Hiking is not my main activity. Its my first backpack hike since last October so clearly I need to get on the trails more often, if for no other reason to keep in hiking shape.
Friday Hazen and I set out for Brocks Pond falls for an overnight camp out. We left from Portugal Cove where its initially steeply uphill.
Once on top we were in dappled shade in the trees but ...
... the cover didn't last long as we were on the exposed Harbour Main grup volcanic rocks, the oldest rocks on the Avalon Peninsula.
Here we're looking up thinking we have to go up there after a good bit of up and down already.
But, up there we did get with a fine view down in the distance.
Three hundred feet above the falls we started ...
... our descent towards the falls.
We went to look at the falls which were disappointingly just a trickle after a very dry summer. Returning to where we dumped our backpacks we set up our tents, collected some wood for a fire and made supper.
We had a super sunset and as the sun set we ...
... started a fire. Flankers started to fly which raised our concern for starting a general forest fire. I joked, though not a laughing matter, that if we started a fire we'd lose the tents and everything and we'd have to walk out in the dark to ignominy. We let the wood we started with burn down and die being very watchful not to start anything bigger.
It was only 6.2 kms but the up and down, and rocky rough terrain took 2.5 hours to hike. The terrain and our lack of consistent hiking with heavy backpacks slowed us down. The message is we need to do more of it.
