Hike to the Lion's Den

Friday, June 30, 2023 

Hi Blog!

We had a great time last night at the Heritage Center in the community of Tilting, here on Fogo Island, listening to the local musicians play a variety of folk and rock music, as well as traditional Irish and Newfie tunes. Kathy even got to play her ugly stick!

 The weather here has been crazy hot. We literally went from wearing our winter coats to sitting in our shorts and sandals. The Newfies on Fogo Island are not happy. Most places here don't have air conditioning. We're lucky because our campsite is right on the beach and we have been getting a very strong ocean breeze keeping us comfortable.

Fogo Island is a hiker's paradise. There are so many trails and just not enough time to hike them all. We've had to make some tough choices. Today we decided to tackle the Lion's Den Trail. The loop trail is 4.5 mile long (with side trails to lookouts and down to coves and sites of old outports) and wanders through the locations of four resettled communities. We got an early start because of the heat.

We ended up parking at the bottom of the hill when we saw the trailhead sign. Turns out, there was a second trailhead at the top of the hill. Oh, well... at least we got a good selfie!

Sitting high up on the hill is The Marconi Wireless Interpretation Center, opened in 2007. It is a museum documenting the important role that wireless communication played in Newfoundland and Labrador's history. The original Marconi station was built in 1911, and for many years was the only station between Cape Race (on the southeastern tip of Newfoundland) and Belle Isle, a large island between Newfoundland and Labrador..

We had great views of old town of Fogo. The lumpy hump to the left in the photo below is Brimstone Head. Our RV is parked on the beach just to the right of Brimstone Head, but wasn't visible from where we stood. But we can see those icebergs from the front door of our RV.

Fogo was one of the 11 communities on the island that voted to amalgamate into a single governmental entity known as the Town of Fogo Island. In addition to Fogo, the new town includes Joe Batt's Arm, Seldom, Little Seldom, Tilting, Stag Harbour, Island Harbour, Deep Bay, FI Central, Shoal Bay and Barr'd Island.

Once we climbed above tree line, the trail was lined with glacial tarns. We stopped to take in the view of Pilley's Pond.

With each view, we could spot icebergs in the distance.

As we mentioned before, the folks in Newfoundland and Labrador love their boardwalks and stairs. With folks kept on trail, the surrounding sub-alpine plants are saved from trample.

After climbing to a viewpoint, we had a commanding view of the Fogo harbour.

The first old outport we came to was Lock's Cove. It once had a population of 35 people. It was eventually abandoned in 1945.

We walked down to the cove. There were no structures left. We did manage to find some pottery shards and sea glass on the beach. We also got a good look at this iceberg.

We made our way from Lock's Cove to the Eastern Tickle. Someone brought in a picnic table and left it on the beach. We took the opportunity to sit a spell and have a trail bar. A quick survey of the small beach yielded a few pieces of sea glass.

When we reached Shoal Tickle, we noticed there were rocky beaches on each side of a narrow isthmus which had been where all the old houses perched.  While sea glass was hard to find, the right side beach was full of pottery shards. By the time we finished our beach walk, we had a whole bag full.

The community at Lion's Den was established in 1836 and abandoned in 1945. 

Unlike the other communities we hiked through, we could still see remnants of the prior settlement. Pictured below is an old dock. Folks still come to Lion's Den for a boil up. There is a campfire ring, picnic table and a memory table were folks remembered their grandparents who once lived here.

By the way, if you are wondering what a boil up is, it is a Newfoundland tradition, sometimes referred to as a “Mug-up”. No, it does not necessarily involve boiling lobsters or other seafood, but perhaps it might.  It is one of Newfoundland's favorite traditions where a group of friends or family gather on a beach to enjoy tea and a snack over an open fire.

Sometimes during our hike we felt like we were at the ends of the earth. Then we thought, wait a minute, we ARE at the end of the earth!

As we were closing in on the end of our loop hike, we were really feeling the heat. We had to hike through a wooded section. The bugs were waiting for us. The only reason we stopped for this photo is because lady slippers are so rare. Yes, orchids do grown in Newfoundland!

We are hoping to get in one more hike before tomorrow's Canada Day Celebrations begin. So, stay tuned.