If you're visiting Terra Nova NP and will be in the area for a few days, give the park a rest for an afternoon and come here! This was one of the best hikes we took during our two weeks in Newfoundland. These paths not only provide scenic ocean and mountain vistas but a sense of how people lived in outport towns during the heyday of the fishing industry. You're not getting deep in the wilds here, though civilization is represented at the tolerable scale of Salvage, an old fishing/cottage town that is often in sight during the walk. It still looks very clean and neatly kept. The trail consists of a loop with several spurs jutting off to viewpoints on cliffs by the sea or on surrounding hills. Lots of sharp ups and downs on the trail--the topography doesn't allow for anything else. Some of the trail passes through deep spruce woods, though often you're on open, rocky cliffs or hilltops exposed to those infamous Newfoundland winds--which actually were very welcome on the hot August afternoon we visited. Also welcome was the outhouse--rustic but clean--near the Round Head viewpoint. Bring your own TP or equivalent. At several points on this trail there are historic plaques explaining the origins of some place names or describing daily life in Salvage in the distant or not-so-distant past. There are also small bells suspended at some viewpoints along the trail--I guess ringing them is a thing to do. The trail passes two cemeteries gradually being reclaimed by blueberry and juniper bushes, though many gravestones are still standing and legible. Some convey snippets of the lives and deaths of those interred, small testimonies to how this community lived and worked. The sign at the parking lot suggests 4-6 hours for the hike. We took 5, which included a lunch stop at the cliffside picnic table overlooking Old Harry Cove, and a detour to scramble down to the water's edge over the rocks there. And many, many photo stops. Take it fast or take it slow, you'll have a day to remember. read more

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