For Those Who Come Next: Itinerary for Walking the Trans Canada Trail in Newfoundland

 “There really is no correct way to hike the trail, and anyone who insists that there is ought not to worry so much about other people’s experiences. Hikers need to hike the trail that’s right for them.”

 Adrienne Hall 

How long does it take to hike across Newfoundland on the Trans Canada Trail? 

There are moments within a long journey where it becomes necessary to step slightly outside of the day-to-day routine of walking and reflect on what the path has actually required.   Our goal is that as we walk from coast to coast to coast on the Trans Canada Trail, we will be able to continue sharing each day of the journey and in the process, help those who might have an interest in something similar.  To this end, this entry is about sharing our itinerary for hiking across Newfoundland.

 
In the process, we hope to answer questions that anyone might have about the province that we have recently concluded, such as:
 
What is it like to hike across Newfoundland on the Trans Canada Trail?
If you want to hike across Newfoundland, how long might it take? 
If you want to hike across Newfoundland, what do the daily stages look like?
 

Hiking Across Newfoundland

 
Newfoundland was the beginning of our #Hike4Birds on the Trans Canada Trail.  It was here that we started our trek across Canada, beginning in Cape Spear, moving from the East Coast Trail to the T’Railway Trail, and we walked every step of both pathways. 

 
What follows is not a guide in the traditional sense. It is not prescriptive, nor is it intended to suggest that this is how the route must be walked. It is instead a record of how we crossed Newfoundland - drawn from our journals, our daily shared blog entries, and the lived experience of moving from the edge of the Atlantic at Cape Spear to the ferry terminal at Port-aux-Basques.
 
We offer this information as a means to plan and ground your own trek – to have the same type of insight that we would have loved when we took our first steps.

However, at the time of writing this (2019) the existing guidebooks for the Great Trail are incomplete and most are more than a decade old.  In some cases, the TCT has moved its route or expanded the trail system significantly.  Moreover,  the fact remains that some provinces (Saskatchewan and Alberta) don’t even have a guidebook, which means for those who come next, there is a huge absence of information about the national pathway.
 
This record exists for those who are considering a Trans Canada journey, whether on foot or by bike.  It is not meant as a template, and certainly not a promise that this is how your journey will turn out.  The information here – and in our daily blogs – is a glimpse of what one passage across the province from east to west looked like, for two particular people, in one particular year.

 
It must always be remembered that routes change, conditions vary, and circumstances are never the same twice – day to day, year to year, and hiker to hiker.
 
With that said, sometimes knowing where someone once walked, struggled and succeeded can make things easier at the end of a hard day on the trail.  Knowing that you are standing and walking where others once also did to can make a world of difference in moments of doubt.  We certainly took faith in knowing that Dana Meise, Sara Jackson, Dianne Whelan and Mel Vogel had come before us.
 

The Trans Canada Trail in Newfoundland

 
The Trans Canada Trail in Newfoundland is defined by two distinct landscapes and two distinct trails.
 
It begins along the coastline of the Avalon Peninsula on the East Coast Trail, a network of footpaths tracing cliffs, coves, headlands, and narrow ridgelines above the Atlantic. Here, the route is rugged and immediate. The ocean is never far away, and the terrain demands attention - steep ascents, exposed sections, rope-assisted climbs, and nearly constant elevation change. The walking is slow and shaped as much by weather and topography as by distance.

 

From St. John’s westward, the route moves over the Grand Concourse before it transitions onto the T’Railway Trail, an 800+ kilometre corridor following the former Newfoundland Railway across the island. The character of walking the Trans Canada Trail changes immediately. The trail widens, the grades level out, and distances replace technical struggles. Yet this simplicity is deceptive. The surface - ranging from coarse gravel to sharp, uneven ballast - becomes one of the defining challenges of the province.  It wears on your feet and legs in ways that are not immediately apparent at the outset - but which you do feel.

 
Between these different approaches to trails - the coastal footpaths, urban pathways, and the interior rail corridor - the Trans Canada Trail offers a complete cross-section of Newfoundland: ocean, boreal forest, wetlands, lakes, and the long, gradual between them.
 

Stages and Itinerary for Hiking Across Newfoundland

 
Remembering that our trek on the Trans Canada Trail across Newfoundland took place in two parts. In 2018, we walked the East Coast Trail as part of our early preparations and coastal exploration.  A year later, in 2019, we began the continuous Trans Canada Trail journey at Cape Spear and walked west across the island to Port-aux-Basques. Taken together, Newfoundland occupied 81 calendar days, including 56 days of forward hiking progress.  The larger number reflects days off trail, rest days, resupply days, and days we spent giving public presentations about our #Hike4Birds citizen science outreach.

