Hiking the Coastal Trail to Pissamare Falls at Terra Nova National Park
Having checked out the trail late the previos evening, Monday, June 22nd, Day 25 of our trip and the 18th day in Newfoundland, bregan with a 6.3-km hike on the Coastal Trail from our site at the Newman Sound Campground to Pissamare Falls. The day would continue by driving to Ellison and the puffin colony, but I’ll let you about that in the next post.
It was almost 9am when I started out, later than I had wanted to start, as check-out time for the campground is 11:00 and I didn’t want to be rushed. It was cloudy and 7°C with a light wind when I began, but some sun was forecast.
I was soon at the activity area on the Campground Trail, which is where the Coastal Trail begins.
An image search didn’t help me identify these cool seed-heads along the trail.
A bit of rain overnight added some sparkle to this Oysterleaf (Mertensia maritima).
Within a couple of minutes, a substantial bridge takes the trail across a gully.
Stepping off the trail just a few feet got a nice broad view of the beach and Newman Sound.
This is my favourite section of the trail, with a rock cliff on one side, the sea on the other, and a bit of a climb.
A substantial tree was climbing up that cliff.
Back at Sandy Point.
The wreckage of a large compressor from the early logging days sits beside the trail, and there are apparently more machinery parts along the beach, though I didn’t find any during a brief search.
A lot of trees have been felled by wind – this is the hardest-hit section of the trail.
Headquarters Wharf is about the halfway point on the 4.7-km Coastal Trail.
I met a couple from Dallas there with their pickup and camper, and spent quite a while chatting with them, as we had very similar travel interests, and when I asked where they were from, part of their introduction was apologizing for their president. I hadn’t realized that you can pretty much drive to Pissamare Falls, but I’m glad I hiked to it.
Looking back at the trail, with a bear warning sign. My new friends said they were told a bear had been there the day before.
I have to admit that my first view of the waterfall was disappointing – that’s all there is? I had read comments online that sometimes there’s no water flowing at all.
A couple more views. Barely visible through the trees I could see that the falls actually go much higher than what these photos show, but if there is a clear view of the entire cascade, I couldn’t find it.
I didn’t waste any time or take any photos on the way back to the campground, and my log say that segment was the fastest I had covered ground in years. I’m very pleased with how my hiking ability is improving since I started working hard at it recently.
It was about noon when we hit the road for the 2-hour drive to Elliston.
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