 8:30 PM as it started to get dark. Since I am right on the water that’s pretty much all I can hear which will hopefully keep me from imagining animals. I knew I'd be up early with the sun so I drifted off not long after drafting my blog.

Have you ever forgotten something essential when you’ve gone camping?