The ECT on its own took 13 days spent along the trail, which we undertook amid 25 days in Newfoundland.
 
The T’Railway Trail on its own took 43 days spent progressing along the trail over the course of 56 days, including rest days, resupply days, and days in which we have public talks.
 
That time was not defined by distance alone, but by a combination of factors including weather, terrain, resupply points, days off the trail, nature presentations, and of course, the realities of the world. There were zero days built around necessity rather than rest, pauses for birding and giving presentations to school classrooms and nature groups – all of which slowed our progress. 
 

East Coast Trail Hike 2018

 
June 24, 2018 – Arrive St. John’s
June 25, 2018 – Portugal Cove to Bauline (ECT)
June 26, 2018 – Bauline and return to St. John’s
June 27, 2018 – St. John’s to Blackhead (ECT)
June 28, 2018 – Blackhead to Maddox Cove / Petty Harbour (ECT)
June 29, 2018 – Maddox Cove / Petty Harbour to Little Bald Head Campsite (ECT)
June 30, 2018 – Little Bald Head to Freshwater (ECT)
July 1, 2018 – Freshwater to Witless Bay (ECT)
July 2, 2018 – Witless Bay Ecological Reserve and IBA (off-trail bird tour)
July 3, 2018 – Witless Bay to La Manche Provincial Park (ECT)
July 4, 2018 – La Manche Provincial Park to Roaring Cove Campsite (ECT)
July 5, 2018 – Roaring Cove Campsite to Long Will Campsite (ECT)
July 6, 2018 – Long Will Campsite to Ferryland (ECT)
July 7, 2018 – Exploring Ferryland and the Colony of Avalon
July 8, 2018 – Ferryland to Chance Bay (ECT)
July 9, 2018 – Chance Bay to Bear Cove Point Lighthouse (ECT)
July 10, 2018 – Bear Cove Point Lighthouse to Cappahayden (ECT)
July 11, 2018 – St. John’s
July 12, 2018 – St. John’s to Bonavista
July 13, 2018 – Bonavista and Elliston
July 14, 2018 – Bonavista to St. John’s
July 15, 2018 – St. John’s
July 16, 2018 – Flatrock to Logy Bay (ECT)
July 17, 2018 – Ocean Science Centre to Quidi Vidi Village (ECT)
July 18^th, 2018 – North Head Trail, Signal Hill (should be part of ECT)
July 19, 2018 – Departure from Newfoundland / return home
 

Cape Spear to St John’s and across on T’Railway Trail 2019

 
May 26, 2019 – Arrival St. John’s, Newfoundland
May 27, 2019 – Quidi Vidi and Important Bird Areas
May 28, 2019 – Cape St. Mary’s Birding Tour
May 29, 2019 – Newfoundland preparations
May 30, 2019 – Equipment preparations in St. John’s
May 31, 2019 – Final thanks and send-off in St. John’s
June 1, 2019 – Cape Spear to Fort Amherst (Beginning of Great Trail / TCT)
June 2, 2019 – Nature Newfoundland Presentation
June 3, 2019 – St. John’s to Conception Bay South
June 4, 2019 – Conception Bay to Holyrood
June 5, 2019 – Holyrood to Brigus Junction
June 6, 2019 – Brigus Junction to Whitbourne
June 7, 2019 – Whitbourne to Chapel Arm
June 8, 2019 – Chapel Arm to Big Gull Pond
June 9, 2019 – Big Gull Pond to Arnold’s Cove
June 10, 2019 – Arnold’s Cove to Goobies
June 11, 2019 – Goobies to Clarenville
June 12, 2019 – Clarenville - Zero day
June 13, 2019 – Clarenville to Thorburn Lake
June 14, 2019 – Thorburn Lake to Port Blandford
June 15, 2019 – Port Blandford to Maccles Lake
June 16, 2019 – Maccles Lake to Gambo
June 17, 2019 – Gambo to near Gander
June 18, 2019 – Into Gander
June 19, 2019 – Gander to Salmon River
June 20, 2019 – Salmon River to Norris Arm
June 21, 2019 – Norris Arm to Bishop’s Falls
June 22, 2019 – Bishop’s Falls to Grand Falls-Windsor
June 23, 2019 – Grand Falls-Windsor – Zero Day
June 24, 2019 – Grand Falls-Windsor to Badger
June 25, 2019 – Badger to Millertown Junction
June 26, 2019 – Millertown Junction to Quarry
June 27, 2019 – Quarry to beyond Pond Crossing
June 28, 2019 – Beyond Pond Crossing to Howley
June 29, 2019 – Howley – Zero Day
June 30, 2019 – Howley to Gros Morne National Park (off trail)
July 1, 2019 – Gros Morne National Park – Parks Canada Presentation
July 2, 2019 – Gros Morne National Park (off trail)
July 3, 2019 – Gros Morne National Park (off trail)
July 4, 2019 – Gros Morne National Park – Parks Canada Presentation
July 5, 2019 – Deer Lake to Rapid Pond
July 6, 2019 – Rapid Pond to Corner Brook
July 7, 2019 – Corner Brook – resupply zero day
July 8, 2019 – Corner Brook to Big Cooks Pond
July 9, 2019 – Big Cooks Pond to Gallants
July 10, 2019 – Gallants to Stephenville Crossing
July 11, 2019 – Stephenville Crossing to Flat Bay
July 12, 2019 – Flat Bay to Robinsons
July 13, 2019 – Robinsons to River Brook
July 14, 2019 – River Brook to South Branch
July 15, 2019 – South Branch to Grand Codroy RV Campground
July 16, 2019 – Doyle and Codroy Valley - Important Bird Area day / day off
July 17, 2019 – Grand Codroy RV Park to Cheeseman Provincial Park
July 18, 2019 – Cheeseman Provincial Park to Port-aux-Basques
July 19, 2019 – Port-aux-Basques / final reflections / Newfoundland close
July 20, 2019 – Port-aux-Basques to North Sydney ferry
 

