East Coast Trail - Bauline East to La Manche Village

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Hi Blog!

We spent Saturday bibbling about the RV, counting and organizing Christmas presents (yes, Christmas presents; because we're on the road, we have to do a lot of advance shopping and ship the presents internationally so they get to their recipients on time), doing laundry, walking Ruby and all the other stuff we never blog about. 

After a beautiful sunrise this morning, we were eager to get out and hike more of the East Coast Trail. While the trail literally follows the road in front of our campground, we decided to drive down to the Bauline East Trailhead to minimize our road walking. Since the 500 meters of the road to the trail are privately maintained, the East Coast Trail Committee encourages hikers to park at the Bauline East Harbor. There is plenty of parking, a picnic table, chairs and a beach to explore for sea glass -- not to mention a beautiful view:

The harbor is home to several small fishing boats. Recreational cod fishing is allowed Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was obvious from the number of seagulls and discarded fish heads that most of the fisher folk caught their limit.

The trail description we have says to leave the wharf, turn right and climb up an unpaved road. What it fails to tell you is that there are three unpaved roads that all converge. We weren't sure which road to follow until we saw this sign buried in the brush. Rather than cut the brush back, they just nailed another sign on top. However, now that the summer is almost over, the top sign is now obscured by brush!

At Melvin's Meadow, we left the road behind and began following a cart path. We trekked through a mixed wood forest. Kathy had her blueberry radar going as we approached Doctor's Cove. We decided to defer exploring the cove until the return trip.

As we continued on, we passed a sharp rock fissure known as Black Gulch. There are pairs of these steep-sided fissures on either side of La Manche Bay. It is believed that these fissures were formed as the glaciers melted 10,000 years ago.

We stopped to take in the view as the path led straight across the top of this rock ledge.

Dave hiked down to get a closer look.

As we neared the former LaManche Village site, we began to see ruins in the woods. La Manche was used as a fishing harbor for many years and was known as one of the best fishing coves on the southern shore. The community was settled around 1840. The first settler was George Melvin, of English descent, who came from Burnt Cove, three kilometres away. He was followed shortly by relatives.

Before 1966, an anchored walkway extended out over the ocean. This route was repeatedly torn apart by storms. Instead, our route climbed up a steep hollow via 70 wooden and stone steps, then briefly followed an old path along a high ridge, and descended 87 step to the suspension bridge.

On January 25, 1966, a powerful winter storm hit the east coast of Newfoundland. A combination of high tide and waves caused many boats, flakes, stores and the original suspension bridge connecting both sides of the harbor to be destroyed and washed out to sea. The destruction of the village was enough to cause the people living there to relocate.

As we descended those 87 steps, we got our first look at the new suspension bridge:

Bridges here were washed away on at least four occasions. The present bridge was constructed by the East Coast Trail Conference in 1999. It is 42.5 meters (140') long and 22.5 meters high (74') high. The cables are drilled and bolted into bedrock.

La Manche Ponds drain into the ocean via this impressive waterfall.

Once you cross the suspension bridge, you can either take the LaManche Trail and search for more ruins on your way to La Manche Provincial Park Campground, or continue along the coast on the next section of the East Coast Trail known as the Flamber Head Path. We decided to hike around the shoreline to see if we could get another view of the bridge.

La Manche got its name in the 16th/17th century by French sailors who are believed to have used the cove to hide from English ships during their raids on Ferryland and St. Johns. La Manche is French for "the channel" which describes the long, narrow shape of the harbor.

We decided the far side of the harbor would make a great lunch spot. While Kathy picked blueberries, Dave explored more of the trail. Not as many day trippers come this way, since it is almost 11 kilometers until the next trailhead in Brigus South. We both agreed it wouldn't be fun to come down this part of the trail in the rain.

Because today is Sunday and the weather was nice, we probably saw more hikers today than we have on the last several hikes combined. Since we came from Bauline East, we were able to convince another couple that the Bauline East harbor, with its boats and picnic table, would make a nice turnaround spot for their hike from the campground. We also convinced another couple that, if they had time, they should check out Doctor's Cove, which this is:

While the trail guide mentioned stepping stones around the Doctor's Cove to the pebble beach, the path was overgrown with summer foliage. We decided to rock-hop over the large boulders. Everything we learned about rock-hopping we learned in the Boulder Fields of Hickory Run State Park in Pennsylvania.

The dark grey shale in Doctor's Cove was originally deposited as a submarine delta over 550 million years ago. It has fragmented into pancake-shaped pieces. While there were large examples, Kathy found one that was just the right size for her rock bowl in the RV.

As with most hikes, the trek back to the trailhead was uneventful. Back at the harbor, Kathy took the opportunity to collect some more sea glass, while Dave ducked a Jeep parked up the street.

The weather will be hit-or-miss the next few days. We hope to get out and hike more of the East Coast Trail, but we also want to explore some of the other outports along the Irish Loop. So, stay tuned.