Mickeleens Trail and Sea Glass

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Hi Blog!

We seem to be in the middle of a rainy spell. Our drive on Tuesday from Burin to Tors Cove on the Avalon Peninsula was very wet. Wednesday in Tors Cove was even wetter. We spent the day cleaning the rig and going out to breakfast and lunch just to get out. Today, the rain wasn't predicted until late afternoon. Rather than plan a long hike on a wet trail, we decided to explore a few beaches for sea glass.

We were curious about the Witness Bay Seabird Ecological Reserve just north of Tors Cove and decided to make our first stop the Tourist Information Center for the reserve on Fortune Beach. In all our travels we have never met a more surly teenage attendant. Her parents obviously thought she needed a summer job which she felt she did not. Lucky for us, the Internet knows all, because she provided us with no information about the reserve.

After leaving the information center with less information that we started with, we did a quick scan of Fortune Beach. Finding only one tiny piece of sea glass, we decided to head on up the road to the trailhead for Mickeleens Path, a part of Newfoundland's famous East Coast Trail. We were hoping to find a few coves we could work our way down to, in order to hunt for more sea glass. Otter Cover was only 1.2 km, so we thought that would make for a nice short hike.

Mickeleens Path is one of the 25 different paths that make up the East Coast Trail. The paths of the East Coast Trail take you past towering cliffs and headlands, sea stacks, deep fjords, and a natural wave-driven geysers. There are also abandoned settlements, lighthouses, ecological reserves, seabird colonies, whales, icebergs, the world’s southernmost caribou herd, historic sites, a 50-meter suspension bridge, two active archaeological dig sites, and many more attractions. Today, we got to sample just a tiny portion.

After a beautiful coastal woods walk, we came to our first cove. An old fishing stage sits on the rocks below.

A new boardwalk winds through a marshy meadow.

Each little cove has its own name. This is Horse's Back. We also passed Gravelly Banks and Monahans Gulch.

The next boardwalk needed some love.

The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve contains North America’s largest Atlantic Puffin colony. More than 260,000 pairs of the province’s official bird nest here during the late spring and summer. The reserve also hosts the second-largest Leach’s Storm-petrel colony in the world-more than 620,000 pairs come here to nest. In addition, Black-legged Kittiwakes and Common Murres appear by the thousands. There are several tour boat operators which will take you out to the islands to photograph the bird colonies. We noticed one boat during our hike.

Kathy was in blueberry heaven as the trail was lined with both high bush and low bush blueberries.

Our constant companion was the sound of the surf pounding against the rocky shoreline.

We had to wait a few minutes for just the right wave to hit in order to catch the sea spouting between the cracks in the rocks.

We noticed this cross on the side of the trail. Our printed trail guide said that 16 year old Will Tobin died trying to rescue his puppy from one of the coves.

The sheer sides of the cove allow the ocean waves to rush in and thunder again the cliff.

As we approached Otter Cove, we passed another group of hikers who were just heading down to the scenic overlook. We decided to hike on a bit and find a place to rest and have a snack while they ventured out to the viewpoint. Kathy found just the right rock to rest on.

The trail down to the Otter Cover viewpoint was steep, but the view was spectacular. After the recent rains, a small waterfall was cascading down at the head of the cove.

The return trip was much faster than the trip out; we were inspired because lunch was waiting for us in the Jeep at the trailhead. We found a picnic table at the Visitor's Center and enjoyed the view while we ate our lunch.

After lunch, we were still hoping to find a few more beaches to explore. We decided to head down to the old fish plant in Tors Cove. While there wasn't much sea glass, there was a pier with yellow chairs and a view.

The gulls really, really like this one rock.

As we sat in the yellow chairs, we noticed another beach just to the north of us. We decided to see if we could find our way over there. Google Maps had a tag for "Fairylore Walkabout" so we mapped over to that location. As it turns out, Fairylore is a tour company. According to their website, you can enjoy a guided walk with a local storyteller (and certified Fairyologist) to ‘The Cribbies’, home to some of the most photographed salt box homes in Newfoundland. While we didn't sign up for the tour, we did get a photo of one of the famous saltbox houses. Unfortunately, we didn't see any fairies. That doesn't mean they didn't see us!

The trail to the beach followed an ATV track.

As we made our way down to the beach, we stopped to get a photo of Fox island. The strip of water between the shore and Fox Island (to the left in the photo below) is known as The Gut.

It doesn't take long for the rough Atlantic surf to smooth and polish the sea glass. Today's finds were tiny little jewels.  Some of them were of unusual colors!

As we were leaving Tors Cove, we just had to stop at Running the Goat Book and Broadsides. The print shop has three printing presses and prints and publishes a wide range of books and art work.  The retail shop features all Running the Goat titles currently in print, as well as letterpress-printed materials from local printers, a thoughtfully curated selection of books for adults, and exceptional children's literature.They also offer a fine array of prints from local print-makers, audio books from a local audio-book publisher, and a small selection of local pottery. It was an amazing place in an amazing setting. We may have to go back there again before we leave Tors Cove.