Position Within the Larger Journey

 
Newfoundland was not only a province to be crossed - it was the beginning of something much larger for us.  It was the start of our journey across Canada on foot from coast to coast to coast. 

It was also here in Newfoundland that the scale of the Trans Canada Trail began to take on meaning, not as an abstract distance, but as the reality of a series of days that had to be walked one after another – potentially for years at a time.  This struck us hard at the end of Newfoundland that the TCT in this province (as one of the nation’s smaller provinces) was longer than our previous hikes across either France on the GR65 / Via Podiensis or across Spain on the Camino Frances. And so it was here that we began to see the pattern of how the full journey, if we can complete it will take place, especially in how the trail would continually redefine the expectations we had when we set out.
 
It was also where the idea of crossing Canada shifted from intention to reality.  With our first province done we could see no reason why we couldn’t keep going on and complete our goal of hiking across Canada – one step at a time, one province at a time.
 
For those looking to explore more, this entry connects directly with our broader series:

• Come Walk With Us along the Trans Canada Trail

• The Trans Canada Trail In Newfoundland

• Reflections on Hiking the Trans Canada Trail in Newfoundland

• Assessing Cycling the Trans Canada Trail in Newfoundland

Each offers a different perspective on the same route.
 

For Those Who Come Next

 
In total, it took us 56 days to walk approximately 1197.4 kilometres along the ECT and across Newfoundland from Cape Spear to Port aux Basques on the T’Railway Trail.
 
These sections of the TCT represent the first easterly province on the Great Trail – along coastlines and through the boreal forest from the Atlantic Ocean to the ferry terminal that will take you on to Cape Breton and Nova Scotia.
 
If you are considering walking across Newfoundland, know that it is possible to do so within a defined period of time. The route exists, the connections are there, and the province can be crossed in a continuous line from east to west.   Which makes it a very rewarding hike in a beautiful region with terrific people– if not necessarily an easy trek. 

 
If you are reading this because you are considering hiking across Newfoundland on the TCT, whether for a weekend or weeks at a time, we hope this listing helps in some small way.
 
Not because it tells you what to do, but because it shows what was possible under a specific set of circumstances, at a particular moment in time.
 
Your journey will not look exactly like this. It shouldn’t. Weather, wildlife, wildfires, construction, health, timing, and luck all shape how the TCT, each province and Canada as a whole reveal themselves. Some days will go farther than planned. Others will end early. Some will feel almost effortless; others will ask more than you expected to give.  Some will end in the joy of that day’s achievements, others will end in doubt and tears. 

What matters, in the end, is not matching someone else’s itinerary, but learning how to move through this landscape with the willingness to be adaptable, leaving no trace and with care.  If this record helps you plan, adjust, or simply imagine your own path, then it has done what it was meant to do.
 
We wish you safe walking, open eyes, and the grace to take each day as it comes.

See you on the trail!