Pollett’s Cove

We did it! This trail has been a goal of ours all summer and it felt great to finally check it off! Here's a photo we took after the hike because we were too excited to get going to take one beforehand.

We got to the trail head around 4pm and there was only one other vehicle. We had a feeling that going on a week night might give us some extra privacy.  We had all heard a lot of different things about the length of the trail and the difficulty. All trails says it’s 13.2 km round-trip, the sign at the beginning of the cove says it’s 9.5 km in... We weren’t totally sure how long it was going to take us so we really wanted to get going as fast as we could. We had also all been warned that it was a challenging hike, many people had posted in local groups that it was the hardest trail they had done here.

The first kilometer was really nice and easy on a wide path and kind of had us saying people were full of it when they called it hard. And then we started to climb up and up and up and up...

We stopped at most flat spots just to catch our breath from climbing the hills. Although, as steep and difficult as it was, almost every time I started to think I can’t do this this, it is so steep and difficult, it would flatten out and be easy for just long enough to refresh me. This little cycle continued on for about 2.5 hours. According to my Garmin it was actually a 7 km hike in so AllTrails wasn't far off. When we arrived we were excited to realize that we were probably in time to watch the sunset overlooking the ocean. We eagerly started setting up our tents up in one of the little driftwood pens. These pens have been created by visitors to the beach so that horses don't damage the tents. Unfortunately, there weren’t any horses there while we were trying to set up but I was really hoping we would see some.

The wind had started to pick up at this point and was quickly becoming absolutely horrendous. I can normally set this tent up all by myself in no time. Even with all three of us working on it, it was a struggle. We all worked on getting mine up and put rocks and our packs inside to hold it down. Since I prefer to camp LNT style, I am often setting up on a rock and unable to peg out. This means that if it's windy I put rocks in all the corners to help the tent stay down.

Jayson‘s tent was a backpacking tent and more designed for withstanding wind so we figured we would set it up in front of mine to help block the wind since it was better designed for it. All three of us were working on setting it up even though he usually does it all on his own. And once we got it most the way set up we realized it just would not stay on the ground. My tent was still flapping in the wind, sometimes the wind would almost flatten it.

We realized that staying here for the night really wasn’t going to work. We contemplated all of us just sleeping in the same tent and hoping the weight would be enough. Ultimately, we decided that the safest option was to pack up our tents and go to a spot we saw on the way in. We did not want to have to get up in the middle of the night to move camp because our tent couldn’t withstand the wind. We quickly shoved our tents back in their bags and hiked straight up for about 20 minutes. The sun was starting to set, which left us with a beautiful view as we went but it was straight uphill climb and the wind was brutal. I could barely hear what Jayson was saying to me and he was less than 10 feet away.

The spot we had scouted out on the way in as our back up campsite was really well covered by trees. The wind was significantly more blocked here and we figured we’d also be warmer without the wind smashing us around. We are able to set up the tents with no problem at all since the wind was completely blocked. We could still hear the wind and if we went up or down the trail a bit, it got much worse. This really seemed to be the sweet spot of protection. We had a quick dinner and then by 9 o’clock said our good nights. Having been up early, driven such a long way and then hiked a hard trail had taken it's toll on us.

I found that the tent was actually really warm and cozy. It’s been over a month since I spent the night in a tent so I actually went to bed in just my bra using the sleeping bag more as a blanket because I was so warm. Last weekend I was so cold that I made the decision not to use my summer sleeping bag anymore but the hammock is much more exposed to the elements than the tent. I stayed cozy warm pretty much all night especially with the extra body heat with Mercury in the tent with me. I did wake up multiple times because the wind was so loud. Every time I did I was grateful that we had decided not to camp down on the beach because we would not have made it through the night there.

Since we didn’t get to properly enjoy the sunset the evening before I set my alarm so we could try and see the sunrise. I actually woke up before it, since we did go to bed at nine. However, It was still crazy foggy and nothing spectacular. There still weren’t any horses which was disappointing too.

Since there were no horses, lots of fog and getting chilly we didn't see a point in lingering. A quick breakfast and then we packed up and hit the road by about 8:30. Jayson has a sweet Doberman and where we didn’t have any service he couldn’t check in to make sure everything was going all right for her he wanted to get back.

It was a chillier hike than the day before but still very scenic. It only took us about 10 minutes less time to hike out and we took leas breaks since a lot more of it felt like we were going downhill.

We checked out the abandoned house that was at the beginning of the hike since we had more time on the way out. I was impressed to find that it would have had running water at one point, it seemed much too remote for that. There was a water heater, a toilet and a bathroom sink. It actually was probably really nice and cozy in it’s prime. It would have had quite the stunning view from the front porch as well. I can't help but wonder what the story is behind the house. Was it a bachelor fisherman? Or maybe a family's summer cottage?

Overall the hike was easier than I expected based on peoples reviews. However, the other things people warned us about like the wind were very true. I was grateful that I wasn’t alone to deal with all that wind! I was so happy Mercury and Jayson could join me on this little adventure, especially since my next month of hiking will be quite isolated.

I would love to go back on a proper summer day when we have more time. To actually camp on the beach, maybe spend the whole weekend there, and see the horses.

Maybe next year...