Another summer weekend was here & I decided to centre this one around the Alexander Murray Hiking Trail.

Located in King's Point, this trail is just up the road from Springdale.

Only a few months back there was a news article about Springdale's new skatepark, but the article lacked a photo or a description of the ramps. I couldn't look at the ramps in Google StreetView either as they were behind the local school and far away from the street.

Arriving early in the morning, it turns out they got a decent little park! With just about 3000 people Springdale is a decent-sized place in Newfoundland, one that lucked out with a flat rail and a long, smooth ledge. I stood here jealous of Springdale.

An enjoyable hour passed before I knew it & I will certainly be stopping here again while crossing the island in the future. My only complaint was this scooter kid who tailed me, literally 5 feet behind, repeating "I'm right behind you, I'm right behind you" over and over again. I realize you have to put up with abandoned scooter kids at skateparks as an adult, but it was also a matter of his safety. If I fell the wrong way, there wasn't much space for him to get out of the way.

Oh well. I just need to go to Springdale even earlier next time.

It was already a hot morning at the skatepark and this left us hiking the Alexander Murray Trail right around noon. Normally I never find it hot in Newfoundland, but Central Newfoundland can sometimes push that boundary. Today was one of those days.

The first part of the hike went through some woods, before reaching barrens where we hurried to get back into the woods and out of the heat. (I think it was pushing 30°C/86°F!)

The Alexander Murray trail is 8km (5mi) long and they claim it takes about 3 hours. A good amount of people know about it by word of mouth and complimentary online reviews, but the trail organizers also try to get the trail into your head with the fact that there are a total of 2200 steps.

Now that we were back in the woods, we soon reached a point with consecutive 50 or 60-step staircases. As I held onto the handrail and pushed upward, I started to understand how the number of stairs easily racks up.

After conquering another staircase, we came to a turnoff which led down a set of stairs. Although I was already planning on taking this waterfall detour today, it now wasn't even a question after the searing barrens and endless staircases.

This is the Corner Brook Gorge and the waterfall you see is Corner Brook Falls. Apparently the name 'Corner Brook' has occurred to more than one person naming a brook emptying into the corner of a bay. And while I've never been to the falls in the Corner Brook Gorge on the west coast of Newfoundland, I was ready for these Corner Brook Falls near King's Point. Equipped with swimming gear, I pushed off the sharp rocks into the intense and refreshing falls. I could definitely get behind more trails having waterfall stops.

Leaving the gorge, the skies were now overcast and threatening stormy skies were just to the west.

Growing up in Southwestern Ontario, I used to run and hide at the sight of dark skies - it usually means you have about 5 minutes to find cover back home - but I've since been reprogrammed by Newfoundland that you can have dark skies all day without a drop of rain.

That wasn't going to happen here. The wind started to pick up as giant raindrops pelted us. We briefly weighed going back down the way we came (we didn't realize this was the summit) or even crawling underneath one of the platforms that was a bit higher.

Thankfully there was no lightning and the storm passed soon enough. It was actually so quick that we were just past the main platform & briefly considered going back up to the summit as the sun was already reappearing.

(I read about 5 trail reports before writing this update & everyone else carries on about the view over Green Bay from up here. It was raining too much as we stood on the platform so I couldn't really savour it. Your results may vary.)

For good measure, there's two more waterfalls on this side of the summit. This is Gull Brook Falls, where it would be a greater struggle to get down for a dip.

More stairs as we head back down to the car.

Away from a short section at the start, this trail is actually a big loop that you could hike in the reverse order of what is presented here. I liked the way we did the loop, but if it remained hot instead of storming, would we have wanted Corner Brook Falls to fall after the summit or before? Probably after.

From King's Point we headed up another finger of land towards a couple of resettled communities. Unfortunately this visit didn't totally pan out, so that update will have to wait for another time.

Now looking for somewhere to camp, we were driving over a causeway as I eyed a grassy, flat piece of land that stuck out on the other side. Slowing the car down, there was a tiny gravel drive out to a simple fire pit alongside Sunday Cove Tickle. It was a little close to the road, but with night falling and the road being pretty quiet, this would certainly do.

Since I don't like being a phony on the internet, here's a picture after the fog rolled over the hills from the north and dimmed the fading light.

On the other hand, I still enjoyed the yellowlegs that waded about the shallows here, who didn't seem to notice us until I got up for a beer, making enough noise that it flew off.

Waking up the next morning, I'd seen a skatepark in Port Anson the day before but I couldn't make myself put my bike together to ride a box jump. As much as I wanted to check off another "skatepark" in this province, Port Anson would have to wait.

Maybe for another fantastic, one night, overnight trip like this one.